Kidney Foundation of Central Pennsylvania: Guiding Patients to Kidney Care Access

A reimagined website offering vital education, advocacy, and support resources to those affected by chronic kidney disease, ensuring patients easily access care and emergency financial aid.

The original website (left) was ready to become more streamlined

ROLE

User Research

Website UX/UI Designer

Prototyping & Testing

Website Development

TOOLS

Figma

DETAILS

Duration: 3 month

Company: KFCP

THE PROBLEM

My objective for the Kidney Foundation of Central Pennsylvania website was to better align the digital experience with their mission, ensuring both patients and potential donors could engage with their awareness initiatives and direct patient assistance programs.

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Problem Statement

KFCP’s previous website featured dated imagery and confusing navigation, which actively prevented patients from finding the urgent support they needed. Our user groups faced specific frustrations:

Patients had difficulty locating critical informational materials regarding CKD treatment options and choices.
Volunteers and Donors found it complicated to navigate the site's calls-to-action across events, giving, and community involvement.
Staff spent too much time manually directing individuals to limited emergency assistance application forms.

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Impact

Valuable informational materials were difficult to access, slowing patient awareness and informed care decisions.
The outdated, non-human imagery failed to build essential trust and compassion with a vulnerable patient audience.
Opportunities for community stewardship and engagement were missed due to confusing pathways and outdated visual design.

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Opportunity

I seized the opportunity to implement a clean, modern aesthetic across the site, making it easier for patients to find guidance and for the organization to solicit engagement. The redesign allowed me to eliminate legacy content, elevate compassionate photography, and dramatically improve the structure of resource pages, resulting in a clearer pathway to patient assistance.

RESEARCH

User Research to Inform Kidney Foundation’s New Website

I led research initiatives to understand how patients, caregivers, and community members interacted with the website and accessed crucial disease management tools, using insights to guide the redesign.

Executive Stakeholder Workshops

I met with KFCP leadership to clarify strategic priorities, define success metrics, and establish the core message for their advocacy and educational efforts.

Existing Content Inventory and Audit

I systematically reviewed all current site materials to identify outdated program details, confusing terminology, and gaps in educational resource coverage.

Event and Volunteer Path Testing

I conducted tests with active community supporters to streamline the signup workflows for local events and volunteer opportunities.

Community Engagement Platform Analysis

I evaluated the existing pathways for events, volunteering, and donation to identify drop-off rates and maximize opportunities for community involvement.

Advocacy Content Readability Review

I evaluated the clarity of press releases and patient voice videos to ensure they resonated with both laypersons and policy stakeholders.

Visual Trust and Compassion Testing

I tested various styles of photography and visual elements with potential users to ensure the new imagery successfully conveyed warmth, professionalism, and hope.

Audit of Kidney Foundation’s Existing Website

I performed a comprehensive review of the KFCP site, assessing its content, structure, and functions against the needs identified in our user research. This analysis exposed significant shortcomings where the experience failed to clearly present resources, reflect the organization’s integrity, and encourage involvement.

Key Findings

Outdated Information – The website contained legacy program details and expired event listings, creating confusion and diminishing trust in the foundation's status as a modern resource.
Impersonal Visuals – Photography lacked human connection, relying on generic images that failed to convey the compassion and supportive environment vital to patients and caregivers.
Overly Busy Aesthetic – The existing design featured excess visual clutter, hindering the desired shift toward a clean, clear aesthetic that emphasizes immediate information access.
Resource Fragmentation – Educational documents and support tools were scattered across disparate pages, making it inefficient for patients to find information on dialysis or transplants.
Engagement Barriers – Pathways for key community actions like donating, volunteering, and event registration were non-intuitive and often led to dead-ends.

This audit provided a clear roadmap for redesign, informing improvements to navigation, content clarity, visual consistency, and user engagement across the site.

I evaluated the websites of national kidney foundations and regional healthcare non-profits, analyzing their strategies for resource delivery, donor outreach, and patient advocacy to identify areas where KFCP could excel.

Competitor Analysis

My goal was to ensure the KFCP website effectively highlighted its unique regional support and case-by-case financial aid, creating a standout experience that transcended the standard offerings of national groups.

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I analyzed digital platforms operated by large national kidney organizations and smaller regional health charities, focusing on their methods for organizing complex medical information, encouraging local participation, and soliciting funding. I evaluated their presentation of advocacy initiatives, emergency assistance forms, and patient stories to determine market best practices and identify opportunities for KFCP to leverage a clear, compassionate digital identity.

OPPORTUNITY 1

Elevated Patient Dignity

Implement authentic, high-quality photography and personal narratives to visually convey the KFCP's compassion and build immediate trust with patients and their caregivers.

OPPORTUNITY 2

Streamlined Information Access

Reorganize complex medical info pages into intuitive, easy-to-search pathways, ensuring patients find educational materials and treatment options efficiently.

