The Louisiana Office of State Examiner represents a technical, vital service. It provides support and guidance to maintain quality law enforcement and fire protection for Louisiana residents in rural and urban areas. Their services include testing and employment of first responders.
The Louisiana Office of State Examiner came to Gatorworks in need of a new logo and brand identity, as well as an updated website to represent the brand refresh. The challenge was creating a logo to refresh a legacy agency while remaining relevant to a traditional audience. The new logo would also need to complement the customizable website that Gatorworks was tasked to build for OSE.
The Project
From the onset of the website project, it was clear every feature needed to be designed around an interactive map. This map would provide important information about upcoming tests for first responders. There were many factors to consider for the organization of content, including:
• The division between competitive and promotional applicants
• Firefighter vs. police officer testing
• Jurisdiction
• Application deadline
• Testing date
• Testing location
• Study materials
Through in-depth internal meetings with team members from each department and client feedback, we created a logical, beautiful website. We fulfilled its goal to be an intuitive, user-friendly resource for police officers and firefighters looking to join the service or earn promotion.
Logo & Branding
With the challenge of combining fresh with traditional, our team presented OSE with four different logo concepts to demonstrate a range of options. We presented the concepts in color and on various collateral pieces to show realistic applications of the logo. Through fine-tuning, OSE decided on a logo that maintained their original brand colors of blue and red while incorporating fun iconography and a modern font. The logo accomplished the goal of representing the two audiences OSE serves—police and firemen—while bringing a contemporary look to a traditional agency.
Testing Map
The testing map was the foundation of the website, as it highlights OSE’s main role—to provide important information about upcoming competitive and promotional tests for first responders. We developed the map pull relevant tests based on user selection. For example, if a user were to click on the “Testing and Employment” menu item, towards the bottom of the page they would see a map listing all upcoming tests. If the user was looking to join the service and needed information on upcoming competitive tests, the map would filter the listings to only pull in competitive tests. The same process works with the promotional tests. If the user knew the area in which they would be applying, they could easily select pins on the map to get details regarding each upcoming test. These multiple pathways allow users to quickly get the information they need.
Dynamic Forms
In addition to the plethora of resources the OSE website needed to house, there were a few key forms requiring our developers’ talents. The Personnel Action Form was one such dynamic form. It required a specific functionality to populate the field options based on user input. This “dynamic population” creates a customized experience and eliminates the need for endless forms with too many options.
Jurisdiction Archive
The Jurisdiction Archive page serves as another pathway for users to find an upcoming test. With over 113 jurisdictions to account for, we organized them based on municipality size. From this page, users are able to click into any jurisdiction to find upcoming tests within that jurisdiction. They can also find personnel contact information, and additional resources specific to the jurisdiction, such as the civil service board rules and classification plan.
Project Summary
Through hours of strategic planning, talent from the production team, and valuable client feedback, Gatorworks provided a modernized government website that was both functional and beautiful.