Designing a Resource and Support Hub for Dementia Caregivers
Project Overview
Problem
Family caregivers couldn’t find trusted dementia resources; key pages hidden without direct link.
Timeline + Team
June 2023 - Present
Founder → 2 co-founders · UX designer · 2 asset managers · financial advisor
My Role
Lead UX researcher & designer – Information Architecture overhaul, visual standards, course UX
Tools
Figma · Miro · Circle.so · Canva · Trello · OneDrive · PowerPoint · Google Workspace
Context
ABC Dementia helps family caregivers feel less alone by pairing clear education with emotional support and hand-picked resources.
Why I was invited: as the resource library grew, content began to scatter across blog posts and hidden pages, making information harder to reach and the visual identity uneven. I was asked to refine the structure and align the brand.
How the work evolved: our early wins revealed bigger accessibility opportunities, so my role expanded into a full platform refresh:
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Built a category > subcategory framework that groups resources by topic and format so caregivers reach the right help in one or two clicks.
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Developed a comprehensive brand & style guide (WCAG-aligned palette, typography, and clear usage rules) plus ready-made Canva and Google Docs templates so anyone can produce on-brand content in minutes.
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Shaped the UX for 3 new caregiver courses (one professional certification, two family-focused).
Platform pivot: midway through, the founder chose Circle.so for its built-in community features. I translated our new IA and visuals to Circle’s layout limits and set up step-by-step workflows so the team can publish fresh resources in minutes rather than hours.
›› At a Glance
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0 → 347 free dementia-care resources now one click away
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Image-asset workflow: ≈ 2 to 5 minutes → 10 seconds per visual
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3 courses live (1 professional, 2 family-caregiver tracks)
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Unified brand system: templates + style guide for faster, consistent updates
Understanding the Problem
Visual + Structural Barriers
The site’s structure created significant usability issues. The navigation was inconsistent, and the layout did not prioritize ease of use. While Mobirise offered basic tools for building a site, the way the site was set up led to poor organization and an unclear visual hierarchy. This made it difficult for caregivers to quickly find the resources they needed. The content lacked the flexibility and clarity necessary to make the platform truly accessible, and the design wasn’t conducive to scannability, which created barriers for users trying to navigate the site.
Annotated homepage review of the original ABC Dementia site highlighting UX opportunities to streamline content, reduce cognitive load, and create a more accessible, emotionally supportive user experience.
Missed Opportunities for Findability
The lack of an intuitive content organization system limited users’ ability to efficiently search and access resources. Without clear categorization or filtering options, caregivers were left to manually sift through content, leading to a poor experience. This resulted in missed opportunities to make resources easier to discover and more valuable to users.
Annotated screenshot calling out UX issues in the blog layout, including indistinguishable content types, lack of tagging/filtering, and visual inconsistency.
Annotated recommendations page highlighting UX challenges such as missing navigation access, vague page purpose, inconsistent layout, and low scannability.
Brand Overlap and Confusion
As the rebranding efforts progressed, it became clear that the original brand identity was not aligned with the platform's goal of supporting caregivers. The visual design and messaging caused some confusion regarding the platform’s true mission. There was overlap in the way resources and services were presented, making it unclear to users what they could expect from the platform. A more focused and cohesive brand was needed to simplify the user experience and better align the platform with the needs of caregivers.
Platform Constraints
The Mobirise platform, while functional, lacked the necessary customization and collaborative features to scale effectively. I initially recommended an alternative web host platform with better content management and search capabilities. However, as the rebrand progressed, Circle.so emerged as a more fitting option. Recommended by the founder’s mentor, this platform provided the flexibility and support needed to launch the community, course, and resource content in one unified space. It also offered a budget-friendly solution with a revenue-sharing model, which made it a more viable option for the project’s long-term success.
My Approach
Facilitating the Alignment Exercise + Identifying Key Opportunities
To ensure we were aligned on the project's vision and goals, I facilitated an alignment exercise with Laura and her eventual cofounder. The purpose was to uncover Laura's long-term aspirations for the platform and to identify the most impactful direction moving forward.
