a collage of elements from the website surrounding a student on a computer.
a collage of elements from the website surrounding a student on a computer.

Boston University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation (CPR) needed a new website to serve their complex audiences and spread the word.

Psychiatric rehabilitation is an area of research that promotes recovery and improved quality of life for people with mental health conditions. CPR provides training, research resources, and clinical help. We worked with staff and leadership to delve deep into CPR’s multi-faceted services and diverse audiences to develop a new way to provide easier pathways to their services and research. They do so much. The challenge was: how to make one website serve everyone’s needs? 
An infographic of the various audiences for the Boston University website. The five audience segments are: donors, individuals, policy makers, researchers and evaluators, and the general public.
CPR’s audiences are varied, from clinicians and researchers to educators and students. We developed personas to understand all of their needs.
a sample user pathway from the website strategy. In this example, a student in need starts at the homepage, navigates to the services page, then the mental health programs page, and clicks the get started button to apply for the program.

a new strategy

A site for all audiences

Some people landing at CPR are in distress, and some are coming to learn and work. We developed a vision of a site that was portal-like — visitors get high-level context about the Center and simple pathways to their goals, and the content throughout the site moves from high level to more granular as they go deeper.

Defining goals

Communicate values

Emphasize self-determination, hope for recovery, person-centeredness, respect for each person’s recovery journey.

Make it easy

We will provide content consistent with how our audiences think, not how we think.

Engage all audiences

Attend to the needs of all of those who use and contribute to CPR and its work.

Show thought leadership

Convey that we have a special niche in the field. We are leaders with a point of view.
An example of a landing page next to a basic tertiary page.
The Boston University CPR website color palette
Large text reads "Steady in the face of difficulty" which represents the brand personality that drove the website design.
A grid of various module designs from the website.

A cohesive, clear design  

We designed the CPR site for maximum clarity. With so many audiences and so many possible pathways, we developed text hierarchies that telegraphed immediately where visitors should look to find the information and services they needed. All of the elements on the site mesh perfectly to create a unified look and feel with enough variety to create energy. 
A mobile mockup of the eight dimensions of wellness page. Each of the 8 dimensions appears on the screen to reveal the full infogaphic design.
We created an infographic and page all about the Eight Dimensions of Wellness, a conceptual framework that guides CPR’s work.
We developed a section of the site for research that allows visitors to filter studies and more to find what they need quickly.
The resources landing page next to an individual resource page with a video on it.
The Resources section is a main reasons visitors come to the site. We developed a simple structure that uses metadata to deliver exactly what people need.
The shop page on the website allows visitors to purchase ebooks and other resources.

Simple experience, sophisticated tech

Under the hood, CPR’s site is a WordPress installation with a custom theme using Advanced Custom Fields to create an easy administration experience. The staff at CPR, for so long burdened with difficulty managing their resources, are now able to be nimble and keep their information up to date for all of their audiences. 
The content management system for the Boston University CPR website uses a drag and drop builder to create and edit pages.

Smith & Connors expertly and empathetically managed a very complex process for our website redesign and helped us create clarity in the work. Their follow-through, communication of values, and adhering to the plan that we laid out—all of that together has made this a great endeavor.
the headshot of E. Sally Rogers

Project Scope

  • Change Management
  • Interviews
  • Staff Engagement
  • Surveys
  • Workshops & Focus Groups
  • Content Development
  • Content Strategy
  • Documentation
  • SEO Strategy & Optimization
  • Web Design & Development
The Whole Bowl logo decal on a glass door.
A landscape photograph of a Whole Bowl food truck in Portland, OR.

Let’s make something great together.