Case Study

Diocese Website Redesign

Reconnecting a nationwide Catholic Diocese through a complete digital overhaul
Overview

What is the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy?

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, tracing its origins to 52 AD, when St. Thomas arrived in Kerala, India. Part of the larger Roman Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar church is deeply rooted in Malayalam-speaking South Indian culture–which includes nearly 4.6 million members worldwide today. In the United States alone, we have over 87,000 members across 50 parishes and 34 missions, all led by the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

As a member of Chicago Syro-Malabar Church community myself, even though I am not religious, Syro-Malabar is still part of my cultural identity. So, when my close friend, Sharon (who is a fellow UX/UI Designer and also a very involved member and leader in our Chicago parish) asked me to help redesign the old outdated Chicago Diocese website–which reaches all 87,000+ members across the U.S., I wanted to do my part to help my community come back the long-running decline we had been seeing since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project Goal

While the Church has deep roots and a devoted membership, the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant disruption to parish life — one that the diocese had not fully recovered from by the time this project began. Like many religious communities nationwide, the Eparchy saw a measurable decline in attendance and active participation in the years following the pandemic. The impact was most pronounced among two key demographics: post-college-aged young adults navigating independent adult life for the first time, and young millennial families with children who had yet to establish strong parish routines.

The goal of this website redesign was to create a digital front door that could meet these audiences where they are — making it easier to find a parish, understand what the Syro-Malabar community offers, and feel genuinely welcomed back. For a church whose identity is so tied to community, culture, and living tradition, the website needed to reflect that warmth and sense of belonging, not just serve as an information repository.

This redesign project focused on the eparchy’s primary website as a key digital touchpoint for the community. The goal was to modernize the online experience and re-establish the website as a central hub for information, engagement, and community connection. By improving accessibility, content organization, and overall aesthetics, the redesigned site aimed to make it easier for parishioners—especially younger generations—to discover events, stay informed about church initiatives, and reconnect with parish life after the pandemic.

What is the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy?

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, tracing its origins to 52 AD, when St. Thomas arrived in Kerala, India. Part of the larger Roman Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar church is deeply rooted in Malayalam-speaking South Indian culture–which includes nearly 4.6 million members worldwide today. In the United States alone, we have over 87,000 members across 50 parishes and 34 missions, all led by the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

As a member of Chicago Syro-Malabar Church community myself, even though I am not religious, Syro-Malabar is still part of my cultural identity. So, when my close friend, Sharon (who is a fellow UX/UI Designer and also a very involved member and leader in our Chicago parish) asked me to help redesign the old outdated Chicago Diocese website–which reaches all 87,000+ members across the U.S., I wanted to do my part to help my community come back the long-running decline we had been seeing since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project Goal

While the Church has deep roots and a devoted membership, the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant disruption to parish life — one that the diocese had not fully recovered from by the time this project began. Like many religious communities nationwide, the Eparchy saw a measurable decline in attendance and active participation in the years following the pandemic. The impact was most pronounced among two key demographics: post-college-aged young adults navigating independent adult life for the first time, and young millennial families with children who had yet to establish strong parish routines.

The goal of this website redesign was to create a digital front door that could meet these audiences where they are — making it easier to find a parish, understand what the Syro-Malabar community offers, and feel genuinely welcomed back. For a church whose identity is so tied to community, culture, and living tradition, the website needed to reflect that warmth and sense of belonging, not just serve as an information repository.

This redesign project focused on the eparchy’s primary website as a key digital touchpoint for the community. The goal was to modernize the online experience and re-establish the website as a central hub for information, engagement, and community connection. By improving accessibility, content organization, and overall aesthetics, the redesigned site aimed to make it easier for parishioners—especially younger generations—to discover events, stay informed about church initiatives, and reconnect with parish life after the pandemic.

