Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network

Rebuilding the Website of a Health Care Nonprofit

Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) is the only national advocacy organization devoted to advancing bladder cancer research and supporting those impacted by the disease. BCAN provides a wealth of resources to bladder cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, and families. The website includes everything from a database of clinical trials, to a page where people can share their bladder cancer stories. BCAN hired Brick Factory in 2021 to design and develop a new version of its WordPress site.

Understanding BCAN’s Audience

As part of our discovery process, we thoroughly reviewed usage patterns on the existing website to understand who was visiting, and how they were using the resources they found. What technology did people use to access the site, and what content were they hoping to find? With that knowledge, we created user personas for each major group within BCAN’s user base: bladder cancer patients, caregivers, medical researchers, and healthcare providers. For each user persona, we detailed their objectives and needs, and projected how they might take action within the BCAN website.

Design

Brick Factory redesigned the BCAN site for an uncluttered, streamlined experience. In order to provide relatable imagery and make the user feel welcome, we added photos of people to the home page and major landing pages. We also added a very clear lead generation opportunity on the home page, by providing an opportunity to sign up via email for a free resource on bladder cancer.

Navigation

The previous version of the BCAN website was confusing to navigate. The redesigned site provides a more guided user journey where we make it dead simple for visitors to find information. To accomplish this, we streamlined the navigation system into “mega menus” – a few broad categories with a well-organized dropdown menu for each.

Tailored Mobile Experience

In our initial research, we found that 40% of traffic to the BCAN website came from mobile devices. But the site had been designed to be viewed on a desktop computer, and just didn’t look as good or work as well on a smartphone. In the mobile version, the menu placement was clunky, and elements were not being removed or resized for a smaller screen. Brick Factory redesigned the site to be 100% mobile friendly: it works just as well on phones and tablets as it does on desktop and laptop computers.

Clinical Trials Database

A critical component of BCAN’s offerings is the Clinical Trials Database. On the old site, information was pulled in from the external US government Clinical Trials database, and managed through a custom BCAN database. The BCAN team didn’t have sufficient administrative tools, so managing this data was time consuming. 

The Brick Factory redesign integrated the database into the main WordPress site. Now, the BCAN team can manage the database more easily, and content from the database can be pulled into other areas of their website. We also added functionality to the database, including a tool where the user can sort clinical trials by those closest to them, or most recently added.