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9 Standout Hospital Web Development Examples & Expert Tips

Allison Manley
Allison Manley Director of Marketing & Communications

Your hospital web development is vital to modern patient care in the digital age.

With 89% of patients in the U.S. Googling their health symptoms before going to the doctor, your hospital website is essential to serving your community’s needs and providing accurate, trustworthy information.

Your website serves as a virtual front door for patients and potential visitors, providing them with essential information about the hospital’s services, specialties, and facilities. A user-friendly structure and design instills credibility and enhances the patient experience by allowing easy access to critical details, such as appointment scheduling, contact information, and directions. 

To develop your website effectively and ensure it supports your community, we’ve created this guide, which covers: 

Why Medical Website Development Matters

Before someone goes to the doctor, they’ll likely browse through a couple of physicians, make sure they’re in their healthcare network, scroll through times for an appointment— and do it all online.

People also turn to your website to answer medical queries, get updated on recent healthcare news, donate to your institution, and access an online health portal where they can update appointments and pay bills. A well-developed site helps to:

  • Craft a recognizable, highly reputable brand. If your hospital website doesn’t exist or contains outdated resources, it’s more than likely that people will take one look at it and deem your institution unreliable.
  • Differentiate yourself from other hospitals. A well-designed website communicates your commitment to patient-centered care, innovation, and technology, which can set you apart from competitors.
  • Build customer loyalty. To build customer/patient loyalty, your website needs to establish itself as a reliable medical web resource so that individuals can use it to make appointments, contact doctors, and pay bills.
  • Offer 24-hour patient communication and information. Your website provides patients with important information and resources outside of normal office hours. 
  • Simplify marketing for hospital events and needs. Use your website to promote hospital events, streamline donation appeals, and attract more patients.

While it may feel daunting to get started with hospital web development, it’s a worthwhile investment. Improving your online presence is the first step toward attracting and retaining more patients.

Features to Include in Your Hospital Website

Whether someone is coming in for a quick check-up or a visit to the ER, your hospital website is an integral part of their journey. To ensure it serves your community to the best of its ability, your website needs these specific site features: 

  • Simple navigation and menus
  • A list of services your hospital provides
  • Appointment booking tools
  • Contact details
  • Interactive advanced search functionality
  • Doctor/team information
  • AI-powered chatbots to answer patient questions and personalize the visitor experience
  • A secure, PCI-compliant online payment portal 
  • Blog/news/press releases about your hospital
  • Description of departments
  • Medical advice
  • Feedback forms (including surveys and polls) 
  • Hospital directions and parking information
  • Telemedicine functionality (such as patient portal login pages or scheduling resources)
  • Mobile-responsive design

Use these features as a checklist to ensure your website is a comprehensive resource for your patients, staff, and community members.

Download our free eBook to learn how to make your hospital website last

Top Hospital Web Development Examples and Best Practices

The best way to determine if your hospital website is up to par is to look at other successful sites. Review these hospital website examples to inspire your web development efforts:

  1. Simple navigation: Global Brain Health Institute
  2. Clear CTAs: Mayo Clinic
  3. Patient-focused design: UCSF Department of Surgery
  4. Consistent, bold branding: Cleveland Clinic
  5. Accessibility: Mount Sinai
  6. Inclusivity: Northwestern Medicine
  7. Mobile-friendliness: Johns Hopkins Medicine
  8. Accurate, updated information: Yale New Haven Hospital
  9. Streamlined user experience: Colorado Health Foundation
This screenshot of the Global Brain Health Institute’s fellowship directory stands out for its simple hospital web development.

The Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), an organization dedicated to protecting the world from brain disease and other health threats, wanted to ensure that visitors could easily navigate their site and locate different programs, services, and projects. 

As a result, they worked with Kanopi to add a navigation bar that is logically organized and prominently placed throughout the website, so users can quickly find what they need. The site also features a fellowship directory that includes a search bar and filters. This is useful for medical students interested in pursuing a fellowship in a particular specialty, as well as for patients who want to learn more about the expertise of the hospital’s staff.

Why simple navigation is essential for hospital websites: As soon as someone lands on your hospital website, they should be able to find the content or service they seek. To ensure your site is easily navigable, consider mapping out the patient journey to better understand how people get to your site and what they do once they get there.

2. Clear CTAs: Mayo Clinic

This screenshot of the Mayo Clinic’s homepage shows how to effectively incorporates CTAs into hospital web development.

The Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit academic medical center, known for its expertise in many areas of medicine and for providing high-quality care to patients. Their homepage features multiple calls to action (CTAs) that encourage visitors to schedule an appointment, donate, or learn more about a particular medical condition or procedure. 

By including clear CTAs on their website, the Mayo Clinic helps visitors understand what medical services they provide, what treatments are available, and how to seek help if they need it.

Why clear calls to action matter for hospital websites: Carefully-placed CTAs let website visitors know exactly where and how to complete their intended action. As you create your own, consider the specific actions that you want visitors to take. Then, use clear and concise language to convey your purpose. For example, you might say “Schedule an Appointment Today” or “Learn More about Our Cancer Center.”

3. Patient-focused design: UCSF Department of Surgery

The UCSF Department of Surgery website homepage

The Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading surgical department with a rich history of research and scientific advancements. UCSF worked with Kanopi to create a positive, patient-focused website experience. We evaluated which site elements matter the most to users using deep discovery work and prototypes. 

As a result, we helped enhance this website with a variety of user-friendly fixes, including:

  • Simple domain access with consistency across topics and departments
  • Human-led imagery of UCSF doctors and videos highlighting the patient experience
  • A mobile-first approach with a responsive design

Why patient-focused design is essential for hospitals: Your patients are the heart and soul of your hospital, and appealing to their needs will help you maintain high audience engagement. Patients should feel welcomed and comfortable using your website and signing up for your services. A friendly, patient-focused design helps foster a sense of community. 

4. Consistent, bold branding: Cleveland Clinic

As seen in this screenshot of the Cleveland Clinic’s homepage, it’s important to use consistent, bold branding in hospital web development.

Cleveland Clinic is one of the top multispeciality academic medical centers in the country. To establish a strong, recognizable brand and reinforce their reputation, they included bold, eye-catching colors throughout their website.

Notice how all of the elements on their homepage are blue and green. When patients come across these colors in other mediums and materials, they’ll likely associate them with Cleveland Clinic. 

Why consistency and bold branding is important for hospital websites: Consistent branding builds trust between patients and your hospital, which can be especially important in the healthcare industry where patients often have significant concerns about their health and well-being.

Adding color is a popular medical website design trend, with vivid and deep colors being sported on many successful hospital websites. Consider your site’s color palette before diving into web development to make sure your website branding is consistent throughout its pages.

5. Accessibility: Mount Sinai

This screenshot of Mount Sinai’s homepage contains an accessibility tool, an important element of hospital web development.

Mount Sinai’s healthcare system prides itself on providing a wide range of services to diverse populations, including medical education, research, and patient care. To meet their patients’ varied needs, they prioritized creating an accessible website. 

The accessibility tool in the bottom footer allows visitors to use a screen reader, navigate using their keyboards, and change the color contrast, if needed. 

Why accessible design matters for hospital websites: Having an inaccessible hospital website will not only turn away those who might need your services the most but paints your entire establishment in a negative light. Because of the industry that you’re in, maintaining full compliance with the ADA and WCAG is essential. You want your entire community to feel accepted and at ease with your services, especially when it concerns medical care.

6. Inclusivity: Northwestern Medicine

This is a screenshot of Northwestern Medicine’s website, which stands out for its inclusive hospital web development.

Northwestern Medicine has a number of hospitals, all of which are committed to providing inclusive care to patients of all backgrounds and demographics. Maintaining an inclusive website is important for Northwestern Medicine, as it allows them to better connect with their patients and provide them with the resources and care they need. 

Their Patients and Visitors page is extremely comprehensive, with CTAs that address a wide variety of concerns and questions. 

Why inclusivity is important for hospital websites: Your hospital website content needs to represent the voice of all of your users, whether it’s patients, frontline workers, researchers, or caregivers.

7. Mobile-friendliness: Johns Hopkins Medicine

This is a screenshot of Johns Hopkins’ website homepage, which leverages mobile-friendly hospital web development.

Johns Hopkins Medicine is known for its world-class medical facilities, including hospitals, clinics, and research centers. As a leading healthcare provider, they needed to keep up with changes in technology by creating a mobile-friendly website. 

Their mobile-responsive site design allows patients to schedule appointments, access medical information, and communicate with healthcare providers, regardless of the device they’re using. 

