The Common Reader is a publication of Washington University in St. Louis, featuring essays, articles, and long‑form writing by scholars, authors, and thinkers across disciplines. While the publication had a strong editorial voice, its previous website struggled to present content in a clear, engaging, and intuitive way.
Thoughtprocess Interactive partnered with Washington University to redesign and rebuild The Common Reader as a modern, flexible WordPress platform—one that could better serve readers while giving editors and administrators the tools they needed to manage and feature a large and growing body of content.
The Challenge
- An outdated website that made it difficult for readers to discover, navigate, and engage with content
- Poor presentation of different content types, including essays, articles, and featured writing
- Limited ability for editors to feature content or create meaningful cross‑links between related pieces
- A confusing and redundant tagging and content structure that reduced clarity and SEO effectiveness
- A publishing workflow that was cumbersome and unintuitive for editors and contributors
- Strict development, security, and deployment requirements within Washington University’s hosting environment
The Solution
- Conducted formal UX research, including stakeholder workshops, independent research, analytics review, and a comprehensive site audit
- Developed a refined content strategy and migration plan to clean up legacy content and eliminate redundant taxonomies
- Built a fully custom WordPress theme using the modern block editor, including custom blocks and templates tailored to editorial workflows
- Implemented custom post types and a streamlined tagging structure to improve organization, cross‑linking, and SEO
- Ensured WCAG‑compliant accessibility and SEO best practices throughout design and development
The Results
The website redesign delivered a clearer, more engaging reading experience while dramatically improving day‑to‑day usability for editors and contributors. Content is now easier to discover and feature, supporting deeper engagement across a growing library of essays and articles. The custom developed WordPress platform gives The Common Reader a scalable, sustainable publishing foundation—and earned enthusiastic feedback from editors who found the new site elegant, intuitive, and a pleasure to use.