THe PROBLEM

Getting complaints from parishioners about the current diocese website:

  • getting complaints that there’s no up-to-date info

  • it’s ugly

  • when they’re searching for something, they’re not getting the info they need

Getting complaints from parishioners about the current diocese website:

  • getting complaints that there’s no up-to-date info

  • it’s ugly

  • when they’re searching for something, they’re not getting the info they need

TIMELINE

1 year (part-time)

TEAM

  • Sharon T. - UX/UI Designer & Project Manager

  • Bijo T. - Full-Stack Developer

TOOLS

Figma, Figjam, Figma AI, ChatGPT, Claude, Google Docs, Excel, Zoom, Heurio

MY ROLE

UX/UI Designer

  • Visual design, brand development, wireframes, high-fidelity wireframes & prototypes

Solution Preview

Old Website:

New Website:

Phase 1

Discover

Phase 1

Discover

Requirements & Scope

User Surveys

To better understand the needs of our ever-evolving community, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Chicago conducted a nationwide survey in 2024. It recieved 5,337 responses, spanning 85 parishes and missions across the entire U.S..

The survey captured feedback from a wide demographic range, including 36% youth and young adults (12–35), providing valuable insights into engagement, communication, and faith formation needs across the community.

Several recurring themes emerged that directly informed the website redesign strategy.

1. Younger generations are disengaging from parish life

A major concern identified in the survey was declining engagement among young adults and post-college parishioners.

  • Many respondents noted that youth often disengage after completing CCD programs in high school.

  • Respondents highlighted the need for more youth-focused programs, mentorship opportunities, and leadership roles.

  • The most frequently cited priority for the diocese was finding more effective ways to attract and engage young adults.

Design Takeaways:

Create digital pathways that help younger members easily discover ministries, events, and opportunities to stay involved in parish life.

2. Parishioners want clearer communication and transparency from leadership

Survey responses revealed a strong desire for better top-down communication from diocesan leadership.

Respondents requested:

  • clearer updates about diocesan initiatives

  • more accessible announcements and newsletters

  • greater transparency about decisions and finances

  • better channels for feedback and dialogue with leadership

Design implication:
Position the diocesan website as the central communication hub for leadership updates, news, and official information.

3. Important resources and events are difficult to discover

Parishioners expressed a need for easier access to information and faith resources, including:

  • prayer resources and devotional materials

  • faith formation and catechism resources

  • parish and diocesan events

  • educational content explaining church traditions

Design implication:

  • Improve information architecture and navigation so that parishioners can quickly locate resources, events, and educational materials.

4. Parishioners want stronger faith formation and community connection

While many families reported strong personal faith practices—89% reported regular family prayer at home—respondents expressed interest in deeper and more accessible faith formation opportunities.

Common requests included:

  • faith formation programs adapted to American culture

  • resources for parents and families

  • retreats, mentorship programs, and community-building activities

  • open forums for discussing faith topics

Design implication:
Use the website to surface faith formation resources, educational content, and community engagement opportunities more prominently.

Key Takeaway

The survey revealed that while the Syro-Malabar community remains deeply rooted in faith and family life, many parishioners—especially younger generations—struggle to stay connected to the church in the U.S. context.

The redesigned website therefore needed to:

  • improve discoverability of resources and events

  • provide clear communication from leadership

  • support faith formation and education

  • and help reconnect younger parishioners with the broader church community

Turning Interviews Into Insights

Requirements:

  1. Do a full, end-to-end redesign of the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Chicago's website:

    1. Define a clear brand identity and style guide for the Diocese website. It should complement the brand identity of the separate but related Chicago Cathedral website*

    2. Improve the site's information architecture - Make resources and information easier to find.

Goals:

The overall objectives were simple: make it easier to understand what the Syro-Malabar church is, what the community offers, and make less involved members feel genuinely welcomed back.

  1. Improve how we present our church's identity, history, and community–to parishioners and the public alike.

  2. Create a more interconnected web between various Syro-Malabar parishes' websites and online channels.

  3. Connect with youth: increase interest and value-ship.

  4. Improve overall findability and discoverability of information.

  5. Easy-to-find prayer resources + materials.

  6. Make it easy for parish and ministry (i.e., sub-community organizations) leaders or representatives to publish new content onto the website when needed.


*Whereas this Chicago Diocese website would be for the entire U.S. church including all of its parishes, the Chicago Cathedral website was specifically for the Chicagoland community itself.

Users avoid using certain filters due to complexity or insufficient context.
Users are requesting multi-selection & “select all” in categorical fields

Heuristic Analysis

Auditing the Old Website


Problems:


Competitor Analysis

Phase 2

Define

User Personas

Information Architecture

Breaking Things Down:
Filter Data Types

User Flows for Each Data Type

Phase 3

Ideate

Our Ideation Process

Design Iterations

Phase 4

Test & Refine

Test & Refine

Preparing the User Test

User Testing Results:

Post-testing Revisions

Phase 5

Deliver

Reflections & Next Steps

Overview

What is the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy?