Why mobile-friendliness matters for hospital websites: With over 60% of the global internet population using a mobile device to access the internet, your hospital web design must work on all different screen sizes. For patients or families already in the hospital or waiting room, the ability to quickly look something up on their phone or tablet is critical. 

Most content management systems (CMS) can create a mobile-responsive site automatically. However, there are some easy ways you can ensure your site’s responsiveness. For instance, use large buttons, a vertical layout, and avoid large chunks of text.

8. Accurate, updated information: Yale New Haven Hospital

This screenshot of Yale New Haven Hospital’s homepage features emergency room wait times, an important aspect of hospital web development.

Yale New Haven Hospital provides a wide range of medical services to its local community. As with any hospital, their website needs to provide accurate and reliable information about their services, facilities, and medical personnel. That way, patients can make informed decisions about their care. 

Perhaps most notably, Yale New Haven’s homepage features emergency room wait times, informing patients where to seek care and what to expect when they arrive. 

Why accurate and updated information is essential for hospital websites: When it comes to healthcare, accuracy is non-negotiable. It’s critical that your web content is consistently updated and provides the most high-quality information available. 

9. Streamlined user experience: Colorado Health Foundation

The CHF homepage

The Colorado Health Foundation (CHF) is a statewide organization that aims to improve the health and well-being of all Colorado residents. The CHF partnered with Kanopi to clean up their site’s navigation and streamline the user experience. 

Based on our research and expertise, our developers instituted impactful changes. We condensed the main menu to a cleaner version focused on the items that matter most to users. We also improved the visitor journey by:

  • Ensuring consistent page layout
  • Incorporating translation support
  • Adding accordions to streamline page design with collapsable text
  • Building a data display to foster accountability for the organization’s racial and health equity goals
  • Enhancing accessibility with clearer fonts, tab navigation, and meaningful links

Why a streamlined user experience matters for hospitals: Patients visiting your hospital’s website may be rushed or anxious. A simplified user experience connects them with the information or resources they need quickly and seamlessly. 

Tips for Hospital Website Compliance

Your hospital website will likely have multiple services that collect and store patient data, whether that includes a health portal, appointment tool, or bill payment.

With this in mind, your hospital web development practices must follow regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH):

  • HIPAA is an act created by the American government to protect patient data such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers, and medical records.
  • HITECH extends HIPAA requirements to bring additional benefits and protection to patients. This regulation establishes that patients should always have access to their health information online, and if hospitals do have a data violation, patients should be notified immediately. Depending on the seriousness of the data breach, your hospital may also incur various penalties and fees.

To ensure your website and software solutions not only comply with HIPAA and the HITECH Act but go above and beyond to ensure data protection, you need the following safeguards:

  • Tech safeguards include encryption software, data backups, and firewalls. Assess the state of your current healthcare cybersecurity system to ensure you have the proper safeguards in place.
  • Physical safeguards include only granting access to material records or electronic devices with the aforementioned data after proper authorization.
  • Administrative safeguards include the guidelines your hospital sets up to ensure that internal procedures comply with HIPAA.

Once these safety nets are in place, add a privacy policy statement to your website explaining your commitment to HIPAA and HITECH compliance. Publicizing this statement will help you build trust with current and prospective patients.  

How to Maintain Your Hospital Website

Hospital website maintenance is crucial to ensure your site remains a high-performing, accessible, and convenient resource for your audience. Follow these best practices to future-proof and maintain your website over time.

Adopt a continuous improvement approach

Web Design Process Comparison

Traditional Waterfall Process

Strategy
Design
Development
Launch

Drawbacks

Rigid & Less FlexibleChanges are difficult and expensive once development begins.

Costly & Time-ConsumingLarge upfront investment with lengthy timelines.

Quickly OutdatedWebsite can become stale shortly after launch.

Growth-Driven Design Cycle

Benefits

Save Time & MoneySmaller initial investment with continuous improvements.

Always Fresh & RelevantContinuous optimization prevents site staleness.

Data-Driven DecisionsInformed improvements based on real user behavior.

Traditional website design and development takes a linear approach, with a clear pathway from strategy to implementation. However, a growth-driven, continuous improvement approach involves an ongoing, iterative process of:

  • Strategizing new website innovations
  • Implementing website changes to test your hypotheses
  • Tracking results and adjusting your approach based on feedback 

This perspective pushes you to constantly update your website based on evolving best practices. Plus, you can avoid major site overhauls, which can cost your organization time and money.

Update your website according to accessibility innovations

New accessibility innovations are released constantly, helping to improve the online experience for users with temporary or permanent disabilities. Intelligent eyewear, a hands-free mouse, and AI-powered assistants are just a few of the exciting innovations we’re seeing this year.

Your website maintenance process should include accessibility updates to ensure your site stays usable and functional for all users. Take the time to adjust to the impacts of the following potential changes: 

  • New assistive technology. Innovations in screen reader technology, AI assistants, assistive voice solutions, and other accessible technologies change how individuals interact with your web content. Make sure your website is structured properly, with clear navigation and heading structures, so it’s compatible with all assistive technology. 
  • Accessibility testing techniques. Alongside updates to assistive technology itself, the way web designers can test sites for accessibility constantly evolves as well. Stay up to date on the best automated testing tools available as well as techniques for manually assessing your site. Resources like Kanopi’s guide to accessibility testing can be a huge help because our developers use these tools every day to ensure the sites we build or refresh are completely accessible and compatible with assistive technologies. 
  • Changes to legal requirements. Laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act govern web accessibility in the United States. Keep this legislation in mind as you refresh your website for accessibility. If you want to expand into new markets in other countries, be aware of their accessibility legislation to remain compliant. 

Here at Kanopi, we take a holistic approach to web accessibility, learning about your website’s visitors and their unique accessibility needs to build a strategy that works best for your organization. Learn more about our approach in this short video:

Conduct technical fixes

The technical elements of your hospital website play a major role in your users’ online experience. Technical issues can slow down your website and leave it vulnerable to security breaches. 

To keep your website in top shape, prioritize fixing the following technical issues: 

  • Broken links. Broken links can hurt your SEO performance and create a negative user experience. Use an automated tool like Semrush or Google Search Console to identify and correct broken links with mass updates. 
  • Security risks. Run core updates for your CMS and plugins or modules, encrypt sensitive data, require strong passwords for CMS users, and enable two-factor website authentication. In addition, host regular security training sessions with your team to ensure everyone is up to date with the latest security risks and best practices. 
  • Slow page loading speed. Measure page load speed using a free tool like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse. Common performance issues include large image files, unused JavaScript or CSS, and large network payloads. 

Set up recurring technical reports to get ongoing updates about your site’s health. Continuously monitoring your site and fixing performance issues will help you avoid smaller problems snowballing into major complications down the line. 

Update your content

Your website’s content equips your audience with the crucial medical information they need to make informed decisions about their health. Updated, accurate content helps raise your hospital’s authority level and gives more credibility to your institution. 

In your website maintenance process, make the following content updates: 

  • SEO updates. Use SEO tools like Ahrefs or Moz to keep an eye on your search engine rankings. If any of your website’s most important pages, like high-value blog posts or your homepage, start slipping in the rankings, make a plan to refresh the content to enhance its SEO appeal. For example, you could better incorporate the main keyword, add more engaging visual elements, or refresh the page with updated health information. 
  • Audience shifts. Your hospital’s core audience and their content preferences may change over time. New people could move into your coverage area with new online medical needs. Or, audience members may begin expressing interest in different blog post topics than what you normally cover. Pay attention to metrics like blog post engagement rates, time spent on each page, and audience demographics to ensure your content aligns with your audience’s interests and needs. 
  • Interactive content additions. Interactive content is on an upward trajectory right now as more consumers seek out these engaging online elements. Interactive content can also lead to 2x the conversion rate of passive (or static) content. Find opportunities to incorporate this content into your hospital website, whether through online health assessments, quizzes, maps, surveys, or polls. 

These content updates and the website maintenance process in general are most successful when working with a dedicated web development partner that has expertise and experience in maintaining websites like yours. Read on for an inside look at how the Kanopi team approaches hospital web development support. 

How Kanopi’s Hospital Web Development Services Can Help

Partner with a website support and development agency to ensure you’re doing everything possible to improve your hospital website.

Kanopi is a top partner for hospitals with a continuous improvement team that has helped develop over 150 active sites. No matter what stage your hospital website is at, our team can conduct a full website redesign project or build it from scratch. 

