Redesigning how families access early childhood services in Connecticut

Summary

The challenge

OEC’s website served as the primary access point for families seeking child care, providers navigating licensing, and staff managing programs — but it wasn’t meeting any of those audiences well. The site had grown organically over the years, resulting in a fragmented structure where critical information was buried behind confusing navigation, outdated forms, and jargon-heavy language.

The forms online, many of them are outdated. So I don’t look online.

Research participant

The experience was desktop-only, shutting out the many families and providers who relied on mobile devices. Users consistently reported frustration trying to find information, complete tasks, and access services — creating friction for the very audiences OEC was designed to support. The agency needed a redesign grounded in real user needs, not just a visual refresh.

The solution

We started with extensive user research to understand how families, child care providers, and OEC staff actually used the site — and where it fell short. Card sorting, tree testing, persona development, and usability testing revealed that the site’s information architecture didn’t match how any of its core audiences thought about early childhood services.

Those research findings shaped every design decision that followed. We simplified navigation, rewrote content in plain language, and organized the site around the tasks users came to accomplish — things like finding a child care provider, applying for a license, or accessing program resources. The result was a single, user-focused homepage with clear pathways for each key audience, built to work across both mobile and desktop.

Rather than a big-bang launch, we delivered the site in incremental content releases so families and providers could start benefiting from improvements sooner. This approach also let the team test assumptions, gather feedback, and adjust the design in response to real usage patterns.

To ensure OEC could sustain the site independently, we equipped internal staff with a content management system, published content guidelines, and provided hands-on training. This gave the agency the tools and confidence to manage, update, and evolve the site on its own — without relying on outside support for routine changes.

The results

• Launched a redesigned, responsive website in May 2020, aligned to real user tasks and needs across families, providers, and staff
• Increased daily traffic 3x compared to the previous site, reflecting improved findability and user engagement
• Reached more than 2,000 daily users during peak COVID-19 demand, as OEC became one of the first Connecticut agencies to deliver timely pandemic information online
• Equipped internal staff to manage the site independently through content guidelines, training, and a sustainable content management workflow

Clean look, bright colors, not overwhelming, and easy to search.

Community advocate