OPPORTUNITY 3

Maximized Community Participation

Improve the visibility and user experience for all donation, event, and volunteer pages, making it simple for the community to financially support the mission.

OPPORTUNITY 4

Clear Pathway to Aid

Establish prominent, simple calls-to-action for all core services, particularly the emergency financial assistance application, guiding vulnerable patients to help without friction.

Observations I Gathered

FOCUS

Prioritizing Patient Information

I learned that individuals seeking support need immediate access to specific disease facts and financial resources, so the design needed to use a clear visual hierarchy to elevate vital educational and emergency aid content.

COMPASSION

Instilling Hope and Professionalism

I found that patients dealing with chronic illness require immediate reassurance, so prioritizing human-centric imagery and a clean, trustworthy aesthetic became essential for building organizational credibility and patient comfort.

STEWARDSHIP

Highlighting Community Value

I remembered that donors look for evidence of responsible use of funds, so the redesign focused on incorporating transparent reporting and prominent, streamlined pathways for all forms of community involvement.

IMPLEMENTATION & DESIGN

I partnered with the KFCP team to craft patient-centered content that accurately conveys their critical support mission while ensuring essential educational and financial aid resources are highly accessible to patients and caregivers.

Business Strategy Alignment

Maximize resource discoverability – Ensure all educational materials (dialysis, transplant, etc.) are visible and logically organized for first-time visitors and recurring users.

Simplify action pathways – Design straightforward user flows for all high-value actions: completing the emergency aid application and registering for events.

Establish trust and authority – Employ a clean, professional aesthetic and showcase the foundation’s impact through success stories and testimonials.

Content Structure Approaches

Challenge/Guidance – Frame common patient concerns (e.g., treatment choices) and present KFCP’s resources and expertise as clear guidance.

Action/Outcome – Highlight key support mechanisms (e.g., financial aid) and explain the immediate, positive relief for patients and their families.

Engagement Funnel – Organize donation and volunteer opportunities to clearly guide community members through different levels of involvement.

Implementation

Content pillars – Structure the site around patient support, disease education, and community involvement/fundraising.

Hierarchical organization – Utilize clear sections and sub-sections for intuitive, low-friction navigation to aid resources.

Detailed outlines – Define information architecture and content placement to ensure consistency and ease of use for both patients and KFCP staff.

Wireframes & Prototypes

The process started with low-fidelity wireframes to quickly define the site’s structural foundation, focusing on optimizing the presentation of educational resources and simplifying the emergency financial aid application. After establishing the core layout, I moved to interactive prototypes in Figma, which allowed me to model critical user journeys, validate navigation systems, and test the integration of modern imagery and simplified information. The entire design cycle involved close consultation with KFCP leadership, prompting continuous refinements based on their input to ensure the platform clearly communicated the mission while remaining functional and trustworthy. Every stage focused on enhancing interactivity, clarifying the site architecture, and balancing a clean aesthetic with user comprehension, ultimately yielding a final prototype ready for production.

Design and Development

After finalizing the Figma prototypes, I executed the comprehensive high-fidelity design for the website, detailing every visual component, behavioral interaction, and screen layout. I created exhaustive design documentation and detailed annotations to guarantee the new clean aesthetic and educational content remained consistent during the build phase. My subsequent focus was preparing the entire design system for the KFCP dev team, implementing style guides, technical specifications, and responsive definitions. This delivered a sophisticated, fully documented platform that clearly supported the foundation's core mission, streamlined resource access, and encouraged community involvement. Following rigorous quality assurance and client sign-off, the finished files were successfully handed off, providing the development team with a clear, trustworthy blueprint for building the vital kidney care information platform.

CONCLUSIONS

This project for the Kidney Foundation of Central Pennsylvania resulted in a website that clearly communicates their dedicated support model while streamlining complex health and financial resources for patients. By ensuring design choices were rooted in patient needs, I focused on a clean aesthetic, compassionate imagery, and clear pathways that guide users through critical care decisions.

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Key Outcomes

Using a strategic, patient-first approach, I delivered a website that improves the discoverability of KFCP's educational materials and simplifies the process for accessing emergency financial aid. Continual testing and close client partnership guaranteed the site's final execution aligned with the foundation’s vision while delivering a trustworthy and intuitive experience.

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Impact on Users

The revised website enables patients and caregivers to swiftly locate resources, understand treatment options, and find clear instructions for applying for assistance. Simplified user flows and prominent calls-to-action encourage immediate engagement and make the site a reliable source for those facing chronic kidney disease.

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Impact on the Organization

By uniting all educational content and engagement opportunities into one cohesive destination, KFCP is now optimally positioned to demonstrate its community stewardship, attract new donors, and ultimately serve more individuals.

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Strategic Value

Beyond enhancing day-to-day patient support, this redesign demonstrates how a targeted digital strategy can solidify a non-profit’s authority. The new site acts both as an essential service tool and a powerful showcase of KFCP's regional influence, bolstering sustainable fundraising efforts.