Here are our services:

  • Content management system support tailored to user needs—whether you use Drupal or WordPress as a CMS, we have experts who can customize each platform to align with your organization’s needs and branding.
  • Custom module/plugin development—if you can’t find the right tool to perform a specific action, our coding team can create it.
  • WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards to ensure that anyone can access and engage with your healthcare services as needed.
  • Custom integrations for an online health portal or other solutions that can expand your hospital website’s capabilities.
  • Responsive, mobile-first design because we know that your online hospital services should be accessible from any device, anywhere.
  • Technical SEO strategy and implementation so that if anyone looks up your hospital’s name, a specific doctor, or a program, your hospital website is the first option on the search results page.

Even after your optimized site is officially launched, we will continue working alongside your hospital to create a website growth plan. This ensures that your site is sustainable for as long as possible and will support your hospital as it evolves.

Check out our healthcare web development work to see our guidance and expertise in action.  

Screengrab of the on-demand webinar from Tim Tufts about the UCSF Department of Surgery project

Want to dig deeper into how Kanopi works with healthcare clients? To learn about how UCSF Department of Surgery and Kanopi worked together, check out our webinar “It Takes a Village: Managing a Large Community in a Website Redesign.”

Additional Resources

For more information on website development, check out these resources: 

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AI-generated image of the number 2025 made our of three-dimensional glass in purple and blue hues.

Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025

Mark Clifton
Mark Clifton Senior Visual Designer

How are we at the end of 2024 already? It feels like only yesterday that we were sitting right in this very spot asking, “how are we at the end of 2023 already?” 

In any case, here we are — which means it’s time for that one special holiday tradition specifically mandated by our Marketing department: our blog about which visual web design trends are going to be hottest throughout the coming year. Only this time around, we’re giving you, dear reader, the opportunity to weigh in as well. Do you agree with our predictions? Let us know below (and maybe next year blogs that incorporate surveys will be on everyone’s list of trends for 2026.)

As we move into 2025, design trends are blending innovative technology with a deeper emphasis on human connection. From dark mode and playful accents to an increased focus on inclusivity, the themes emerging this year underscore a balance between creativity and accessibility. This post explores the top design trends to watch, providing insights on how they can be applied thoughtfully to create engaging and authentic experiences for users.

Dark Mode Slowly Creeps Along  

Dark mode has become a standard on operating systems, but website adoption has been slower. While popular, dark mode design requires extensive adjustments to branding and color palettes, and often presents technical challenges. Until automation catches up, adding dark mode will remain time-intensive.

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 01

Do you agree? Will dark mode stick mainly to OS-level?

Is Minimalism Still a Big Deal?  

Minimalism’s clean aesthetic has become prevalent across a number of sectors. The fashion industry has been one prominent example. However, many brands are beginning to reconsider this approach, with some returning to traditional logos to avoid the blandness associated with certain minimalist styles. If you’re looking for an example outside the fashion industry, check out Microsoft’s new 3D illustration style with detailed lighting and translucent glass effects.

The key for brands is to align with their unique identity rather than chasing trends. As seen in high-profile rebrands like Burger King and Pizza Hut, success comes when brands stick with the visuals that truly resonate with audiences. 

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 02

Do you agree? Will more brands start keeping minimalism to a minimum?

Even More Inclusive People Images  

Inclusivity in visual media is evolving, with companies expanding representations to include disabilities, nonbinary identities, and various racial backgrounds. This trend moves beyond general categories to focus on individuality, showing a more nuanced human experience. Here’s our go-to list for finding inclusive images for your next blog or social post. 

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 03

What do you think? Has your organization become more inclusive in choosing the images that represent it?

Playful Accents 

Playful typography, ornamental elements, stickers and scribbles are seeing a resurgence, adding warmth and character to designs. Expect to see more ‘inflatable’ or ‘melty’ type treatments in packaging and branding. These organic elements bridge the physical and digital, reminiscent of creative touches like 2023’s Spotify Wrapped.

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 04

‘Inflatable’... ‘melty’... do you agree? Will playful accents continue to gain ground in 2025?

Return to the 90s and 00s 

The nostalgia for 90s and 00s styles has influenced fashion, packaging, and digital design. However, rather than simply imitating, brands should aim to capture the underlying spirit of those decades — focusing on authenticity and individuality.

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 05

Do you agree? Will styles continue to harken back to simpler, more flannel-y decades past?

Proof of Humanity  

In an era of rising digital distrust (hello artificial intelligence), brands need to show authenticity. This can mean avoiding generic stock photos in favor of real employee photos (which, trends aside, is something we’ve always urged our clients to do) and providing verifiable information to establish trust.

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 06

Does your organization prioritize using real photos instead of generic stock images?

Customizable UI  

User customization options are expanding, especially on platforms like iOS and Android, where users can personalize themes and icons. Young audiences are definitely embracing this trend, favoring platforms that allow for a tailored experience; however, it’s still too early to tell whether the OS trend will cross over to web design.

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 07

What do you think? Will the trend toward customizable UI carry over to web design in 2025?

Cool, But What About AI?  

AI in design is now mainstream but requires careful use, as AI-generated content very often needs to be refined by actual humans. While AI-driven photo editing is gaining ground quickly, it also raises serious questions about authenticity. Many companies now publish guidelines on responsible AI use, typically detailing their efforts to ensure transparency and accountability while addressing and mitigating bias.

Incidentally, our current policy at Kanopi is not to use AI in the generation of deliverables. However, we’re also keeping a close eye on developments in this area.

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Web Design Trends to Watch in 2025 - Question 08

Would you say your organization is learning how to use AI intelligently?

Final Thoughts (for the next 11 months, at least) 

Design in 2025 will center on striking a harmony between the digital and the human, the bold and the soothing. By embracing these trends, brands can forge stronger connections with their audiences, combining aesthetic appeal with functionality and inclusivity. 

Finally, let’s be honest — by 2025, there will probably be more blog posts about ‘emerging design trends’ than there are actual trends. Just remember: for every new color palette, there’s a designer somewhere writing a thousand-word piece on why this is the year of ‘soothing yet bold’.

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Are WordPress page builders right for your organization?

Denise Beyer VP of Delivery

Page builders are a great tool, but they’re not always the right solution. If you’re a small organization with minimal updates to your website — like changing your schedule or hours — page builders can be a fantastic option. They are simple, cost-effective, and user-friendly, which makes them a good choice for organizations with straightforward needs. 

Common WordPress page builders:

These are the ones we come across most frequently here at Kanopi:

  • Elementor
  • Divi
  • WP Bakery
  • Beaver Builder

Why people like page builders: 

One of the main reasons page builders are popular is because they save time and reduce costs. You don’t need a full development setup or specialized tools to get started.

Everything can be done right in the site’s interface, meaning there’s no need for code repositories (GitHub)or additional software licenses.  

Heck, you can even use a public computer at your local library to make changes. This simplicity means you don’t need developers to build and manage a site with a page builder. 

The trouble with page builders:

However, it’s hard to have it both ways; if your organization needs frequent custom updates, a page builder may not be the best fit. Page builders are often performance-heavy, which can slow down your site due to their reliance on plugins. And while they can be useful, they sometimes cause accessibility issues (see below) or limit flexibility. If you’re after a high level of customization or specific functionality, you might hit a wall with a page builder.

What about accessibility and performance with page builders?

Glad you asked: when it comes to accessibility and performance, page builders aren’t as “easy” and “worry free” as they may look.

Accessibility issues:

  • Semantic HTML: Page builders tend not to produce semantic markup. This can prevent screen readers from properly interpreting the content.
  • Keyboard Navigation: Page builders create very complex HTML for page and component layouts which can create barriers for keyboard navigation or even keyboard traps. Menus can be extremely complex, making it difficult to even navigate the menu with a keyboard, let alone a mouse. 
  • ARIA Attributes: Page builders do their best to utilize these but it is very easy to have them incorrect, or missing.
  • Color Contract: Color is managed by the content editor which gives them great power and control. However this also very quickly can lead to an inaccessible site as the color contrast can easily and quickly fall out of the range of accessible.
  • Focus state: Focus states are used by keyboard navigation. These interactive states can easily become mismanaged or used in page builders creating a disorienting experience for users.

