Founded in 1979, today the Chicago Network has more than 500 members of the most influential women in Chicago. Along with current members, The Network also has the ear of influential companies and organizations, the media, and the next generation of rising young women leaders.

To understand the needs of the current members as well as the new group of young women, LimeRed surveyed their current members and held a series of workshops with key staff and other stakeholders to reposition them visually on the web. We also ran a storytelling session with the staff to understand how to speak to a large audience about the importance and business impact of having women in leadership positions. This work not only informed the website design, but the copy, SEO, and any other future messaging.

We translated their new identity for the web — carefully considering accessibility and web standards to reach an inclusive audience. The function and design of this new site positioned The Chicago Network as highly professional, contemporary, and approachable.

This website redesign is all about positioning not only the organization as the premier organization for Chicago’s most influential women, but it is also about showcasing the accomplishments of its members. We proposed telling individual member stories for the 40th anniversary to show how their efforts have improved the state of not only women but of business in Chicago. This is not only reflected in how we organized the member profiles section, but also in a new section called Leader Stories, which highlights members’ accomplishments and serves as content for the 40th-anniversary event and social media.