State of Iowa

Unifying Iowa's State Agencies on a Single, Accessible Digital Platform

Iowa's state agency websites serve 32 million visitors a year. But behind that traffic lay a fragmented ecosystem characterized by inconsistent branding, siloed governance, and content so stale and redundant that constituents struggled to find what they needed.

Creating a unified digital experience required more than a platform migration. It required bringing dozens of independent agencies together to move forward.

The state set clear targets: reduce stale or redundant content by at least 30% and achieve an accessibility score of 83 or higher.

Service areas

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Key outcomes

Unified 70+ agency websites into a single, scalable platform
Cut redundant content by 30–90%, improving clarity and reducing maintenance
Achieved accessibility scores in the high 90s across all sites
Standardized design with flexible agency customization
Accelerated publishing with reusable components and better workflows
Improved performance and security with centralized infrastructure
Simplified operations with a single codebase and faster updates
Turned stakeholder resistance into statewide adoption
Recognized nationally, placing 2nd for GovTech's Overall State Government Experience award

I’ve seen so many stakeholders, who I thought would never come on board, turn the tide and become some of our biggest champions. They were very impressed by Lullabot.

alex murphy, Project Leader for the State of Iowa’s Digital Transformation Project

Three different Iowa websites at different screen sizes.

A scalable digital experience ready for the future

Getting dozens of independent agencies moving in the same direction is not easy, but early wins built trust. Based on a retrospective survey, the platform’s ease of use and flexibility won over skeptics, turning them into advocates who helped neighboring agencies make the transition.

View the Iowa platform training website to see how editors manage their content.

A streamlined, flexible editorial experience for internal users

We interviewed content authors and public information officers to sift through competing requirements and prioritize them in collaboration with the state’s steering committee. The platform had to accommodate teams of varying sizes, all with different experience levels, and provide flexibility in serving content.

We reorganized the agency websites and migrated them to a unified platform that improves the editorial experience. With the new platform:

Agency staff can publish and manage content independently with design and accessibility guardrails built in. Compliance isn't a separate conversation
Authors can build automated content lists, apply filters, and embed them across sites without writing a line of code
Video, data visualizations, and tables are standardized. Adding complex content doesn't create inconsistency or security risks
Every site runs on isolated infrastructure, so a problem on one agency's site stays there

Visual consistency with a flexible design system that scales

Sharing the same platform does not mean having the same design. Iowa’s color palette was expanded to offer more variations, giving agencies additional customization options without sacrificing accessibility or individual agency branding.

Design system and palette selection examples

Visual documentation provides editors with patterns and sample layouts, enabling them to build what they want. This consistency reinforces the authenticity of agency websites and strengthens constituents’ trust.

Iowa layout and patterns from the design system

A full content audit to eliminate bloat

We migrated Iowa’s agency websites to the new platform in groups, combining automated processes with manual entry.

We conducted a comprehensive content audit and created a customized migration plan for every agency. By identifying content gaps, redundancies, and outdated documents and web pages, we ensured each website launch delivered maximum impact.

Better performance and greater security

Agency websites were previously hosted with several providers, complicating maintenance and security. Slow loading times and outages were common. We conducted a needs analysis and made hosting recommendations to fix these issues.

The new platform has a single codebase, but every website has an isolated instance. Our streamlined DevOps process enables rapid website launches and code updates to be easily deployed to all live sites, making everything more stable and secure.

Faster performance and enhanced security

The new platform has a single codebase, but each website has an isolated instance on Pantheon. Our streamlined DevOps process enables rapid website launches and easy deployment of code updates across all live sites, making everything more stable and secure.