Performance issues:

  • Bloated code base: As mentioned earlier, page builders typically have very bloated code, using a lot of markup to create simple layouts, and creating loading a large amount of JS and CSS on pages. This slows down page load time.
  • Large DOM size: to piggyback on the above, complex layouts and long pages can have a large DOM size due to the number of elements that it creates. This slows down the page load as you have to wait for all those elements to render
  • Render blocking: Because they can load a lot of resources, internal and external CSS and JS files, those external resources may not be managed properly blocking page load until those payloads are downloaded first.
  • Database bloat: Page Builders can store a ton of data in the database. Depending on your site size and host, this can drastically slow down your overall performance

In short: if you’re truly trying to build accessible, performant, websites there are still many things to work around and manage with the use of page builder tools.

(FYI: we’re big into accessibility here at Kanopi and write about it a lot, so please reach out of you have questions around this).

Moving Beyond Page Builders

We’ve worked with several clients to help them move from page builders to more sustainable, flexible solutions. Here are a few examples:

California Prevention Training Center (CAPTC) – Divi 

Issue: This website was over-engineered with Divi. We redesigned and overhauled the site, removing the unnecessary complexity of the page builder and improving the overall user experience and site performance. 

California Prevention Training Center (CAPTC) home page before we removed it from a Divi builder

California Prevention Training Center (CAPTC) home page after the rebuild

The California Prevention Training Center (CAPTC) website before (left) and after (right) moving off of Divi.

Carmanah – Divi

Current Status: The site was outdated and had an overly complex backend. The client came to us seeking a redesign, with a focus on improving performance and security. We’re migrating away from Divi, which will streamline the website’s backend, improve load times, and enhance the admin user experience.

The Carmanah home page

Adaptive Biotech – Elementor 

Issue: Over time, the page builder became a hindrance, especially with accessibility and content entry limitations. We rebuilt key components of the site using Gutenberg blocks and Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). This approach removes the need for the page builder and its plugins, improving site performance and reducing load times.

Adaptive Biotech website home page

DonorSearch – Visual Composer

Issue: The client couldn’t make content edits without breaking the layout. We rolled out a more manageable solution, using blocks within the editor and ACF to create custom blocks. This enabled a flexible redesign and content migration, with a focus on creating a dynamic, easily editable website. The new DonorSearch design also allowed for different content variations, so the site remains fresh and adaptable over time.

DonorSearch website before we reworked it off page builder

DonorSearch website home page after the redesign

The DonorSearch website before (left) and after (right) moving off of Visual Composer.

Final Thoughts

While page builders offer an easy, cost-effective solution for simple websites, they have limitations regarding scalability, customization, and performance. 

For organizations that need a more flexible, sustainable solution, moving away from page builders to custom-built sites using WordPress’s core features can make a significant difference. Whether you want to improve performance, accessibility, or content management, working with a development team to find the right solution is key.If you have any questions or issues with page builders on your WordPress site, we’re here to help. We’ve worked with numerous clients to solve page builder issues, and our team is ready to help you get the most out of your website — whether that means refining your current setup or transitioning to a custom-built solution.

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Illustration with a smily face emoji being held by a hand. Common web symbols such as 5 star ratings and pins are overlapping.

Patient-first design for healthcare

Mark Clifton
Mark Clifton Senior Visual Designer

As a designer who’s worked with many clients in healthcare services, I’ve seen the unintended consequences the pandemic has wrought upon website design throughout the industry. Providers were forced to stretch whatever resources they had to adapt to sudden and completely unprecedented new circumstances. Often this meant adding new online tools and functionality to their websites as quickly as possible, with no time or budget to devote much thought to the user experience. 

(Note: Short on time? Not much of a reader? No worries! Simply check out our TL;DR summary below.)

Even now, many patients still rely on virtual healthcare. Studies in both the US and Canada have shown online/virtual consultations with medical professionals and other healthcare services have remained much higher today than before the pandemic. For some patients, it’s simply their preference; however, in certain cases, it’s become the only option available. Whatever the reason, online services are now a permanent fixture in the healthcare delivery model. For providers, adapting to this new reality means embracing the concept of patient-first design.

Designing healthcare websites with a patient-first approach is essential to creating positive user experiences and promoting effective healthcare delivery overall. It not only enhances accessibility but also ensures that users can navigate the platform easily, find relevant information, and engage seamlessly with healthcare services.

At Kanopi, patient-first design begins at the user research phase. It involves discovering and defining the ‘pain points’ (no pun intended) with the current site’s user experience. Having worked with several healthcare clients, we’ve identified a few issues that keep popping up across a wide variety of websites for different healthcare services. I’ve listed some of these recurring pain points below, as well as the most effective solutions that we’ve devised for them.

Problem: The site is not designed for accessibility.

This is the most prevalent issue we come across. You’d be surprised at the number of healthcare websites that were designed and built with little or no consideration for their users’ accessibility needs. Just like physical buildings, websites also need to be accessible. And it’s especially important when your patients are visually and/or physically impaired in ways that limit their ability to use websites.

Accessibility concerns can range from minor sensory impairments to more complex neurological conditions. They even include temporary impairments — like a broken wrist, for example. 

We always recommend a full accessibility audit of your site before a redesign, and frequent accessibility checks after launch to ensure your site is always compliant. Here’s a comprehensive but easy rundown on how to test your site for accessibility. 

Being compliant with standards like Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) not only allows more people to engage with your site, but also leads to better design and improved functionality for everyone.

Solutions:

Too extensive to list here, but here are some of the more common web accessibility solutions we implement for clients:

  • We check text contrast to prioritize readability, and meet a minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio — and that text can be resized up to 200% without loss of content or functionality. We also use a minimum size of 12 points or 16 pixels for all body copy. This helps accommodate users with dyslexia and/or visual impairments.
  • It’s also to ensure our design adheres to laws such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which organizations must comply with to qualify for federal funding.
  • Our designs also provide support for reduced-motion browser settings and allow users to play and stop animations as it suits them. This is to benefit the approximately 35% of adults aged 40 years or older in the United States (approximately 69 million Americans) who experience some form of vestibular dysfunction. It also assists users with certain types of cognitive disabilities.
  • This rule applies to jargon universally, but always avoid medical jargon when clearer language can be used. Not only is it easier for patients to understand, but your search capabilities should be able to provide the same results for both medical and laypersons’ terminology, e.g. “ophthalmologist” and “eye doctor”.

Problem: Patients need to find information quickly.

This is true for all sites and all users, but it’s especially relevant to healthcare, especially if there’s an emergency. If you’re looking for specific information about an illness or medical condition, it’s important that you can find it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, too many healthcare sites are bogged down by convoluted sitemaps and subpar search functionality.

Solutions:

Problem: Patients need clear, actionable next steps.

This one goes hand-in-hand with the previous problem and is equally essential to keeping the patient journey free of obstacles.

Solutions:

  • Provide easily searchable clinic and physician listings with low-friction contact and scheduling.
  • Prioritize the content that’s most relevant to patients — i.e., keep it at the top. Any content intended for physicians or academic researchers should follow below. This is literally ‘patient-first design’. However, it always surprises me how many healthcare sites don’t follow this hierarchy.

Problem: Too many details up front (i.e. ‘getting lost in the weeds’).

This is a problem we commonly (but by no means exclusively) encounter with research hospitals. Bogging down your content with technical and operational details can be overwhelming and disruptive to the patient journey. Designing your website around your organizational chart is a primary example. It’s incredibly frustrating for patients who simply need to find relevant information as quickly as possible.

Solutions:

  • Create separate pathways for (1) the patient journey and (2) internally-facing administration and research information.
  • When writing medical staff bios, prioritize succinct, patient-focused info at the top — before listing professional details. For example:
    • Name and credentials
    • Practice locations
    • Contact and scheduling info
    • Professional recognition.
    • Types of insurance they accept

Problem: Patients seek concrete proof of credibility.

This is another common problem we see; the good news is that it’s also one of the easiest to fix. It usually doesn’t require any changes to your sitemap or page designs. It just takes a bit more diligent content curation.

Solutions:

  • Include patient testimonials and case studies wherever possible.
  • Include plenty of patient-focused, real-life imagery — and ditch the stock photos!
    • People want to be sure they’re looking at your actual doctors, staff, and facilities. In terms of design, few things erode your credibility faster than a stock photo on your site that patients have already seen elsewhere on the web. 
    • This also includes ‘stock-ish’ photos; i.e., actual photos of your facilities and people, but they’re so generic/ obviously staged/ devoid of personality that they may as well be stock.
    • A talented photographer will be able to compose and capture images that convey your high-quality patient care, professionalism, passion, and teamwork. Yes, 99% of the time stock is cheaper. But it also shows none of the above.
  • Also, make sure each person appearing in your photos has signed model release forms! Your marketing agency or professional photographer will usually handle this part. But you definitely don’t want to overlook this requirement, as it could lead to patient privacy violations and serious legal repercussions. 
  • Include your accolades — awards, rankings, partnership badges, etc. — and keep them current.

