Mapped. Collaborative. Aligned
Voices of Mahomet
A collaborative project with the Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce to reimagine their brand, website, and campaigns. Using stakeholder engagement, UX audits, and co-creation workshops, we designed scalable solutions to strengthen community connections and the Chamber’s role as a hub.
Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce
The Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce is a community-focused organization that supports local businesses, nonprofits, and civic partners in Mahomet, Illinois. Its mission is to strengthen economic growth while fostering meaningful community connections. MACC acts as a hub for collaboration, organizing events, promoting local initiatives, and providing resources that help businesses thrive and residents stay engaged.
Roles
Project Coordinator
User Experience Researcher
Facilitator
Teams
Class of 17
Duration
10 weeks
Nature of the project
A project celebrating a
Connected Community through Co-Creation
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Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce (MACC)
We partnered with MACC to strengthen its role as a connector for residents, businesses, and visitors through branding, campaigns, and website redesign.
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
I collaborated with a diverse team of graduate design managers to integrate UX, project management, and creative facilitation into a comprehensive foundation document.
Mahomet Community Stakeholders
We conducted co-creation workshops, engagement activities, and design audits with local business owners, residents, and civic leaders to align digital touchpoints with real community needs.
Project Brief
The Mahomet Area Chamber of Commerce (MACC) serves as a bridge between businesses, residents, and visitors in Mahomet, Illinois. However, their website and digital presence did not reflect this role. The site suffered from cluttered navigation, inconsistent branding, poor accessibility, and limited engagement touchpoints.
As part of a graduate-level design management project, I worked with a multi-disciplinary team to deliver a comprehensive foundation document (680+ pages) that outlined branding, campaigns, and website recommendations. My specific contributions were focused on website UX redesign and project management, ensuring that digital touchpoints were accessible, engaging, and strategically aligned.
Project Roadmap
Discovery & Research
Brand Diagnostics Workshop
Co-Creation
Workshop
Roadmaps & Recommendations
Discovery & Research
Our discovery phase began with a comprehensive secondary review of client materials (MACC reports, event listings, organizational charts) and publicly available sources (regional economic data, community profiles, and news articles). This desk research grounded our analysis in facts and reduced reliance on assumptions.
From there, we mapped the broader stakeholder ecosystem, leadership, member businesses, residents, visitors, and collaborators, to understand how each group engages with MACC today and where gaps exist. This revealed consistent strengths, such as local recognition and event-driven visibility, but also structural issues like limited digital engagement and weak differentiation from neighboring chambers
To deepen insights, we used frameworks including:
4C's
4C's
Mapped clients, customers, competitors, and collaborators → revealed strong local trust but weak digital differentiation.
Competitive Benchmarking
Competitive Benchmarking
Visualized MACC’s ties with residents, businesses, government, and civic groups → highlighted role as a community orchestrator but gaps in year-round digital engagement.
ERAF
ERAF Models
Compared nearby chambers & digital platforms → competitors had mobile-first, event-friendly sites; MACC’s fragmented web presence showed clear need for a unified, modern platform.
Using the 4C’s, Competitive Benchmarking, and ERAF frameworks, we uncovered a clear gap between MACC’s strong community trust and its fragmented digital presence. The 4C’s showed deep local credibility built through events and relationships, yet limited online visibility. Benchmarking revealed that nearby chambers were leveraging mobile-first, story-driven platforms to sustain year-round engagement, while MACC’s communication was largely event-based.
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Through the ERAF model, we identified opportunities to eliminate outdated layouts, reduce navigation clutter, add digital accessibility, and foster ongoing interaction. Overall, the insights highlighted the need for MACC to evolve from a transactional network to a connected, digital community hub that reflects Mahomet’s warmth and identity online.
Brand Diagnostics Workshop
The Brand Diagnostics Workshop (BDW) was a co-creation session designed to uncover how MACC is perceived internally and externally, and to identify gaps in brand perception, communication, and engagement. It set the foundation for rebranding, web, and campaign strategies by aligning stakeholder perspectives and uncovering shared aspirations.
The workshop was designed to be both reflective and forward-looking, combining analytical frameworks with creative exercises. Activities such as Dreams & Nightmares, Brand DNA Mapping, Business Model Canvas Review, Blue Ocean Strategy, and Sailboat Mapping encouraged participants to examine MACC’s strengths, challenges, and aspirations. Each exercise helped transform abstract perceptions into tangible insights, revealing where the brand stands today and where it needs to evolve.​
By the end of the session, the workshop not only surfaced critical gaps in consistency, visibility, and communication but also built a shared sense of direction and ownership among participants. This alignment became the foundation for reframing MACC’s brand, website experience, and community campaign strategies, ultimately shaping a more cohesive, authentic, and future-ready Chamber identity.
