CIUT - Content Audit & IA Redesign
Audited a campus radio station's whole website. The station adopted the fixes and is planning a full rebuild.
Overview
Solo project: the content audit, information architecture, redesign, and pitch to the station
Showing off a station with a good heart
CIUT 89.5 FM is U of T's campus and community radio station. It has a good heart, but its website wasn't showing it.
- !The problem Info on volunteering, donating, and even the shows themselves was missing, misplaced, or buried.
- Why it matters CIUT runs on donations and volunteers. If people can't find how to help, they can't help!
- +The solution An audit of every page, 5 ranked fixes, a new site structure, and a 12-page redesign that puts them into action.
This is a content audit and information architecture project. The recommendations come from crawl data, a content review, and peer benchmarking. I didn't interview or test with listeners, so the new structure still needs testing with real listeners.
Result
Presented my findings to the station
CIUT.fm, redesigned
Here's where it ended up. All 12 pages are clickable, so have a look around:
What came out of it
- The station took it on I presented my findings to CIUT, and they adopted the page-level fixes, like repairing broken links and adding missing context.
- A full rebuild, on the way The deeper structural and style problems I found convinced the station to plan a complete rebuild of the site.
- Every fix, backed by data I crawled all 155 URLs and rated the content, so every recommendation points back to something real.
The process
How I got there
Problem
I wanted to volunteer… but how?
CIUT runs on volunteers, so I was surprised that when I went looking to volunteer, the website barely mentioned it.
It didn't stop there. Info about the station and how to get involved was often missing, misplaced, or buried. For a nonprofit that runs on donations and volunteers, that's a big deal!
Problem Statement CIUT's listeners and community need a clear way to find the station's shows, events, and ways to help, so they can connect with it and support it.
Audit
Crawled all 155 URLs and rated the content
Every page, rated
This started as a content audit for school. I picked CIUT because I actually care about it, and I took it way past what was asked.
Phase 1: SEO crawl Screaming Frog pulled all 155 URLs: every page, image, link, and bit of metadata.
Phase 2: Content audit I rated content from 1 to 5, including 10 of the 74 show pages in depth, on whether it was:
- Accurate
- Actionable
- Findable
- Relevant
- Usable
What I found
!Lack of polish Broken show links, a COVID-19 notice still on the Advertising page, and a board list missing titles and emails
!Missing context A donate button beside unexplained hat and T-shirt photos, and captionless photos site-wide
!Stale content Most shows had active social media that the site rarely linked to, and the events CIUT runs were barely mentioned
!Messy information 70 pages with no meta description, 76 sharing "Just another WordPress site", and headings out of order
The takeaway None of these problems were huge on their own. Together, they meant visitors had to work way too hard to piece things together, and so did search engines.
Fixes
Five fixes, most important first
Everything I found boiled down to 5 fixes, ordered so a small volunteer team could start at the top and work down. The rest of the project is me putting them into action.
- Fix what's broken or missing Every show and podcast gets its own page with a photo, description, and contact info
- Add context and clarity Every section and call to action explains what it is and why it matters
- Restructure for readability Short paragraphs, real subheadings, and consistent show pages
- Refine for SEO Unique titles and meta descriptions, and a proper heading hierarchy
- Link out Make the site the hub for shows' social media, CIUT's own accounts, and live events
Structure
Compared 3 peer stations and redrew the site map
How do other stations do it?
I looked at 3 stations with similar missions and more polished sites: CJTM (TMU), CKUT (McGill), and n10.as (Montreal). Here's what they had in common:
- +Always-there actions "Listen Live" and "Donate" live in a fixed header
- +Schedules vs. shows Calendar-style schedules, and separate photo grids of shows with filters
- +Show pages that invite Genre tags, external links, and easy access to past episodes
- +A home for events Dedicated News & Events pages, plus footers with address and socials
So I restructured the site around its core tasks
- Always one click away Listen Live and Donate sit in the header on every page
- Schedule and Shows, split "What's on now?" and "what's on CIUT?" each get a clear answer
- New homes for content Podcasts and News & Events get their own pages
- A tidier menu En Français, Alumni, and Bylaws move under About
Before: a flat menu of 10 sections, with shows only reachable through the schedule or an alphabetical list.
After: clear top-level sections, with individual show and podcast pages, and supporting pages grouped under About.
Redesign
Prototyped all 12 pages in Figma
The fixes, in action
Each change below maps back to one of the 5 fixes, so the station can see why it's there.
Fix 2 · Add context
The mystery hat and T-shirt, explained
The hat and shirt are now clearly rewards ("free with a donation over $50"), and the page explains where donations go.
Fix 1 · Fix what's missing
Every show gets a real page
A consistent layout for every show: time slot, genres, hosts, social links, and past episodes to play.
Fix 1 + 3 · Missing info, restructured
Finally, who to email
The board moved to Contact, and every person now has a title and email, alongside the station's address, hours, and socials.
Everywhere else
Reflection
What I learned
- A vague feeling can become a to-do list At first, I just knew the site felt hard to use. The audit turned that feeling into specific problems, and ranking them is what made it something the station could actually act on.
- Show it, don't just say it A peer reviewer suggested sticking to wireframes to save time. I prototyped every page instead. More work, but now anyone can click through the fixes instead of imagining them.
- An audit shows what's broken, not what people need The crawl and the content review told me where the site falls short. They can't tell me how listeners actually look for shows or how volunteers decide to sign up. Next time, I'd run a quick tree test or card sort with real listeners to check the new structure before designing on top of it.
- The work that matters most might be right in front of you We often dream about redesigning giant platforms. But CIUT runs on volunteers, with limited funding and not enough hands to catch everything. Seeing them adopt the fixes and plan a rebuild felt so good, for an organization that's truly lovable.