If this all seems like a daunting task, keep this simple fact in mind: referrals and search engines don’t provide much info. When patients need information about you, your website is typically the first place they’ll look. By prioritizing the user experience and considering your patients’ needs, your healthcare website can improve communication, promote health literacy, and ultimately contribute to better overall patient outcomes.

Want more interesting reads about web design for the healthcare industry? Check out these two blogs:

TL;DR: Ensuring Patient-First Design For Your Healthcare Website

ProblemYour website doesn’t meet patients’ accessibility needs.
Solutions
  • Large type, short blocks of text, and high color contrast. Must be at least WCAG Level AA to qualify for federal funding in the US.
  • Slow, subtle video and animation and support for reduced motion.
  • Avoid jargon; use clear, concise language.
ProblemPatients need to find information quickly, but your website doesn’t facilitate this.
Solutions
  • Lead with bold CTAs that prioritize important patient actions. Create specific pathways for different patient journeys (e.g.: pre- and post-procedure) to prevent patients from getting lost.
  • Include a distinct, dedicated Conditions & Procedures search (see our UCSF Surgery example)
ProblemPatients need clear next steps and ways to take action.
Solutions
  • Prioritize patient-relevant info at the top; professional / physician / academic info should follow.
  • Provide easily searchable clinic and physician listings with low-friction contact and scheduling CTAs.
ProblemTechnical and operational details are overwhelming and will disrupt the patient journey; e.g. designing your website around your org. chart.
Solutions
  • Keep separate pathways for the (1) patient journey and (2) internally-facing administration and research information.
  • Prioritize succinct, patient-focused info at the top of bios before getting into professional details. Example:
    • Name and credentials
    • practice locations
    • contact and scheduling info
    • professional recognition
ProblemPatients seek concrete proof of credibility.
Solutions
  • Include patient testimonials and case studies wherever possible.
  • Include photos, but no stock photos! Use actual, real-life patient-focused imagery instead. Make sure all photos posted on your site have signed model clearances as required.
  • Include awards, rankings, partnership badges, etc. — and keep them current.
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AI generated illustration of a man designing a website and looking at a large monitor

Top trends in content & design for 2024

Grant Proulx
Grant Proulx Web Copywriter

Around this time of year, we’re always asked one question — over and over, without fail:

“So, got any plans for the holidays?”

So let’s address this one off the top. Yes, we do have plans. And while our plans vary each year, they almost always involve solemnly swearing not to overeat… and then definitely overeating.

The next-most-frequent question we’re asked around this time of year is, “which trends in your industry are going to be big in (upcoming year)?” Over the years, we’ve found that the best way to prepare for this question is to write a blog post about it. So, here are what we consider to be among the top trends in content strategy, copywriting, and UX design to keep an eye on in 2024. 

Design

1. That 90s Design…

As everyone knows, design trends tend to be cyclical — and while That 90s Show may have suffered a quick exit from Netflix, look for this bygone decade to be next in line for a resurgence. 

Overall, the 90s aesthetic was about authenticity and gritty expressions of realism. You can see this in popular 90s-era styles like collaging — a rough, cut-and-paste aesthetic that involves layering and combining different kinds of imagery, textures and type.

2. Claymorphism will officially go mainstream.

This simplistic 3D design style began floating onto the scene a few years ago in select app interfaces, and its popularity has been growing steadily across the web ever since. This article in Smashing Magazine does a great job of both defining claymorphism and comparing it to the numerous other ‘morphisms’ from which it evolved.  

More importantly, could 2024 be the year that trends like Claymorphism finally banish the Memphis design aesthetic once and for all — thereby making our Creative Director Cliff Persaud’s year, no matter what else happens? Only time will tell.

Copywriting

3. AI hype will continue to run amok.

The seemingly unstoppable hype that’s been swirling around AI tools like Chat GPT over the past couple of years shows no signs of subsiding. If anything, it’s only getting louder — despite the fact that it continues to have few applications where its effectiveness is really worth all the hype.

While its capabilities in tools like Grammarly and platforms like Vimeo are expanding, AI still has a long way to go when it comes to writing like actual humans — let alone being able to write with a truly authentic voice. If you’d like to know specifically how AI falls short, this article explains it better than anything else we’ve seen. Sadly, however, realistic assessments won’t be enough to slow down the AI hype train in 2024. (We’ve also previously weighed in on how we think AI will affect creatives.)

4. Storytelling will keep gaining believers.

Let’s face it: over-reliance on keyword-based SEO doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Neither does its shrill, annoying cousin — pay-per-click (PPC). However, we’re also seeing storytelling play a major role in content across the web, as more and more organizations are recognizing its value. It’s a trend that we believe will continue in 2024, and as longtime storytelling proponents we couldn’t be happier about this.

Content

5. Look for interactive video content in all kinds of new places.

Interactive video is a form of digital video that allows viewers to directly engage with its content. This is usually done by clicking the frame (or touching it on a mobile device), although in some cases viewers can interact with it via typed commands. 

Interactive video first gained global attention in the mid-2000s with Burger King’s ‘Subservient Chicken’ (remember it?) Other mind-blowing creative marketing efforts soon followed. Since then, its popularity has steadily grown, especially as  technological innovation makes it cheaper and easier than ever to produce.

As video content continues to become more of a best practice than a trend, look for more nonprofits, educational institutions, and healthcare providers to explore interactive video in 2024. Its potential to help these organizations share more personalized service delivery, education, and marketing content is definitely there.

6. More robust CMS editing tools. Less reliance on developers.

Designing, building, and supporting Drupal and WordPress websites as we do, we’ve noticed that a growing number of clients are looking for more control over their design layouts. For example, they may not always want to contact a developer for something as straightforward as creating a new landing page.

We’re not the only ones who’ve noticed this, judging by the number of robust content editing tools that are now available. These not only give the editor more tools to create unique landing pages by reorganizing components, but they’re also more visual and intuitive than your standard editors.

Gutenberg blocks are becoming ever more popular — and have become more refined since its WordPress 5.0 release back in 2018. On the Drupal front, tools like Drupal’s Layout Paragraphs, Frontend Editing, and Layout Builder are bringing robust drag-and-drop editing to content creators. 

(And if you’re thinking this is technically a development trend and not a design trend, well, check out our post on 2024 development trends.) 

Wide lapels will be all the rage.

The thing about these new-year-trend-predicting posts is that there’s always the potential for some new, exciting innovation to come out of left field and take everyone by surprise. In that spirit, we also predict that interest rates will drop to, say, 3%. Fennel will be crowned as the new supreme superfood. And the Orlando Magic will win the NBA finals in a four-game sweep. 

And we will definitely overeat during the holidays. It’s one prediction that has a 100% chance of being right.

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a close up photo of a lap top with a Braille keyboard attachment

How to Test Your Website for Accessibility

Faye
Faye Polson

There’s something wonderful about putting on adult shoes as a kid. They’re enormous and floppy and shuffle around on your feet as you lift and walk. I remember doing this often with my dad’s shoes, regardless of the smell, giggling all the way.

Somewhere along the line between then and now, walking in someone else’s shoes loses that magical charm. It’s more comfortable to maintain the status quo. What works for us must work for everyone, right?

Except it doesn’t. Humans are not “one size fits all” and this is also true when it comes to the internet. Like a building needs accessibility access, a website needs accessible code so that it can be used by everyone.

Many people have vision problems, hearing loss, physical limitations and more. In fact, 27% of adults — a full 61 million people — in the United States alone are permanently disabled in some way. Once you include temporary disabilities (such as a broken wrist), or extend the range to teens and children, that number soars even higher.

Your site could be unusable for up to a quarter of your audience, and it’s worth it to check. Follow this guide to do some quick testing, or jump down to our tl:dr.

Why automated tools are useful but also insufficient

We’re often asked for metrics and automatic scans that can “score” a site for accessibility. As appealing as that may sound, it’s simply not an option in the current technical landscape. In reality, it is generally accepted that automated tools can only detect about 30% of WCAG’s 2.1 success criteria. Any tool or service that claims 100% automation is 100% lying.

The reason for that is there are many accessibility issues that Artificial Intelligence (AI) simply cannot understand, and while a scan could possibly identify a place where a human mind should take a look, it couldn’t say with any certainty whether or not there is an error there. In fact, the more aggressive the scanning tool, the more likely it is that there are false positives in the results.

