Redesigning a Cancer Control Coalition’s Website
The Indiana Cancer Consortium (ICC) is a non-profit member organization whose goal is to reduce the burden of cancer in Indiana by facilitating the sharing of resources and information regarding cancer prevention. Their website is a key contributor to the organization’s goal of knowledge distribution.
The ICC website has received no significant updates in 10 years, resulting in poor organization and navigation which hinders users’ ability to locate and access resources. Additionally, the website includes failing embeds and a weak visual identity.
Role:
UX Designer
Timeline:
Jan - May 2026
Research: Heuristic Evaluation, Current State User Testing, User Interview, User Journey Maps/Personas, Information Architecture
Design: Sketching, Co-Design Workshop, Wireframing, Design System, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Collaboration & Project Management: Sponsor Meeting Facilitation, Presentation Slides, Documentation, Transition Document
01
Research
Heuristic Evaluation
Goal
Evaluate the current state of the website to identify usability issues.
Process
Using Nielsen’s Design Heuristics, three team members and I documented instances of heuristic violations, including a description of the issue and how we might approach resolving it. We found significant issues regarding navigation, redundancy and development errors throughout the website.
Outcome
The problem areas we discovered informed our user testing and user interviews protocols, centering tasks and questions around them.
Examples of violations discovered during our heuristic evaluation
Current State User Testing
Goal
Identify where users struggle when completing tasks that test the key functions of the website.
Process
Our team developed a test protocol for nine participants which included seven key tasks identified by our sponsors. I conducted one of these tests, walking a participant through tasks and answering questions while another team member documented results. By timing participants, we identified that users took over 40 seconds to complete six of the seven tasks they were asked to complete, including accessing the membership sign-up form which was designated as a focus area by our sponsors.
Outcome
The times recorded during this activity were used later to provide evidence for the improvements made in our final design.
Time comparison of current state and prototype
User Interviews
Goal
Gain a better understanding of how our primary user group, ICC members, use the website and the experiences they have had with it.
Process
We conducted three virtual interviews with members of the ICC using an interview protocol based on our heuristic evaluation and current state user testing results as well as sponsor insight. I interviewed a chair member of the organization while another team member took notes. Our interview findings revealed our primary user group visited the site to find the organization’s cancer control plan and information for their conference meetings, but they complained about outdated information being present on the site as well as poor organizational structure.
Outcome
Our team used the answers given by interviewees to inform the creation of personas for our journey mapping activity.
Insights taken from interview with the chair member and persona informed by them
User Journey Maps
Goal
Identify where different user types encounter pain points when completing case-specific tasks.
Process
Our team developed three personas using findings from our user testing and interviews: An existing organizational member, a potential member and a general visitor, each with a tailored scenario and goal based on sponsor and research insights. We identified issues with content including a lack of detail about ICC membership benefits and not knowing who will be attending conference meetings.
Outcome
We focused on increasing transparency regarding organizational involvement during our final design stages.
Insight on user emotion shown from a user journey map
Overall Takeaway
We identified that ICC members visit the website to access the ICC cancer control plan and information about the organization’s conference meetings. During our user testing, we found it took testers on average around 40 seconds to find the control plan and around 25 seconds to find conference information. Additionally, we wanted to increase the visibility of the membership sign-up page and include useful details to give interested visitors a better chance of joining the organization.
These findings narrowed our focus down to two main goals:
Reducing the time to access key content: the cancer control plan, conference information and membership sign-up page.
Restructure the site: remove redundant and irrelevant content and consolidate resources.
These objectives provided the basis for our information architecture.
02
Design Process
Information Architecture
Goal
Restructure the ICC website to create better flow and an intuitive design.
Process
We created a sitemap of the current ICC website structure and worked with our sponsors to remove unnecessary pages and condense the remaining pages. Our revised sitemap reflected a clearer information hierarchy which supported previously identified user needs.
Outcome
Our revised IA provided the organizational structure for our final design.
Original information architecture sitemap and the revised sitemap
Sketching
Goal
Ideate potential features which incorporate our research findings.
Process
Before sketching, we identified four key pages based on our objectives:
Homepage
General membership page
Events page
Resource homepage
I worked on the membership page, sketching a table explaining membership tiers, bulleted lists of membership benefits and responsibilities and member testimony. The membership tier table and the member testimony features would both make it into the final design of the membership page.
Outcome
We brought the ideas generated through this activity to a codesign workshop with our sponsors.
The member testimony feature from my original membership page sketch and the member testimony in the final design
Codesign Workshop
Goal
Understand how the sponsors envision the future website features and visuals and how to implement our ideas in accordance with their vision.
Process
In an online meeting, we asked our sponsors to participate in a sketching exercise where we drew specific pages and features of the website and discussed what worked for them.
Outcome
Their feedback allowed us to align our color and feature design choices with sponsor goals, informing our wireframing and design system.
Wireframing
Goal
Define structure and layout of key pages.
Process
Team members divided to work on four pages: The homepage, resources page, membership page and events page. I chose to work on the membership page and developed a wireframe based on research insights, sponsor feedback and the membership table and testimony features from my sketching.
Outcome
We used our wireframes to generate design visuals using Figma Make.
The wireframe I created for the membership page and sketches which informed my design
Design System Creation
Goal
Standardize design choices to create a cohesive interface.
Process
Our team created a design system based on stronger aspects of existing ICC visual identity as well as sponsor input from our codesign activity, choosing color palettes, fonts, and feature designs. During this activity, I tested color contrast accessibility using the WebAIM contrast checker.
Outcome
Our design system gave our final design a standardized appearance in line with existing organization identity.
Section of design system document and WebAIM contrast checker validating foreground text with background
Design Exploration
Goal
Create mid-fidelity mockups using Figma Make to generate visual ideas based on our wireframes.
Process
Our team prompted Figma Make to create developed visuals for our homepage, membership page and resources page which would provide inspiration for our mid-fidelity mockups. I worked on the membership page, taking the generated visuals from Figma Make and restructuring them to fit our design objectives.
Outcome
The mid-fidelity mockup pages were used to create a prototype for usability testing to time participants and have measurable data to ensure our design choices reflected our goal of reducing the time to reach key resources.
Pages of my initial wireframe, the generation from Figma Make based on the wireframe and the mid-fidelity membership page
Mid-Fidelity Mockups
The mid-fidelity mockup pages were used to create a prototype for usability testing to time participants and have measurable data to ensure our design choices reflected our goal of reducing the time to reach key resources.
Mid-fidelity mockup of three of the key pages
03
Design Evaluation
Usability Testing
Goal
Restructure the ICC website to create better flow and an intuitive design.
Process
We created a sitemap of the current ICC website structure and worked with our sponsors to remove unnecessary pages and condense the remaining pages. Our revised sitemap reflected a clearer information hierarchy which supported previously identified user needs.
Outcome
Our revised IA provided the organizational structure for our final design.
Chart comparing times recorded during current state testing of the website and usability testing of our prototype
Final Design
Learnings
Focus on the Essentials
During the interview I conducted with a chair member of the Indiana Cancer Consortium, I learned the organization provided a few resources which made up the majority of it’s appeal for members. The current state of the website did not reflect this sentiment, attempting to deliver various resources with the same level of priority. By simplifying the information architecture of the website and honing in on the most impactful resources, the site better served its purpose for ICC members.
Designing with the Future in Mind
Given the duration of our project, we were unable to work on many pages that would be present on the new website. However, by creating a design system and fleshing out key pages of the site, we established a replicable visual structure for future developers to use as a guide when working on the remaining pages.