enhancing access to public health

The Team
  • UX Designer

    Me

  • Director of User Experience

  • Deputy Communication Director

  • Software Developer

  • Project Manager

The Client

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services

The Tools

Figma

Lucid

Jira

Drupal

BACKGROUND

building a healthy website

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) is responsible for the health and well being of Missouri’s citizens. They achieve this by being a hub for resources and services for Missouri’s citizens, hospitals, schools, and small businesses. This includes educational health materials, licensing for hospitals, senior and disability services, and birth certificate requests.

Over time, the site has expanded to house a vast amount of information, making navigation challenging for users. DHSS undertook a comprehensive website redesign to improve user experience, accessibility, and the delivery of critical health information. The redesign included migration of content into a new content management system, Drupal.

research

identifying pain points

We conducted a stakeholder survey with 212 participants across 54 divisions who are most familiar with the DHSS website. This group included users who visit the site regularly to complete tasks for their job, content managers, and state employees who assist citizens. We asked respondents what the main reasons they came to the site were, what areas could be improved, and what their biggest pain points were.

difficulty finding information

Site visitors view the DHSS site as a resource of very important information, but they have trouble finding what they are looking for. Poor navigation, crowded pages, and a broken search function make it difficult to find information.

overwhelming content

Many users expressed frustration with having to click through multiple layers of pages to reach their desired content. They noted that pages are too content-heavy, with lengthy text and outdated information making it difficult to find relevant resources.

content management workflows

Content managers rely on a ticketing system through the IT department to update content on pages they are responsible for. The current process to update content often has long wait times and errors in updates.

ideation

Problem

Goal

Difficulty Finding Information

Users cannot find the information they need from the DHSS site

Intuitive Navigation

New information architecture and redesigned navigation

Overwhelming Pages

Users are overwhelmed by heavy content and inconsistent page layouts

Clean Layouts

Provide page templates for content managers to create cohesiveness across the site

Outdated Content

Outdated content and broken links cause confusion for users who need accurate information

Accurate Information

Allow content managers control over their pages so they can easily update information

exploration

Intuitive Navigation

home page hero

The home page was link heavy and did not guide users to the information they need. The new home page hero provides users with three easy ways to find what they came to the website for.

exploration

Intuitive Navigation

navigation menu

Users were confused by the site’s information architecture and could not find what they needed. We reevaluated the main sections of the website and added subsections within them. The subsections keep the site organized and guide users to the information they need.

exploration

Clean Layouts

Accurate Information

Content Templates

The DHSS pages were made up of inconsistent layouts and one off components. Without patterns, site visitors had a hard time adjusting to new page layouts. With the new Drupal implementation, pages managed by content managers will follow a template with the option to add pre-built components. This will give the site a cohesive feel, as well as make it easier for content managers to make updates.