A community where everyone belongs

Temple Emanu-El was founded in 1872 as the first Jewish congregation in North Dallas. With 150 years of history, it was high time for Temple’s digital presence to clearly communicate their mission and values, while providing user-friendly resources for members and visitors alike. That’s when they tapped Tegan in.

Over the last year, we’ve worked closely with Temple’s key stakeholders to define their distinctive voice through Storytelling and redesign their website with an inspired look and feel. Some of our collaborative goals were: 1) Create an unexpectedly simple, seamless user experience, 2) Be a reflection of the diverse community Temple serves as well as the stunning physical space it occupies, and 3) Build a modern, easy-to-maintain CMS platform.

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When it was time to kick off design, we knew we were in for a fun ride. Temple’s awe-inspiring architectural elements served as a guide for creating a seamless connection between physical and digital spaces. The color blocks that animate throughout the site were inspired by George Kepes’ abstract stained-glass windows in the Olan Sanctuary. And the rainbow load bar at the top of the website was designed to emphasize Temple’s welcoming stance of diversity and inclusion. (It also played as a subtle nod to Suzanne Tick’s mylar balloons installation that covers the Torah ark in the Stern Chapel).

On the development side, our team built the site in WordPress to keep back-end admin and updates easy and user-friendly. We also integrated Temple’s livestream page with the website, making it more accessible to members and newcomers. And lastly, we tackled their membership-focused platform with a much-needed refresh, updating it to match the look and feel of the main site for consistency, while also reducing the amount of content for a more accessible user journey.