UFCU is the largest locally-owned financial institution in Austin with over $400 million in assets and over 100,000 members. It is the 11th largest credit union in the United States.

We've led development on their intranet, an extranet, and two Web sites for over four years. Each new tool organizes and simplifies processes, allowing UFCU to invest more employee hours in customer service thereby increasing their profitability.

Our latest project was a complete site redesign to offer an integrated Web image in support of their new branding strategy to compete with top-tier financial institutions.

To determine the new Look and Feel Interactive Ensemble teamed with UFCU representatives to develop a visual presence focused on strong branding and ease of use.

During the design process, we demonstrated new navigation systems and analysed each for accessibility, usability and market acceptance. Based on this analysis, a versatile drop down menu system was adopted.

Every page of the site offers multiple locations to place promotional ads, cross references, persuasive facts or practical information designed to inform members and keep them coming back. We implemented UFCU's new site in SMS, our site management system. This empowers their non-technical employees to easily update, maintain and edit their site content.

The newly branded UFCU site went live November 2001. We continue to work closely with their team providing design, maintenance and support ensuring that the site continues to help them meet their communications objectives.