Nutrition & Physical Activity

Background

What we use to fuel our bodies and how often we move are perhaps the two most important factors in determining the impact of chronic disease. And yet, the Nutrition and Physical Activity programs tend to have the smallest budgets. This site was converted to WordPress in 2015 with heavy client direction. At that time, the focus was on form rather than function with an emphasis on audience sectors. And while the design was a massive improvement– opportunities to simplify and use the greatly improved functionality of the CMS was missed (you win some you lose some).

However, because the HealthySD website is fairly content-heavy (with okay SEO and a loyal following) it has remained a cornerstone of information for South Dakotans– and even for other states– in spite of the current clumsy navigation. When budget allows, social media posts direct users to article-level pages.

Challenges

• Years of suggesting a rebuild have resulted in cautious approval of a navigation overhaul.

• Budget constraints will limit our ability to make all of the updates we had on our list.

• The timeframe is short (less than 6 months).

Approach & Early Ideation

A sneak peek at the process and some of the much-anticipated improvements coming soon include:

• We reviewed how the site is being used and by whom– user empathy is a powerful thing!

• We prioritized programs, articles, and resources the State should have been featuring all along.

• We simplified the navigation– from 13 vague sectors to 6 descriptive categories.

• Redesigned the home page and made better use of section landing pages.

• We retagged over 500 articles so filtering could work properly.

• Reformatted the funding opportunities page for a cleaner user experience.

Insights

Big-budget-from-the-ground-up projects are great but often the most challenging and rewarding efforts come from making small improvements that showcase priority content and greatly enhance the user experience.