National Constitution Center

Pedrera has worked with the National Constitution Center (NCC) since 2007, acting as their primary web agency. Pedrera has provided the NCC a range of services throughout the years, such as strategic consulting on harmonizing their various web properties, ExpressionEngine development, security hardening, generative engine / AI optimization, web server administration and maintenance.

Our Client

Today, ConstitutionCenter.org serves as one of the nation's leading online destinations for constitutional education, civic learning, scholarly analysis and public discourse. The website reaches millions of visitors annually and provides educators, students, scholars and the public with access to an extensive collection of constitutional resources, educational materials, events and historical content.

Over nearly two decades, Pedrera has helped the NCC continuously evolve its digital presence to support the organization's mission of increasing understanding of the United States Constitution and the principles of constitutional democracy.

The Challenge

By 2020, the National Constitution Center had grown far beyond the website architecture that had been established nearly a decade earlier. The organization's educational initiatives, digital resources and online audience had expanded dramatically. New programs such as the Interactive Constitution, Constitution 101 Curriculum and a growing collection of classroom resources had become central to the NCC's mission. At the same time, thousands of pages of content had accumulated across numerous content types, creating challenges related to navigation, content organization and discoverability.

Pedrera was engaged to conduct a comprehensive user experience and information architecture study to better understand how visitors used the website and how the platform could better support the NCC's educational mission. Our research included analytics analysis, content audits, taxonomy reviews, sitemap evaluations and user journey mapping.

The findings were clear: most visitors were coming to the website seeking information about the Constitution itself. Constitutional concepts, amendments, articles and related civic topics represented the primary context through which users engaged with the NCC's content. The website needed to be reorganized around the needs of its users rather than the internal structure of the organization.

How We Helped

Strategy & Information Architecture

Pedrera developed a new information architecture designed to unify the NCC's educational resources, constitutional content and public programs within a cohesive user experience. A key recommendation was to fully integrate constitutional concepts into the website's data model and content relationships. Rather than treating the Constitution as a separate destination, constitutional topics would become a foundational organizational framework connecting content throughout the platform.

This approach enabled visitors to move seamlessly between constitutional text, scholarly analysis, educational resources, blog content, videos, events and historical documents. The result was a more intuitive experience that better reflected how visitors naturally explore and learn about constitutional topics.

Highlighting the Constitution in ConstitutionCenter.org

One of Pedrera's most significant contributions was the recommendation that the Constitution itself become a core component of the website's content architecture.

Once constitutional elements were incorporated directly into the website's data model, they could serve as the connective tissue linking content across the platform. Amendments, articles, clauses and constitutional concepts became shared points of reference that connected lesson plans, educational resources, scholarly essays, blog posts, videos and historical documents. This strategy transformed the Constitution from a standalone resource into the organizing framework of the entire website, creating meaningful pathways that encourage deeper engagement and exploration.

Complete Website Redesign

Following the discovery phase, Pedrera led the technical implementation of a comprehensive website redesign. The project included:

• A completely new information architecture and navigation system
• A redesigned content model supporting thousands of content items
• Migration of more than 3,000 pages and resources
• Responsive front-end development
• New content management workflows
• Modernized hosting infrastructure
• Performance optimization and security hardening
• Integration with third-party platforms and services

Pedrera also developed a flexible page-building system within ExpressionEngine that enables NCC staff to create custom landing pages and content experiences using reusable layout components. Similar in concept to modern page builders, the system provides significant flexibility while maintaining design consistency across the platform.

Educational Resources & Curriculums

The National Constitution Center has become one of the nation's most important providers of constitutional education resources. Pedrera developed and continues to support a robust educational platform that includes curriculum resources, lesson plans, videos, classroom activities and primary source materials. The system supports sophisticated filtering and categorization by topic, grade level, resource type and educational standards, making it easier for educators to discover relevant materials. These resources help teachers bring constitutional education into classrooms across the country and support the NCC's mission far beyond the walls of its Philadelphia museum.

Founding Documents & Scholarly Analysis

Pedrera developed custom experiences for both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence that support educational exploration and scholarly engagement. The platform includes sophisticated content relationships connecting constitutional text to related educational resources, historical documents, blog content and scholarly commentary. Custom tools support inline annotations, contextual references and content cross-linking, creating a rich educational experience that helps users understand not only the text itself, but also its historical context and continuing relevance.

Integration & Infrastructure

Over the course of the relationship, Pedrera has integrated the website with a variety of platforms and services. These integrations have included donor and constituent systems, event management platforms, webinar systems and other technologies that support the NCC's operations and public programming. Pedrera also continues to provide infrastructure management, security monitoring, performance optimization and ongoing technical support to ensure that the platform remains stable, secure and capable of handling significant traffic demands.

AI Optimization & Structured Data

As search and content discovery continue to evolve, Pedrera has helped position the National Constitution Center for emerging AI-driven search experiences. Starting in the Fall of 2025, Pedrera conducted a comprehensive AI optimization initiative that included structured data enhancements, llms.txt implementation and content discoverability improvements.

To support this effort, Pedrera developed a custom workflow leveraging artificial intelligence to evaluate thousands of URLs and identify structured data opportunities. These recommendations were combined with a CMS-driven schema framework supporting content types such as articles, events, videos, educational resources, organizations and courses. As a result of the initiative, structured data coverage was expanded to approximately 97% of the website's pages. Monthly AI audience increased by over 60%.

Meaningful Results

The National Constitution Center's website has become one of the most widely used constitutional education resources in the United States. Highlights include:

• More than 11 million annual visitors
• More than 3,000 pages and content resources
• Hundreds of curriculum resources, lesson plans and educational materials
• Nearly one million visitors served during the January 6 news cycle over a 48-hour period
• National media recognition from outlets including CNN, USA Today and The Washington Post
• Nearly two decades of continuous partnership between the National Constitution Center and Pedrera

The website continues to evolve as a critical platform for constitutional education, public discourse and civic engagement, helping the National Constitution Center fulfill its mission for millions of visitors each year.

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