Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the global nonprofit behind Sesame Street, muppets, and so much more. After years of growth and digital expansion, Sesame’s publishing ecosystem was fragmented—with news, games, research, TV shows, educational resources, and coverage for social impact initiatives scattered across the web. Launch hired me to oversee the content design and migration work for this massive consolidation effort.

I set out to create a site architecture and publishing strategy that would support Sesame’s needs and audiences for years to come. I conducted extensive research and spent two months developing the new information architecture. This began with a content audit for several websites under the Sesame umbrella. Sesame has a wide range of audiences, including families, professionals who work with children, institutional donors, fans, and members of the press. I developed a structured list of topics to categorize all of their content and a sitemap, which continued to evolve as we worked toward the launch.

I also wanted to hear from the people who use Sesame’s resources. I wrote the research plan and designed a survey for parents, caregivers, and educators, which drew about 4,000 responses. It showed who we were designing for, including how many were caring for kids over 5, and which topics and resource types people wanted most.

I worked closely with a product designer to develop all-new wireframes and design components, including feature layouts, site navigation, search, and recirculation modules. We wanted every page to include related resources, links, and calls to action so nothing is a dead end.

I created a robust taxonomy to power these modules and help Sesame’s digital team keep everything organized in their content management system. This framework underpins the site structure, behavior, and search engine optimization strategy. People can find information by topic, resource type, characters, languages, and more. My goal was to keep the navigation friendly and easy to understand, just like Sesame’s content.

Once the core components were approved, I proposed and led a navigation study to validate the site structure. I recruited 37 subscribers through the previous survey, aiming for a diverse mix of roles. We asked them to find things like grief resources and training certificates in the proposed sitemap. In the tree test, 71% of answers came without backtracking, which validated the overall direction and helped us refine the sitemap.

Launch brought me back over the summer to polish the final designs and wrap up the consolidation effort. I created a detailed migration plan to help Sesame sequence and prioritize the work. I also developed design and editorial guidelines to help them continue optimizing their content for audiences and search engines.

After the launch, Sesame saw increased user engagement, search traffic, newsletter signups, and donations. The site also won a Gold Webby Award for Education, Art, and Culture.

Explore the site and learn more on Sesame.org →