A common example of this are images. Automated tools can detect whether or not an image has alternative text (a requirement for accessibility) but they can’t tell if the alternative text is appropriate for the image.

Because of this, testing requires both automated tools and manual tests. And since each tool is different in what it can detect, and how it presents its errors, it’s recommended that you use multiple tools when testing website accessibility. Each tool has its own pros and cons, things it does really well, and areas that need improvement.

By the way, the disparity between automated testing and manual testing is also why we highly recommend you avoid quick fix solutions like overlays. There are a number of other reasons, including legal reasons, but when it comes down to it automated tools are only part of the process.

Automated scanning tools to use

Lighthouse (Google)

Pros:

  • Provides scores out of 100 (for people who love metrics)
  • Gives advice for manual checks
  • Easy to use extension
  • Generally no false positives
  • Identifies target size errors
  • Can also provide SEO and Performance audits
  • Links errors to Deque’s aXe ruleset

Cons:

  • Very simple scan
  • Only audits 44 possible accessibility errors
  • Provides minimal information regarding errors

WAVE

Pros:

  • Easy to use via URL
  • Allows toggling styles and javascript on and off for scans
  • Attractive visual interface
  • Shows Level A and AA items as errors (red)
  • Shows Level AAA, and Best Practice items as warnings (orange)
  • Identifies all ARIA used
  • Identifies all structural elements
  • Identifies accessibility features applied
  • Identifies contrast errors separately
  • Provides helpful information regarding error
  • Links errors to WebAIM’s WCAG 2 Checklist
  • Links directly to code in Developer Tools
  • Has built in contrast checker

Cons:

  • Cannot scan javascript injected content
  • Generates a few false positives each scan

aXe

Pros:

  • Shows Level A and Level AA errors
  • Best Practice items can be toggled on and off
  • Groups errors by serious, critical, moderate, and mild errors
  • Groups uncertain items for manual review
  • Links errors to Deque’s aXe ruleset
  • Explains specific fix options for each error
  • Links directly to code in Developer Tools
  • Rarely gives false positives

Cons:

  • Extension can be overwhelming and difficult to use
  • Does not scan hidden items
  • May or may not scan javascript injected content

SiteImprove

Browser extension
Paid Platform

Pros:

  • Platform version can scan site wide
  • Platform scans for Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA errors
  • Includes scans for Best Practices
  • Platform provides a score out of 100 (for people who love metrics)
  • Extension can be configured to scan for specific levels, such as warnings, items to review, best practice, items likely related to content entry, etc
  • Links errors to WCAG 2:1 Guidelines
  • Links directly to code in Developer Tools
  • Groups errors by guideline

Cons:

  • Aggressive scan causes frequent false positives
  • Considers many Level AAA and Best Practice items to fall under Levels A and AA
  • Difficulty understanding javascript injected content

ANDI

Pros:

  • Extremely easy to install
  • Very visual interface
  • Provides information on how a screen reader might interpret some elements
  • Great entry into understanding what kinds of errors can exist
  • Has built in contrast checker

Cons:

  • Does not link errors to guidelines
  • Limited suggestions for fixes

Add manual testing to find what the automated tools didn’t

Once you’ve run your site through some of the automated tools, it’s time to get some hands-on experience about what it’s like to use your site in someone else’s shoes.

How to do keyboard testing

Believe it or not, keyboard testing is actually “low key” and easy to do. There are only a few things that you need to know in order to do this testing on your own.

Tab, Shift + Tab

Pressing tab will move you down a webpage through interactive elements like links, buttons, and form fields. Pressing shift + tab will take you backwards through those same elements.

Spacebar / Enter

These keys “activate” interactive elements. When you are focused on a link, hitting one of these will open that link. Sometimes they can also move you into an “application” state where other keys become usable (see Arrow Keys).

Arrow Keys

These keys will scroll the page up and down, but not always. Tabs, accordions, sliders, and menus can be designed as applications. That means once you are focused on them (or enter them using the spacebar), using the arrow keys will navigate you through those interactive elements instead of scrolling the page.

Esc

If you have entered an application, or a popup window, the escape key should exit that area and allow you to continue down the page where you left off.

Knowing these interactions, you should be able to use your webpage without a mouse. Try it for yourself and see if you can reach and use all of the interactive elements.

  • Can you see where your focus is (what your next keypress will activate)?
  • Can you navigate through your menu?
  • Is tabbing logical, or does the focus move to unexpected areas?
  • Can you use sliders, accordions, galleries, videos, and tabs?
  • Can you enter form information and submit?
  • Do you get “trapped” anywhere and need to use your mouse to move on?

If you can’t use your page without a mouse, or if the keyboard experience is generally frustrating, then there’s some improvement to be made with accessibility. Keyboard functionality is vital to most assistive technologies, and if you had a hard time then chances are so is someone else.

A note about screen reader testing

You will likely need to hire someone to do this for you, as it takes a high level of skill and experience to operate. But using the ANDI tool on your site can show you some of the things a screen reader will present to a user, so if you’re interested give that tool a try.

To learn more about screen readers and assistive technology, check out our Screen Reader 101 blog post.

Where to find real users to test your site

Putting your site in front of real users with a variety of disabilities will most certainly uncover any issues missed by automated and keyboard testing.

Here are some resources for finding those users:

If you think there’s a problem, it’s time for a deep dive audit

While the methods mentioned here can give you an overall picture of a single page’s level of accessibility, it doesn’t reflect the full breadth of your site. For that, you’ll want a deep dive accessibility audit.

This type of work typically takes someone with a good deal of experience in the accessibility space. It would entail automated and manual testing of multiple pages to try and get a sample of each template used, in addition to some randomly selected pages. The auditor needs to know how to use multiple tools, how to test via keyboards and screen readers, how to investigate Javascript injected content, and know what to look for in criteria that can’t be caught in an automated scan.

Kanopi specializes in accessibility for our clients and we do offer deep dive accessibility audits, including itemized results for remediation. If you’re interested, send us a message!

TL:DR for testing your website’s accessibility

Try to use your website without a mouse.
If it’s frustrating for you, it’s frustrating for someone else.

Imagine someone was trying to navigate your homepage only by headings and links.
If someone couldn’t see the page and only had these elements to navigate by, would they know where to go?

Run your most popular page through two or three of the tools mentioned in this article.
A single issue can prevent someone from buying a product, viewing a service, or understanding your content. Take any errors seriously.

Re-test your site every so often.
Updates to code and content can unexpectedly change your site’s accessibility. Regular testing helps keep you informed about potential barriers on your site.

Want more accessibility info via a webinar?

Interface of ON24's webinar platform with Candice Dexter giving a webinar on the ADA guidelines.

Kanopi’s Candice Dexter gave a webinar for our client the University of California San Francisco called “Making Your Websites Accessible: An Overview of the New Federal ADA Guidelines.” (30 minutes)

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Illustration of a happy red robot waving juxtaposed against an angry blue robot

AI: The Good, The Bad, and How It Will Affect Creatives

Cliff Persaud
Cliff Persaud Director of Strategy and Creative

The emergence of AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT and MidJourney has transformed how creative agencies approach strategy and content development. Rapid AI adoption brings both opportunities and challenges, often not fully grasped by creative and strategy teams. In this article, we explore the pros and cons of integrating AI into your creative workflow.

Will AI replace your design and strategy teams?

The bottom line is that AI tools like Microsoft Designer, Adobe Firefly, Google Bard, and the plethora of AI tools emerging each day, present a double-edged sword for creative agencies. On the one hand, they can help streamline workflows and save time and money by automating repetitive tasks. On the other hand, they also present a potential threat to agencies’ revenue streams by allowing clients to take on more of the creative work themselves. This in and of itself will create challenges for clients as they try to navigate the focused approach a professional can bring to a creative project by balancing UX, functionality, design, and business goals.

To stay competitive, agencies need to find ways to add value beyond what AI tools can offer. This might mean focusing on high-level strategy and ideation, or finding ways to integrate AI tools into their own processes to enhance their work. At the end of the day, it’s not about whether AI will replace human creatives, but rather how agencies can leverage the technology to create better work and deliver more value to their clients.

At Kanopi we believe that top-tier creative and human-centric experiences will always demand the expertise of skilled professionals. The analogy we draw is: while cell phone cameras have made photography accessible to the masses, we still rely on experienced professionals to capture our most significant life moments. In the same vein, we think clients who recognize the importance of how good design will impact their ROI will continue to depend on the knowledge and skills of professionals to deliver their projects successfully.

Illustration of a happy blue oval-shaped robot against a green background that simulates trees.

