While working for The City of Boston at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that public health information alongside frequent access to community resources, closures, and updates were in high demand. The Boston Public Health Commission has for many years been a hub for such information, however; BPHC was deeply entrenched in antiquated technology and not built around a user-centric platform.
The BPHC site had outgrown its existing structure and needed an overhaul. The user experience was mired by the fact that it held nearly 50 different departments, each with its own microsite, navigation, and content.
Just months prior, The City of Boston had developed a new brand with a more welcoming tone and commitment to robust user experience strategies. With more than 7 million people each year visiting the Boston.gov site to tap into all sorts of city services, our research affirmed the clear benefit of merge the two platforms. At that time we launched our project to migrate the existing BPHC site and its assets to the new and refreshed Boston.gov.
As the co-leading designer for this initiative, our objective was to design something that would simplify how people navigate the site, to make it easier for residents to find answers to common questions, and, in the process, serve as a community facilitator—an up-to-date, reliable resource that enhanced the life of its users during the pandemic.