Helping NoRedInk Write Its Next Chapter

NoRedInk is taking the fear out of writing for students all across America. Supporting learners in more than 60% of U.S. school districts, NRI builds confidence through adaptive lessons and interest-driven practice, making writing feel less like a hurdle and more like a habit. But behind the scenes, their marketing team was running into a different kind of writing problem.

A team responsible for telling NoRedInk's story shouldn't need an engineering ticket to change a headline. But on their existing site, even simple content updates had to move through development. A copy change that should have taken an hour could take days. New pages, campaign updates, and content improvements were all slowed by a system that put too much distance between the team and the story they needed to tell.

NoRedInk came to us with a clear ask: migrate from Contentful to WordPress. We approached the project as more than a CMS move. The site needed to give marketing more control, without creating more work for engineering or more risk for the brand.

Designing for ownership

We built a custom WordPress theme around the way NoRedInk's team needed to publish.

Gutenberg and Advanced Custom Fields gave us the right balance of structure and flexibility. Custom blocks handled the sections NoRedInk would use again and again. Native Gutenberg blocks gave the team room for lighter, more editorial content. Together, they made the site easier to update without opening the door to a loose collection of one-off pages.

We also reworked the content model. Blog Posts and Case Studies became custom post types, with archive and single templates that could support a growing library of stories, insights, and proof points over time.

The editing experience became simpler; the marketing teams breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Plugin usage stayed lean. Each addition was reviewed with NoRedInk's team. The build had to be useful on day one, and still understandable months later when the team was managing it on their own.

Making the migration matter

A migration like this succeeds or fails in the details most visitors never see.

We coordinated a content freeze, rebuilt top-level pages directly in Gutenberg, migrated metadata, mapped redirects, and handled URL structures carefully to protect search continuity. We connected marketing and analytics tools, supported URL parameter passing for user tracking, and implemented GDPR-compliant consent measures across the site.

We also built the custom blocks to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards, so accessibility decisions were part of the page system itself, not something the team had to revisit with every new update.

All of this made the site easier for marketing to own and easier for engineering to trust.

Handing over the keys

Before launch, we tested the site across browsers, devices, and performance environments. We flagged security considerations early, coordinated DNS planning, mapped redirects, and monitored the site after go-live.

Then we made sure the team could actually use what we built.

We created a training library with video tutorials and written documentation, giving NoRedInk's marketing team a clear reference for managing and expanding the site after launch.

The new platform gives NoRedInk a clearer way to manage its story online. Pages can be updated without unnecessary engineering support. New content has a structure to live in. The brand has stronger guardrails. And the website is ready for what NoRedInk writes next.