All Hail our Robot Overlords: The case for using AI

We find that most of the advantages of utilizing AI tools come down to the following three categories.

  1. Cost: AI tools are becoming more affordable and may be invaluable for smaller organizations with limited teams to be competitive with larger companies. AI tools can help to reduce the need for expensive design software and personnel, making it more cost-effective for businesses to produce high-quality designs and content.
  2. Speed and Efficiency: AI tools can help designers and content creators to work more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks, such as resizing images or optimizing content for SEO. This can save a significant amount of time and allow designers to focus on more creative aspects of their work.
  3. Creative Ideation: AI tools can contribute to the ideation phase of a creative project by analyzing data from social media trends, consumer behavior, and industry insights to help creatives better understand their target audience. By fine-tuning their ideas with this information, creatives can then create impactful and innovative work that delivers more to their clients.
Illustration of a scary robot with one red eye and pointy legs against a dark purple cityscape.

The Ghost In the  Machine: The risks of using AI tools

  1. Legality: The use of AI tools in creative work raises concerns about copyright, sourcing, and how AI consumes work as part of its algorithm. Currently, legislators and legal scholars are grappling with the question of who owns the rights to AI-generated works. We suggest a balanced approach. It is recommended that agencies and individuals use AI as a tactical tool within their creative process rather than relying on it as the sole centerpiece of their ideation and research.
  2. Less creative and unique solutions: AI tools are limited by their algorithms and data sets, resulting in less varied and unique outputs. Even with impressive individual pieces, looking at collections like those in MidJourney’s sample galleries reveals an overreliance on certain design elements, such as teal and blue color schemes. These limitations emphasize the importance of the human touch in creative ideation, intuition, and truly customized designs that AI tools cannot replicate.
  3. Potential for misuse and AI Bias: While AI tools have the potential to revolutionize industries, they are not immune to biases. Human input and limited data can result in skewed outputs that discriminate against certain groups of people. As demonstrated by Amazon’s AI recruiting tool, an over-reliance on data without human oversight can lead to biased outcomes. Agencies need to train their staff to identify and counteract bias in AI tools to prevent potential misuse.

    As AI tools continue to evolve, we anticipate the emergence of ethical AI practices and increased transparency regarding how AI processes and interprets data. These factors will become increasingly important for the widespread adoption and acceptance of AI as a viable business tool in the future.

AI tools can be a valuable asset to creative professionals, providing increased efficiency, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness. However, it is important to balance the use of AI with a human touch to ensure that creative outputs are engaging, usable, and can meet project KPIs. Additionally, it is important to be aware of the potential for misuse and to use AI tools ethically and responsibly. As AI technology continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how it is integrated into the field of graphic design and content strategy.

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Hands on a keyboard

The ROI of Great Website Design

Natalie Yelton Content Strategist & Copywriter

Making the business case for a well-designed website.

From the streaming services we binge to the smartphone we buy, there’s no denying excellent website design matters. Great web design can mean the difference between people landing on your site and coming back daily or landing on your site and immediately leaving, never to return again.

As University of Washington designer and teacher Joe Sparano puts it:

“good design is obvious and great design is invisible.”

Although also invisible is harmful website design that’s inaccessible for some people.

Boosting revenue, increasing donations, enhancing engagement, and saving staff time are just a handful of the many measurable benefits of great website design.

Let’s dig into the details!

Boost your revenue 

It’s hard to ignore the power of discovery paired with quantifiable data to drive content & user experience (UX) improvements. 

Do you know who uses your site and what their needs are?

You may think you know, but the truth is user behavior shifts and changes at a rapid pace. It’s vital to regularly test assumptions about who is currently using your site and how they use it, gathering insight to inform design solutions that better meet user needs today.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) boosted its revenue by 4.5% by redesigning its website using research and data.

How did they do it? The ACS team created a new donation form on their site that sends funds only to breast cancer research. The nonprofit made it easier for their top personas to do what they came to the site to do, looking at how people interact with their site and how their needs and goals change over time. 

Analytics data showed that ACS was missing out on valuable traffic between its main website and its “Making Strides” sub-site. The team got to work creating clear user pathways between the two websites, providing donors with the action they wanted to take most, as illustrated by the data — supporting breast cancer research specifically. 

cancer.org donation page
Cancer.org form
Source: cancer.org

Increase online giving 

Well-designed nonprofit websites focus on the user experience of its donors, making it easier for them to find the information they need, including all of the ways they can support the organization while allowing them to complete donations seamlessly. 

Great design backed by a donor content strategy leads with impact that’s personal, clearly showing existing and future donors how their generosity makes a difference.

Jack.org is Canada’s only charity training and empowering young leaders to revolutionize mental health. The Canadian nonprofit needed a website to help them better connect with young people nationwide.

By reviewing its donor experience, the charity boosted online donations by 80%, with a 108% increase in online donation revenue. 

How did they do it? They implemented an enhanced strategy focussing on UX, followed by a redesign that included powerful, seamless fundraising and sales integrations, making their site AODA & WCAG compliant.

Homepage of jack.org
Source: Jack.org

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts decided to redesign its website when it realized it wasn’t meeting the needs of two of its most important groups of people — students and donors. 

By upgrading its information architecture, creating engaging microcontent and improving functionality, admission inquiries climbed 518%, and the university saw online donations increase by 48%:

Univeersity of North Carolina school of the arts home page
Source: UNCSA



“The storytelling as a narrative was really the way to sell and to communicate what the institution is,” 

said Vice Provost and Dean of Student Affairs Ward Caldwell, 

“I think one of the unique aspects of the site design is that it encourages exploration. It provides all the links to move people through the site, but it also encourages people to linger, to get an understanding of how we take students through a journey of artistic exploration.”

Source: UNCSA 

Engage a new generation with machine learning 

Twenty-five percent of what you sell on your website is your product or service. The remaining 75% is an intangible feeling from a package deal with said product or service. 

What do you want people to feel from interacting with your site’s content?

A clear and consistent content style within your website design can help you engage Gen Zers (people born between 1997 to 2012.) Speak to younger folks on a personal level using language and words they recognize and use themselves daily, factoring in aggregated data that helps you better understand your user’s emotions.

Develop a tone and voice that fits your organization and resonates with your users, keeping it conversational and action-based.

Source: Adobe


Make your site more human using contextual AI to design a website that makes people feel something and achieve ROI growth as you connect with the next generation. Your ultimate goal should be to deliver a focused experience instead of just a website.

Colleges and universities are deploying user-controlled, AI-powered chatbots to connect with people faster, helping them convert more prospective applicants into enrolled students.

Ahead of a new academic year, students have many questions about programs, fees, housing, and more. Admissions departments work flat out, and responding to every question takes time.

Chatbots eliminate this problem. They’re convenient, easy to use and designed to provide automated responses to common questions from students, avoiding ambiguity and slow replies.

Students can chat with them any time, day or night, which is particularly useful for international folks living in a different time zone than their desired college or university. 

Make it accessible to all 

Design that addresses the unique needs, barriers, and challenges that people with disabilities face when using your site will benefit all users, ensuring your site is inclusive and accessible.

Dos and don'ts on designing for accessibility posters by GOV.UK 
Source: Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility posters by GOV.UK 

Don’t make the mistake of allowing accessibility to become an afterthought you attempt to shoehorn into a near-finished design. It’ll cost you time and money in the long run. 

Fifteen percent of the world’s population, or 1.3 billion people, self-identify as having a disability, so design a website accessible to all and watch your ROI grow. 

What does accessible website design look like? Do you have to forfeit captivating visuals to gain a truly accessible site? Not quite. 

Are you keen to introduce motion on your site to increase engagement? Great! Though first, understand how movement on websites impacts people with vestibular disorders such as epilepsy. Avoid using excessive animation to ensure everyone can use your site, opting for thoughtfully executed motion design users can control instead, for example, prominent pause, stop, and play options on embedded videos.

Partnering with the National Council for the Blind in Ireland, Kanopi was able to design a website that’s AAA compliant (the highest level of web accessibility) without sacrificing good design. 

The nonprofit’s site includes fun, engaging graphics with bright colors and relatable student imagery while nailing text-to-background color contrast, large text, and text zoom functionality. Site visitors know exactly where to go from the homepage, with straightforward user journeys for students, readers, and educators:

Source: NCBI Case Study

Rank higher on Google 

A site that’s well-designed and optimized for search engines can drive more organic traffic and improve search engine rankings. It’s that simple.