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, tracing its origins to 52 AD, when St. Thomas arrived in Kerala, India. Part of the larger Roman Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar church is deeply rooted in Malayalam-speaking South Indian culture–which includes nearly 4.6 million members worldwide today. In the United States alone, we have over 87,000 members across 50 parishes and 34 missions, all led by the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

As a member of Chicago Syro-Malabar Church community myself, even though I am not religious, Syro-Malabar is still part of my cultural identity. So, when my close friend, Sharon (who is a fellow UX/UI Designer and also a very involved member and leader in our Chicago parish) asked me to help redesign the old outdated Chicago Diocese website–which reaches all 87,000+ members across the U.S., I wanted to do my part to help my community come back the long-running decline we had been seeing since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project Goal

While the Church has deep roots and a devoted membership, the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant disruption to parish life — one that the diocese had not fully recovered from by the time this project began. Like many religious communities nationwide, the Eparchy saw a measurable decline in attendance and active participation in the years following the pandemic. The impact was most pronounced among two key demographics: post-college-aged young adults navigating independent adult life for the first time, and young millennial families with children who had yet to establish strong parish routines.

The goal of this website redesign was to create a digital front door that could meet these audiences where they are — making it easier to find a parish, understand what the Syro-Malabar community offers, and feel genuinely welcomed back. For a church whose identity is so tied to community, culture, and living tradition, the website needed to reflect that warmth and sense of belonging, not just serve as an information repository.

This redesign project focused on the eparchy’s primary website as a key digital touchpoint for the community. The goal was to modernize the online experience and re-establish the website as a central hub for information, engagement, and community connection. By improving accessibility, content organization, and overall aesthetics, the redesigned site aimed to make it easier for parishioners—especially younger generations—to discover events, stay informed about church initiatives, and reconnect with parish life after the pandemic.

What is the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy?

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, tracing its origins to 52 AD, when St. Thomas arrived in Kerala, India. Part of the larger Roman Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar church is deeply rooted in Malayalam-speaking South Indian culture–which includes nearly 4.6 million members worldwide today. In the United States alone, we have over 87,000 members across 50 parishes and 34 missions, all led by the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago.

As a member of Chicago Syro-Malabar Church community myself, even though I am not religious, Syro-Malabar is still part of my cultural identity. So, when my close friend, Sharon (who is a fellow UX/UI Designer and also a very involved member and leader in our Chicago parish) asked me to help redesign the old outdated Chicago Diocese website–which reaches all 87,000+ members across the U.S., I wanted to do my part to help my community come back the long-running decline we had been seeing since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project Goal

While the Church has deep roots and a devoted membership, the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant disruption to parish life — one that the diocese had not fully recovered from by the time this project began. Like many religious communities nationwide, the Eparchy saw a measurable decline in attendance and active participation in the years following the pandemic. The impact was most pronounced among two key demographics: post-college-aged young adults navigating independent adult life for the first time, and young millennial families with children who had yet to establish strong parish routines.

The goal of this website redesign was to create a digital front door that could meet these audiences where they are — making it easier to find a parish, understand what the Syro-Malabar community offers, and feel genuinely welcomed back. For a church whose identity is so tied to community, culture, and living tradition, the website needed to reflect that warmth and sense of belonging, not just serve as an information repository.

This redesign project focused on the eparchy’s primary website as a key digital touchpoint for the community. The goal was to modernize the online experience and re-establish the website as a central hub for information, engagement, and community connection. By improving accessibility, content organization, and overall aesthetics, the redesigned site aimed to make it easier for parishioners—especially younger generations—to discover events, stay informed about church initiatives, and reconnect with parish life after the pandemic.

Insight 1

Users avoid using certain filters due to complexity or insufficient context.

Insight 2

Users are requesting multi-selection & “select all” in categorical fields

Insight 3

Users want to use the search bar as an immediate way to filter

Insight 4

Main goal: Identify assets with abnormal data before things escalate.

Full Case Study Coming Soon!

Back to Home