Redesigning how families access early childhood services in Connecticut
Summary
As part of our digital transformation work with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), we redesigned the agency’s web presence. The new site offers a single, user-focused experience with clear pathways to critical early childhood resources — improving access to services relied on by more than 200,000 children and families across Connecticut.
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. Critical information was buried behind confusing navigation, outdated forms, and jargon-heavy language.
The forms online, many of them are outdated.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
The site’s structure didn’t match how any of its audiences thought. Card sorting, tree testing, persona development, and usability testing with families, child care providers, and OEC staff revealed that the site’s information architecture mapped to the agency’s org chart rather than to anyone’s actual task.
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 — 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.
A big-bang relaunch would have delayed the help families actually needed. We delivered the site in incremental content releases so families and providers could start benefiting from improvements sooner. The approach also let the team test assumptions, gather feedback, and adjust the design in response to real usage patterns.
OEC had to own the site, not depend on a vendor for every update. We equipped internal staff with a content management system, published content guidelines, and provided hands-on training. The agency gained the tools and confidence to manage, update, and evolve the site on its own.
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