Chapel Hill, NC, Aug. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rivers Agency, a full-service advertising, branding, digital and technology agency based in Chapel Hill, has launched a completely redesigned website for MCNC, the nonprofit technology organization that owns and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network.
The new MCNC.org was created to make it significantly easier for visitors to navigate the organization’s extensive resources, understand its services and discover the many ways MCNC supports education, healthcare, government, libraries and other community institutions throughout North Carolina.
Rivers Agency led the entire website transformation, including research and strategy, information architecture, user experience, visual design, content strategy and creation, and full-stack website development.
“MCNC has an incredibly important mission and a tremendous amount of valuable information to share,” said Lauren Rivers, founder and CEO of Rivers Agency. “Our goal was to create a website that makes that information easier to find, easier to understand and more meaningful to the many communities MCNC serves. Every aspect of the site, from its underlying structure to its content, design and technology, was developed to help people more clearly see MCNC’s impact across North Carolina.”
A New Approach to Website Strategy
One of the most important elements of the project was Rivers Agency’s use of Object-Oriented User Experience, or OOUX, a methodology that organizes a digital experience around the people, places, services, programs and resources users are seeking.
Rather than beginning with a traditional page-by-page website structure, the Rivers team identified the core objects within MCNC’s organization and mapped the relationships among them. This approach helped create a more intuitive content system that allows users to move naturally between related services, industries, initiatives, news, resources and areas of impact.
The resulting website architecture reduces content silos and makes it easier for visitors to explore MCNC’s work based on their individual interests and needs.
“MCNC serves a wide range of organizations and communities across North Carolina, and it was important that our website make it easier for each of those audiences to find the information and resources most relevant to them. Rivers Agency helped us transform a large and complex body of content into a more intuitive, engaging digital experience that clearly communicates who we are, what we do and the impact of our work,” said James M. Nester, Chief Marketing Officer & Sr. Director Client Advocacy at MCNC. “The new MCNC.org gives us a strong, flexible platform that will continue to support our mission and the communities we serve for years to come.”
Original Content That Communicates MCNC’s Mission
Rivers Agency collaborated with MCNC on the content strategy and creation process for the new website, working closely with MCNC’s leadership and subject-matter experts to evaluate existing materials, identify content gaps and develop clear, accessible messaging throughout the site.
The new content was written to explain highly technical services in a way that remains accurate while being approachable for a broad range of audiences. It also places a greater emphasis on the people, organizations and communities that benefit from MCNC’s technology, infrastructure and expertise.
Content development included organizational messaging, service descriptions, industry-focused content, initiative and program information, impact stories, calls to action, navigation language and search-friendly website copy.
A Modern Design Focused on Clarity and Connection
The website’s visual design was created to reflect MCNC’s position as both a sophisticated technology organization and a mission-driven community partner.
Rivers developed a flexible design system that uses bold typography, clear visual hierarchy, engaging imagery and modular content components to help users quickly scan pages and locate relevant information. The design brings consistency to a large and complex website while allowing different programs, services and stories to maintain their own focus.
The new experience was also designed responsively to provide intuitive access to MCNC’s content across desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
A Flexible, High-Performance Digital Platform
Rivers Agency developed the new website using Next.js for the front-end experience and WordPress as a headless content management system.
This headless architecture combines the flexibility and familiar content-management capabilities of WordPress with the speed, performance and development advantages of a modern React-based Next.js framework. By separating the presentation layer from the CMS, the platform delivers faster page loads, improved Core Web Vitals, and a strong foundation for search engine optimization while providing a highly customized user experience.
The website was built using a component-driven architecture with reusable content modules and structured content relationships that allow information to be managed efficiently and reused across the site. This approach simplifies ongoing content management, improves consistency, and enables new pages and features to be developed quickly without rebuilding existing functionality.
The result is a flexible, scalable digital platform that supports MCNC's current needs while providing a foundation for future growth, new functionality, and evolving content requirements.
“Great websites are not created by addressing strategy, design, content and technology separately,” Rivers said. “They are created when all of those disciplines work together. This project reflects the strength of that integrated approach and the commitment of both teams to creating a digital experience that will serve MCNC’s mission for years to come.”
Visitors can explore the new website at MCNC.org.
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About Rivers Agency
Rivers Agency is an advertising, branding, design, digital, social, PR, and web development agency with locations in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Since 1993, our teams have been creating integrated campaigns, innovative marketing solutions and user-friendly web experiences for B2C and B2B clients on both a national and local scale.
We’re proud that our creative and web development work has earned accolades from the Addy Awards, Communicator Awards, MarCom Awards, Davey Awards and W3 Awards, and our agency is recognized as one of the largest advertising agencies by the Triangle Business Journal. But our true passion is working with clients and using our creativity to seize opportunities and conquer challenges so we can deliver results and exceed your expectations.
To see our work or learn more, visit riversagency.com
For media inquiries, contact Rivers Agency: publicrelations@riversagency.com 919-932-9985
