Website Development & Redesign
Developing a user-friendly, accessible website
Overview
Client
Waubonsie Mental Health Center, part of 300-level university course: Web Development II
Challenge
In a team of 3, develop and design an enhanced website featuring more mental health resources while maintaining the current information architecture, ensuring user-friendliness for all age groups.
Background
The website's primary objective is to educate patients about Waubonsie Clinic's services and providers, while also working towards destigmatizing mental illness. As a marketing tool, it targets a diverse audience including lower socio-economic class individuals, Medicaid users, parents, and adults with chronic mental health issues, spanning from late teens to seniors in their 80s or 90s, with a range of educational backgrounds.
Solution
To improve user experience and search engine optimization, the solution involved using HTML/CSS to develop a new website, implementing a search bar for efficient information retrieval and optimizing the website to enhance visibility and search rankings. Additionally, the content strategy included providing relevant links to local chapters, national mental health resources, and other organizations, while dedicating a section to showcase Waubonsie Clinic's providers with comprehensive biographies and credentials.
The goal was to ensure educational and informative content while enhancing the visual appeal by incorporating additional images and overall design improvements, which were user-tested.
Scope
Design and develop a new accessible website using HTML/CSS including all of the webpages available at the time.
Goals:
A clear distinction between services offered
Easy access to appointment management
Improve overall usability and information architecture
Clear design layout and readability
Include more patient resources and SEO opportunities
Methods
Competitors’ websites that were reviewed and findings, both the good and bad components of these sites.
Following the analysis, I created some low-fidelity wireframes of the UI and the information architecture of the sitemap.
Process
Findings
To improve the site's user experience (UX), our users recommended relocating the "Peer Support information" button to a more discoverable location, such as the resources tab, rather than on the services page. Additionally, according to user feedback, the button should provide immediate access to the information instead of requiring scrolling, ensuring a seamless experience.
The second theme in our users' feedback was that it would be better to move the FAQs to their own page as they were somewhat buried.
Optimizing the site's header by reducing its size would enhance usability and eliminate obstruction, leading to an overall improved user experience.
User Testing
We used Illustrator and InVision to create high-fidelity prototypes in order to do the first few user tests of our website.
Our tests covered the home page, about us page, services page, events page, and contact us navigation. It was mostly about user journey and navigation.
The user tests were carried out through Lookback.io or in person. We set them up in 7 goal-oriented scenarios.