How Kanopi Rebuilt the Hamilton Education Site for Better Access and Engagement

If you’re a developer, part of an agency, or working inside an organisation that's eyeing its next CMS move, Drupal is probably already on your radar—and for good reason. It’s not just another open-source platform. Drupal is built for serious content management: complex structures, detailed permissions, high security, and the kind of flexibility that can grow with your needs. Whether you're running a nonprofit, supporting education, or managing large-scale digital ecosystems, Drupal gives you the tools to do it without constantly reinventing the wheel. And thanks to its active community and modular system, you're never building alone.

And if you're wondering how that plays out in the real world, look no further than Kanopi Studios.

Kanopi doesn’t just build websites. They support digital ecosystems with deliberate care and a long-term perspective. Focused on nonprofits, healthcare, and higher education, Kanopi is known for balancing custom development with community-contributed modules, ensuring innovation without unnecessary technical debt. Or in their words, “We make the internet better one website at a time.”

We connected with Andrew Williamson, Senior Project Manager at Kanopi Studios, who shared insights into one of their standout recent projects: rebuilding the Gilder Lehrman Institute's Hamilton Education Program website—a unique collaboration that fuses American history, arts education, and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s acclaimed Broadway musical into an educational initiative.

The Challenge: From Rigid to Responsive

The Hamilton site was previously built in Drupal 7, a platform increasingly inadequate for modern content needs. The editorial team found it difficult to update or manage content effectively. Teachers faced barriers in managing student accounts, and users dropped off early in their journey due to usability pain points. Nearly 99% of the content was gated behind logins, limiting access and negatively impacting SEO. Compounding the problem, the microsite lacked single sign-on functionality, requiring users to log in twice to access the Hamilton content.

Additionally, the search experience was underwhelming and failed to surface relevant resources, while the site’s structure didn’t encourage deeper exploration or engagement. The branding, though established, lacked flexibility across devices and content types.

The Process: Strategy Meets Structure

Kanopi's approach began with a discovery process designed to interrogate both user behaviour and technical constraints. This included content audits, analytics, user journeys, and competitive analysis. The discovery phase defined clear goals:

• Delight and engage users with a mobile-friendly, beautifully designed site.
• Simplify navigation for teachers, students, and parents.
• Build a flexible and accessible content strategy.
• Improve backend usability with modern editorial tools.
• Enhance technical SEO, performance, and accessibility.
• Streamline user permissions and mitigate risk.

To execute this vision, Kanopi created user personas and mapped them to UX and design choices. They worked within a pattern library developed by Hamilton’s branding agency to maintain visual continuity while extending the brand's digital reach.

The Solution: Modern Drupal, Modern Experience

Kanopi developed a component-based architecture in Drupal, allowing the Hamilton editorial team to build and reuse dynamic content without rigid templates. They implemented Single Sign-On (SSO) via Salesforce, enabling seamless access across Gilder Lehrman’s digital properties. Role-based content visibility was introduced, so students, teachers, and parents see tailored content while preserving a cohesive layout.

When we connected with Kanopi Studios to understand the process behind the rebuild, Andrew emphasised the foundational importance of their discovery phase:

"Early in the project's lifecycle, we completed a thorough Discovery process that considered qualitative and quantitative data. The information received enabled us to make informed decisions in order to update the site architecture and ensure the site delivered relevant information to the correct cohort and ensure a cohesive experience. We were also able to provide the Hamilton Team with the ability to hide and show content (on the same page) based on a user's role, while allowing the overarching architecture to remain the same."

To enhance content management:

"One of the significant enhancements to the new site was the use of component-driven content. The previous site used strict templates and fields to 'plug' in content. Using components empowers their editorial team to create engaging content that can be repositioned and reused throughout the site. This also allowed us to leverage the conditional content mentioned in the first point."

The Result: Award-Winning Engagement

Though comprehensive metrics are still being collected, the early indicators are promising. Andrew noted:

"To date, we haven't received measurable outcomes from the client. However, the recent enhancements related to Salesforce tracking are allowing the Hamilton team to gather more data and report on registrations, etc., more accurately with their leadership team. Furthermore, the new SSO integration creates a seamless experience between Hamilton's multiple properties. We've also received great feedback from teachers who appreciate the improved experience in managing their student accounts and sharing the site's materials in their classroom."

Other key features include an intuitive resource library, improved filtering, and curated content views per user role. Teachers now have an easier way to manage student accounts, and student privacy is better protected. Most importantly, the updated Drupal foundation positions the site for future growth and continued user engagement.

 Testimonial

This project, which earned a Web Excellence Award, demonstrates how a Drupal-powered rebuild can reinvigorate a digital platform, especially when driven by a thoughtful agency like Kanopi Studios. It’s not just about launching a new site—it’s about enabling a richer experience for every user involved.