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MACC needed a cohesive identity and clearer digital presence. Their existing brand, website, and communications were fragmented and difficult to navigate, making it challenging for stakeholders to access information, understand the value of membership, or feel connected to the Chamber.
Branding
An opportunity to refresh MACC’s identity with a warmer, more cohesive visual language, through updated colors, typography, and tone that better reflect the pride and personality of the Mahomet community.
Website
An opportunity to create a clearer, more accessible digital experience by improving navigation, simplifying key user flows, and building a clean, responsive interface that better supports Events, Membership, and community resources.
Campaign
An opportunity to amplify community voices through the “Voices of Mahomet” campaign, offering MACC flexible templates, consistent messaging, and story-driven tools to strengthen engagement across digital and physical touchpoints.
Co-Creation Workshops
A co-creation workshop is a collaborative session where designers and stakeholders work together to generate ideas, refine concepts, and align on direction. Instead of presenting solutions at the end, co-creation brings the client into the process early, helping ensure that insights, priorities, and expectations shape the outcomes.
Co-creation fosters shared ownership, reduces the need for later revisions, and accelerates decision-making across complex projects. We conducted three co-creation workshops, one for each deliverable — Branding, Website, and Campaign — allowing MACC leaders to be active collaborators in shaping the future identity and experience of the Chamber.
Branding
To build a brand identity with Mahomet, not just for it. This workshop invited stakeholders to shape a visual and verbal language that reflects the town’s values, aspirations, and future vision.
Website
To collaboratively design a website that truly feels like Mahomet: clear, welcoming, and intuitive for residents, visitors, and businesses, while grounding every decision in community needs and local identity.
Campaign
To co-create a campaign and social media strategy that feels genuinely Mahomet, real, local, and shaped by the people it represents, ensuring every story and message comes from the community, not just about it.
Roadmap & Recommendations
Given the project’s multi-layered scope, our recommendations centered on creating cohesion across identity, digital experience, and communication.
Branding
Strengthening MACC’s identity by creating a cohesive, authentic brand system that reflects Mahomet’s spirit and ensures consistent, recognizable communication across all touchpoints.
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Brand Audit: A review of MACC’s current brand strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
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Value Proposition: A clear statement of MACC’s purpose, audience, and unique value to the community.
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Logo Redesign: A refreshed, flexible logo system inspired by Mahomet’s character to boost recognition.
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Brand Guideline Book: A unified guide for MACC’s visual and verbal identity to ensure consistent communication.
Together, these deliverables establish a clear, cohesive, and authentic brand foundation for MACC. They ensure the Chamber communicates with consistency, reflects Mahomet’s spirit, and presents a unified identity across every touchpoint.
Website
Elevating MACC’s online presence by building a cohesive, accessible website system that aligns content, clarifies navigation, and creates a reliable, user-friendly digital experience.
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UX Audit: An assessment of structure, usability, accessibility, and visual consistency to identify key friction points.
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Information Architecture: A simplified sitemap that removes redundancies and creates clearer pathways for all user groups.
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Content Strategy: Guidance on tone, hierarchy, and messaging to improve clarity and consistency across pages.
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UI/Interaction Recommendations: Cleaner layouts, stronger CTAs, standardized components, and accessible design upgrades to improve usability.
Together, these deliverables establish a modern, intuitive, and cohesive website foundation for MACC. They make information easier to find, improve user trust, and create a unified digital experience that genuinely supports the community.
Campaign
Making MACC more visible and community-centered by transforming everyday moments, local stories, and events into consistent, shareable experiences across digital and physical touchpoints.
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Social Media Playbook – posting templates, checklists, and storytelling styles for a clear, consistent online presence.
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Engagement Toolkit – ready-to-use ideas and calendars to activate events and build ongoing participation year-round.
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Idea Box – a living library of creative concepts and low-lift campaigns MACC can tap into anytime.
Together, these elements create a scalable, community-first campaign system that enhances visibility, amplifies local voices, and fosters meaningful engagement throughout the year.
Synthesis & Reflection
A community-centered, strategically coordinated process that unified MACC’s brand, website, and campaign into a clear, cohesive system grounded in Mahomet’s spirit.
This project demonstrated how research, co-creation, and structured collaboration can transform fragmented experiences into a unified, meaningful system. It highlighted the importance of aligning teams, simplifying complexity, and designing with community voices at the core to create solutions that are both strategic and human-centered.
Co-creation strengthens alignment
Engaging stakeholders early leads to clearer decisions and more authentic outcomes.
Clarity drives usability
Simplifying IA, messaging, and visuals is essential for creating trust and ease in digital experiences.
Consistency builds connection
Unified systems across brand, website, and campaign strengthen recognition and community engagement.