Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Tech
The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) is a leading research and educational institution, jointly managed by Georgia Tech and Emory University.
The department brings together the strengths of both schools to advance biomedical innovation through research, collaboration, and education.
To stay competitive in a growing field, BME needed to attract top students and highlight the outcomes and impact of its alumni and research programs. But the existing website wasn’t up to the task.
The site lacked a cohesive architecture, making navigation difficult and confusing. Copy was long and unfocused, and content failed to highlight the department’s achievements or community. The design felt dated and didn’t effectively represent the joint Georgia Tech–Emory identity.
Behind the scenes, the site had been maintained by a single developer, limiting scalability and modernization. BME needed the expertise of an experienced web team to strengthen the technical foundation, improve usability, and better tell its story online.
Electric Citizen partnered with BME on a full website redesign — spanning research, strategy, design, copywriting and development. Our shared goal was to create a modern, engaging website that captured the department’s culture of innovation, and made it easier for prospective students and partners to connect.
Strategy and Analysis
We began with a comprehensive content audit and inventory to understand what was working and what wasn’t. Using analytics, we identified the most visited and effective pages, while stakeholder interviews and a community survey helped us uncover audience needs and perceptions.
From these insights, we developed a content playbook outlining the department’s core goals, audiences, and content objectives. We established guiding principles ( “content pillars”) to focus storytelling around innovation, impact, and life-changing research.
Information Architecture
With the content strategy in place, we restructured site navigation around five core areas:
- Academic Programs (Academics)
- Faculty and Staff (Our People)
- Research
- Campus Experience (Engage)
- Outcomes (Why Coulter BME)
We simplified the sitemap to support intuitive exploration, added clear call-to-action buttons (“Explore,” “Visit,” “Apply”), and designed page sections with logical pathways for users to follow. The result is a cleaner, more purposeful journey from the first visit to applying and attending the school.
Accessible Design
A key challenge was balancing two sets of brand guidelines—one from Georgia Tech and one from Emory. Our design team crafted a unified visual language that drew from both institutions’ palettes while maintaining a neutral, modern aesthetic that felt distinctly BME.
The site emphasizes warmth and human connection, pairing strong imagery with a structured, content-rich layout. Component-based design makes it easy for editors to create new pages with consistency and flexibility.
To enhance user engagement, we introduced subtle animations, geometric “science-inspired” shapes, and interactive media elements. Every page was designed and built to meet WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards.
Improved Content Management
On the backend, we implemented a new Drupal installation built for stability, accessibility, and scalability. Existing profiles, news, and events were successfully migrated, while new tools empower editors to create rich, multimedia content without technical expertise.
We also introduced version control and a staging environment for better quality assurance and security—giving the BME web team greater control over content and updates.
Copywriting and Editing
Our team also collaborated closely with BME to rewrite and refine site copy. Drawing on stakeholder input and our content playbook, we provided original copy for approximately half of the pages, including academic program pages and research areas. The result is messaging that is clear, engaging, and aligned with the department’s mission and voice.
The redesigned site launched successfully, establishing a stronger digital presence for the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. The new platform offers improved usability, a refreshed visual identity, and a more secure, accessible and high performing content management experience for editors.
