UX workshops
IA workshops
UI & Graphics
Design system
Wireframing
Prototyping
Animation
Design Reviews
Figma
Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
Canva
CMS
The Council of the European Union (EU) is the main decision-making body of the European Union, and is composed of the ministers of the 27 Member States.
The Council passes laws and sets the EU budget. It coordinates broad economic, foreign and security policies as well as conclude international agreements. It coordinates the actions of Member States and adopts cooperative measures in the area of police, judicial and criminal matters.
The presidency of the Council is held for six months by each Member State on a rotational basis.
Project overview
Over a year-long collaboration with the Digital Comms unit of the Council of the EU, I helped redesign and continuously improve key parts of the Council’s website, with a particular focus on the Topics section and related policy explanation pages. The work aimed to make complex EU policy information easier to find, easier to understand, and more engaging for the general public and other interested parties.
Header image: Redesigned Topic page for the Council of the EU website.
Responsive views of a Topic page for the Council of the EU website
Context and challenge
Analytics and surveys showed that a growing number of visitors wanted clear, easy‑to‑understand and more visual information explaining what the Council does. At the same time, the Topics section had to scale to cover 50+ policy areas, support both browsing and search, and serve a wide range of audiences with different levels of expertise.
The challenge was to reorganise content, evolve the visual language, and refine page layouts so that users could quickly orient themselves, drill down to the right level of detail, and connect policy information to real‑life impact.
Taking into consideration that most pieces on the website still have to respect specific wording, be officially translated 23 times for multilingual requirements.
57+
Policy areas
24
Languages
My role and collaboration model
I joined as a design expert and consultant embedded in the Digital Communications unit, contributing across UX, UI, visual design and research. The collaboration spanned internal teams (designers, content writers, developers, webmasters) and external partners (research agencies and accessibility experts where needed), working within the constraints of the Council’s institutional processes, GDPR, and existing brand and technical frameworks.
Key responsibilities included:
- Long‑term partnership within the unit = ongoing roadmap discussions and prioritisation.
- Cross‑functional workshops with digital editors, policy experts, developers, and researchers to align on goals and solutions.
- Hands‑on design delivery: UX flows, IA maps, UI prototypes, Design system, collages, icons, infographics, animations, and newsletter design within platform constraints.
- Bridging UX, content, and development, helping the team converge on shared decisions.
- Regular check‑ins with Leadership to validate priorities and design directions.