VITAS Healthcare, a pioneering hospice movement since 1978, improved its organic click-through rate (CTR) by 52% through improved design. A CTR is the percentage of searchers who click on a search engine result.

How did they do it? Improving their meta descriptions made them more descriptive and meaningful, adding direct telephone numbers for folks to reach them immediately.

Meta descriptions are HTML tags summarizing your webpage’s content. It’s a snippet of text, roughly 160 characters long, that appears under your page title on a search engine result page like Google.

The meta descriptions of every landing page you design may fly under the radar at times, though this behind-the-scenes component is key to great website design that ensures your site is discoverable. 

Save staff time  

A well-designed website can make it easier for a nonprofit or higher education institution to complete two vital tasks:

  • communicate with your key stakeholders and 
  • disseminate important information. 

It took staff 25% less time to respond to inquiries following the redesign of the American Cancer Society’s website. They refined their “Contact Us” page with a clear content hierarchy, providing pathways for questions by phone, live chat, or video chat and by topics such as donations and volunteering opportunities:

 

Chatbot on cancer.org
Source: cancer.org.

How does this translate to ROI? Let’s do some quick math.

Suppose your staff spends 10 hours or 25% of their 40-hour work week navigating and replying to inquiries from your website. With time savings similar to the American Cancer Society at 25%, your staff can now respond to inquiries in 7.5 hours instead of 10. 

For a team of 5, that saves 650 hours per year that could be redirected to other essential tasks within your organization.

Great design starts with research and strategy

Here at Kanopi, accessibility is baked into our process at the start of every website design project. Our strategists, designers, and developers collaborate to skillfully balance website design that produces the wow factor while not compromising on building a site accessible to all. 

Good website design isn’t just “sparkle and boom.” 

The real boom happens when you use research to develop a strategy that enhances your user experience and improves your conversion rates. 

Are you after more donations? More enrollment? More memberships? 

It is invaluable to gain an accurate, up-to-date picture of how people use your site and what they expect to find. Find that sweet spot where content meets both the needs of your users and your organizational goals by developing a content strategy based on user research. 

The tried and tested way to turn one-page website viewers into repeat visitors and continuous supporters is by designing a website with user experience at its core. 

We’ve provided only a handful of examples of how great website design can impact a nonprofit or higher education institution’s ability to achieve its goals and boost its ROI in the process. From increasing revenue, giving and organic traffic to engaging the next generation, improving accessibility, and saving staff time, we think the proven results of excellent site design speak for themselves. 

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Green environment technology concept. generative ai showing a tree growing out of a motherboard

Green energy, cloud use, and sustainable websites

Allison Manley
Allison Manley Director of Marketing & Communications

This Earth Day, consider how you harness the power of sustainability with your online presence.

Many people assume that the Internet is a more environmentally friendly way of sharing information; businesses and organizations are no longer printing materials on paper or plastics, using inks, and shipping mail as they did before the Internet became the primary marketing hub. There is a large environmental impact with supply chains, but building websites feels less impactful. 

But is it? Not necessarily. In fact, creating and maintaining websites uses a lot of electricity. And websites that are heavily trafficked use even more energy. 

The internet is not as green as you would think. Think of how many people are online at any given time. There’s an impact every time someone sends an email. Every time they send a tweet, or a Facebook post, etc. Then consider that an estimated 37% of the world’s population (that’s 2.9 billion people) have never used the internet, so there are still more people that could be online. 

There’s a carbon footprint involved with all we do digitally. As businesses become increasingly digital, we must ask ourselves how to ensure sustainability online. That means more than just making sure your website is up and running so you can eliminate other forms of communication — it means harnessing the power of green energy, cloud use, and building sustainable websites so that our digital presence is as eco-friendly as possible. 

This Earth Day, we’d like to provide some quick tips on how to be more proactive about sustainability when creating your next website project. 

But first, how “green” is your current site?

How does your website fare now? Use tools like Ecograder and Website Carbon to estimate your digital footprint. It’s an eye-opener to see where your website could be making improvements.

If you follow website UX and coding best practices, here’s the good news: by default, best practices for web design and accessibility translate into more sustainable websites. They are built using lightweight code that can load quickly even on slow connections Since they are designed to prioritize user goals, and performance less time is spent loading or trying to find information … which translates into time, energy, and ultimately cost savings.

Sustainable websites also use fewer resources overall, which helps conserve energy. They are often made as fast and performant as possible, particularly if they are more heavily used on mobile devices. And don’t forget about accessibility: sustainable websites tend to be more accessible for users with disabilities too! 

But if you need your website to be more sustainable, let’s dig into where you can make some impactful changes.

Harnessing green energy in the Cloud 

Green energy is a key component of sustainability online. After all, each time you access the internet, you are using electricity. But what if you could use renewable sources of energy such as solar or wind power instead of relying on fossil fuels? 

Cloud computing makes this possible. By hosting your data in the cloud and taking advantage of green energy sources, companies can reduce their carbon footprints while still getting access to all the same features they would with traditional hosting services. Plus, it’s often cheaper and has lower maintenance for your internal teams. 

In short, work with your hosting provider to make sure your website is powered by renewable energy. 

If you’re looking for a new hosting provider, a great place to look is The Green Web Foundation’s directory, a listing of over 500 hosting providers around the world with a tangible commitment to using green energy in their data centers.

Fun fact: Kanopi is hosted with Pantheon, which offers container-based, serverless hosting. And they’re built on GCP, a green platform. 

Practice sustainable web design

Practicing sustainable web design will help make your site efficient while reducing website carbon emissions. This includes being smart about how you use images and how they load on the page; one example is using responsive images, which serve the correctly sized image for the user’s device to avoid unnecessary resource usage. 

User Experience (UX) optimization is an ever-evolving practice, and Kanopi is constantly refining our approach to how users consume and interact with websites. By optimizing the user experience of your website, you can expect to see increased user satisfaction, shorter interaction pathways, and a reduction in overall energy consumption associated with your site. Essentially the better the usability of your site, the better it is for the environment. So make sure you know what your audiences are looking for so they can find it fast. 

This also applies to content: create content that is meaningful to your users in order to keep the overall site lean, and avoid content that adds unwanted complexity or bloat to your site. Video content is especially energy dense and should be deployed in a purpose-driven and user-focused manner. 

This website on sustainable web design has many other excellent suggestions on how to keep your site design as sustainable as possible.

Improve your page speed and performance

The faster your site loads and users find what they need, the less energy is used. The more efficient, the better. It really is that simple. 

How the site is built and developed is key. Due to the collaborative nature of open-source tools and the community, software tools are optimized for better performance and efficiency (something proprietary solutions don’t often consider). Open-source tools can also help lean teams start small and test ideas before scaling, thereby reducing waste. 

Website optimization is not a “set it and forget it” activity. It’s an area where you can always make iterative improvements, and ongoing optimization of your website is essential to reducing your energy footprint. 

This can be done in several ways:

  • Ensure your codebase is meeting or exceeding current best practices. Over time, these efficiencies will result in less energy consumed overall and will allow your site to stay evergreen.
  • Performance reviews. Looking at the key metrics that inform Google’s Core Web Vitals is a great way to impact your page speed (and rank higher in search results, too). UX patterns play a role here as well, since patterns like carousels are tricky to implement without noticeably affecting your page load times.
  • Only track what you need to track, and use a tag manager. Third-party trackers are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to slowing down your site. Think hard about how, when, and where you’re using the information, and only collect what you need. It’s also better for user privacy, which your users will appreciate!

Sustainability is good business. 

At the end of the day, harnessing sustainability online is essential for businesses looking to remain competitive in today’s digital world while still being mindful of their environmental impact.  

So when you’re thinking of more ways to be eco-friendly around the office, think beyond ways you can make your physical space greener or how your IT infrastructure could have a greener footprint. Consider how you can also apply eco-friendly techniques to your entire digital environment. In tandem with websites, sustainable digital marketing strategies go hand-in-hand. When it comes to digital marketing campaigns, it’s important to think about how you can minimize your environmental impact while still achieving your goals. This includes focusing on organic search traffic rather than paid ads whenever possible, and utilizing email marketing over direct mail campaigns which require physical materials like envelopes and paper. 

We recommend regular UX and code audits as the improvements they can provide are not only essential to the long-term health of your website but also have a direct impact on the amount of energy consumed (Kanopi can help with audits). Taking a holistic approach to sustainability will ensure your business is doing its part, and opportunities for positive impact exist at every level and scale. 

By keeping these tips in mind, CMOs and marketing managers can make sure their businesses are doing their part for people AND planet alike. 

Additional resources:

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