Work
Comic-Con International
Account lead and strategy for a Drupal-to-WordPress Multisite: six sub-sites, delivered on time and on budget
The challenge
Revamp Comic-Con’s online presence under an aggressive timeline: migrating from Drupal to WordPress Multisite, unifying sub-sites (Comic-Con International, San Diego, WonderCon, SAM, Toucan blog, and the Museum), and launching in time to support early ticket sales for Comic-Con 2024.
The solution
A rapid discovery and design phase focused on visual agility and feature prioritization, with a cross-functional agency team and a highly engaged client partner, backed by AWS hosting, DevOps support, and a custom block-based WordPress build.
100
Accessibility score
6
Sub-sites on one network
On time
MVP delivery
Project team
My role
Agency account lead and strategy
Agency team
Front-end developer, back-end developer, two designers, project manager, DevOps, and team lead
Client team
Product owner, writing, developer, project lead, and content entry / writer
The platform in production
Six sub-sites on one WordPress Multisite network, each with its own visual identity, unified navigation, and shared infrastructure.
Flying into action
Comic-Con faced a formidable challenge: revamping its online presence while meeting an ambitious deadline for an MVP launch. The project involved migrating from an older version of Drupal to WordPress, training the Comic-Con team on new site editing procedures, and building a unified yet flexible experience across sub-sites. I served as account lead and strategist, working closely with the client team throughout.
High-touch discovery & design
We kicked things off with a discovery and design phase, collaborating closely with Comic-Con stakeholders to define priorities and align expectations. Balancing cohesive design across diverse sub-sites while allowing for individuality presented a significant challenge we embraced as an opportunity to innovate, including a themed “nebula” animated shape that morphs around the viewport, with each sub-site possessing its own special version.
Customizable mega menus
We built a flexible mega menu system with multiple layout variations so site admins can customize navigation and adapt it to each sub-site’s unique needs: mixing featured images, grouped links, and promotional content without developer support. Because timely content is critical for Comic-Con, we also added update flags admins can toggle on any menu item to highlight when information has changed, drawing attention to time-sensitive pages like press updates and registration details.
Feature prioritization & launch focus
The primary focus for the MVP was supporting early ticket sales for Comic-Con 2024: rallying the team around getting site users the information they needed for ticket purchases. The site is WordPress Multisite with a mix of custom patterns and blocks, running on AWS with dedicated DevOps support for caching, redirects, and dev/stage/prod environments. There is more to come in future phases.
A great client partner
Comic-Con’s team was knowledgeable, highly communicative, and empowered to make decisions. They considered the agency team experts and brought genuine kindness to the collaboration, making a high-pressure timeline much smoother to navigate.
Accessible for all
As a California-based nonprofit, accessibility was a primary area of focus for San Diego Comic Convention. We concentrated on accessibility best practices throughout the project and achieved a 100/100 accessibility score at launch.
Beyond launch
The MVP was just the beginning. Post-launch, we added multi-language support across the network and have continued working with Comic-Con to ship new features and improvements, extending the platform as their needs evolve.