INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION

BACKGROUND

The International Documentary Association ("IDA") has been a beacon for documentary storytellers for over 40 years, supporting nonfiction filmmaking and filmmakers through extensive program areas. At the center of that mission is Documentary Magazine, one of the field's most respected publications, now reaching a global audience through both print and digital.

THE CHALLENGE

IDA's website, originally built on Drupal 7, had grown into a patchwork of ad-hoc features that made day-to-day management difficult and constrained editorial ambition. The magazine section looked and functioned like the rest of the site, making it hard to establish a distinct identity for the publication. The video library had no discovery structure, no content gating, and no way to differentiate member-only content. And as IDA's print magazine underwent a visual refresh, the digital edition had no way to reflect it.

THE SOLUTION

Phase 1: Platform Modernization

To tackle the challenges of the outdated system, we upgraded the IDA website to the latest version of Drupal, providing a more secure and flexible platform. Key enhancements included the integration of NeonCRM, a customer relationship management system, for Single Sign-On (SSO), facilitating a smoother user experience and improved management of member data. We redesigned the homepage to feature important content dynamically, making it more interactive and engaging for users. A significant volume of content was carefully migrated to ensure data integrity and continuity while pruning legacy content that no longer served the site's mission.

The rebuild was successful, transitioning a complex and expansive website without disrupting its functionality. This massive undertaking not only modernized the IDA’s digital presence but also enhanced user interactions through a streamlined editing interface and visually appealing design elements. 

Phase 2: Magazine Redesign and Video Library

With the platform stabilized, IDA returned to tackle two major editorial and UX priorities. The magazine section needed its own visual identity, distinct from the rest of documentary.org and aligned with the redesigned print edition. The video library needed a complete rethinking to make content more discoverable and to support content gating for members.

We redesigned the online magazine from the ground up, establishing a visual language that draws from the print publication's design while functioning as a standalone digital experience. Editors gained a streamlined publishing workflow, with improved tools for featuring articles, managing issue archives, and surfacing content by tag and category. Central to this is the Mercury Editor interface, which gives the IDA editorial team a visual, in-context page-building experience that allows them to compose rich, magazine-quality layouts with text, imagery, pull quotes, and media without developer involvement. The result is a magazine section that feels like a publication, not a subsection.

For the video library, we restructured navigation and browse patterns to make content easier to find, and built out a gating system that allows IDA to deliver exclusive video to members while keeping a meaningful portion of content accessible to the public. We also updated the homepage to clearly distinguish magazine content from blog content, and revised the mobile menu to surface the magazine and login links prominently.

Since launch, the magazine section has seen a 42% increase in engagement and a 19% increase in organic users.