HIV/AIDS, Aging and Beyond: Redesigning and Enhancing the National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day Website

Content From: Michelle Scavnicky, MS, Director of Education & Capacity Building,The AIDS InstitutePublished: September 08, 20153 min read

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The AIDS Institute (TAI)Exit Disclaimer is the lead organizer for National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day(NHAAD), which is observed on September 18. We saw the approach of this year’s eighth annual observance as an opportunity to evaluate our NHAAD website. We sought usability feedback from our NHAAD partners and reviewed evaluations from local organizations that planned NHAAD events in 2014. Their input guided us as we successfully redesigned our site with easier site navigation and regular updates to the NHAAD resources pageExit Disclaimer.

Redesign Strategy:

One of TAI’s goals was to establish a new websiteExit Disclaimer that would provide enhanced opportunities for raising general awareness about HIV and aging, while still focusing on our annual campaign. In addition, we wanted to establish a platform with a variety of educational materials, tools, and resources that would assist organizations and other entities to plan or promote activities/events for NHAAD.

3 Key Concepts:

1. Relevant Content: Part of our content strategy is sharing valuable content from NHAAD partners. We keep the website fresh--and encourage readers to come back again--by posting current information and providing relevant updates to the HIV and Aging Awareness home pageExit Disclaimer and our Conferences and Webinars pageExit Disclaimer.

A recent update was the Spotlight on HIV and Aging blog by Dr. Ronald Valdiserri (a cross-post from the HIV.gov blog). We also increased the site’s value as a strong resource for those looking for information on HIV and other services by adding the HIV Testing Sites & Care Services Locator widget.2. Visual Consistency: We developed a clean and crisp look, and added visuals on HIV and aging to attract and engage readers. For example, on the HIV and Aging ResourcesExit Disclaimer page, logos are prominently used to promote and engage readers in visually recognizing various resources on HIV and aging. We have also packaged materials and resources into a downloadable toolkit for individuals and organizations to help them promote NHAAD and information on HIV and aging.

3. Strong Usability: TAI wanted to ensure that the site would be simple to use. For example, we created a drop-down menu that fosters easy navigation. We hope this will make it easier to navigate the site and encourage our visitors to stay and re-visit.

Lessons Learned:

1. Platform: We selected wix.comExit Disclaimer for this redesign, since it’s fairly easy to use, and our staff members were already familiar with the platform. We also knew that wix.comExit Disclaimer offers specific features that we wanted to make available on the NHAAD site, including the 2015 NHAAD Event Registration for which we designed using the Epic Form Builder application on wix.com.

2. Time: It takes a great deal of time to develop, design, and maintain a website. We knew we couldn’t develop the new design overnight, so we allowed ample time to ensure a successful launch.

3. Commitment: To be successful at providing regular website updates, commitment is the key. Internally, we set aside dedicated time for providing regular updates.

In its eighth year, NHAAD continues to grow. TAI will continue to evaluate our new HIV and Aging AwarenessExit Disclaimer website by engaging our audiences and looking at ways to improve the site through direct and indirect feedback.

Please visit our new NHAAD siteExit Disclaimer and download resources with great ease!

Have you thought about key concepts for a successful website?

For more information: The AIDS InstituteExit Disclaimer, National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day, NHAAD websiteExit Disclaimer, NHAAD HIV and Aging Awareness home pageExit Disclaimer, NHAAD Conferences and Webinars pageExit Disclaimer, HIV.gov blog: Spotlight on HIV and Aging.