During this exercise, Laura shared her desire to position herself as a subject matter expert (SME) in dementia caregiving. This insight shifted our focus to educational content as a key strategy for building her credibility and extending her reach to caregivers.
✦ Breakthrough Moment
Laura's Aspiration to Become a Subject Matter Expert
This breakthrough moment guided our design direction, prioritizing the creation of caregiver-focused educational resources to support Laura’s professional goals and the mission of the platform.
Screenshot from the alignment exercise I facilitated, where participants sorted brand-related words into 'Important' and 'Not Important' categories. Using sticky notes for dot voting, the most important brand attributes were identified as 'trusted,' 'open,' 'genuine,' 'credible,' and 'safe.' The canvas also included instructions for navigating and dot voting effectively.
Screenshot from Part 3 of the alignment exercise, where terms were sorted to help identify what should be left behind, embraced in the present, and built toward in the future. This activity was crucial in aligning the team and ensuring that current and future decisions would stay in line with long-term goals.
Screenshot from Part 4 of the alignment exercise, where the team outlined 3-5 actionable steps to align the brand with the identified goals and key brand attributes. The primary and secondary goals for alignment were also established, ensuring that future actions would drive the brand in the desired direction.
Establishing the Brand Foundation Before Website Launch
Before beginning work on the new platform, we knew it was crucial to finalize the brand updates to ensure visual consistency. The brand refinement needed to be completed before we could proceed with the website overhaul. This involved:
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Finalizing the logo design, color palettes, and typography to align with Laura’s mission and vision for the platform.
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Once these elements were solidified, we could confidently move forward with implementing the new brand on the chosen platform.
Refining the Brand Identity
I worked closely with Laura to redefine the platform's brand for a clearer, more professional identity. This included:
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Logo design: A range of sketches, low-fidelity, and medium-fidelity concepts were presented for feedback.
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High-fidelity concepts: The final, polished logo was developed based on feedback from earlier iterations, ensuring it met both aesthetic and functional needs.
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Color palettes: Chosen to convey trust, clarity, and approachability.
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Typography: Selected fonts were aligned with the brand’s tone, which was professional yet accessible, ensuring a consistent feel across the platform.
This process ensured the brand reflected Laura’s mission to engage and support the caregiving community.
Comparison of the plain text (left) and polished (right) resource versions. The polished version features enhanced formatting and accessibility, with a green paint stroke across the top, added at the client's request.
Comparison of 7 logo color combinations with 2 style variations for each. This matrix was used to help the founder select the logo coloration and style that best reflects the brand’s identity and mission.
Matrix showcasing various single-line and multi-line text layout options for logo configuration. These configurations allow the founder to choose how the logo text and icon should be arranged, offering flexibility in aligning the logo with the brand’s identity.
Finalized logo design showcasing the polished logo concept that represents the new brand identity. The logo integrates the chosen color palette, typography, and icon to communicate trust, clarity, and approachability, aligning with the platform’s mission to support caregivers.
Brand Style Guidelines
Once the high-fidelity concepts were approved, I created a comprehensive brand style guide to ensure consistency across all visual assets. The guide included:
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Logo usage: Clear instructions on how to apply the logo across various platforms and media to ensure brand consistency.
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Color palette: Specified primary and secondary colors that align with the platform’s mission and vision.
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Typography: Defined fonts and usage rules to maintain a cohesive visual identity across resources.
The brand + style guide became the go-to resource for creating consistent, aligned assets across future platforms, ensuring all design work adhered to the established visual identity.
Left: Typography for the brand, chosen for its modern, professional, and accessible feel, ensuring consistency across all platforms.
Right: Color palette for the brand, selected to evoke trust and clarity, with calming tones that reflect the platform’s supportive and approachable nature.
ABC Dementia Brand and Style Guide: Key guidelines for consistent logo usage, typography, color application, and tone to strengthen brand recognition and maintain integrity.
Platform Recommendation + Stakeholder Buy-In
I recommended a website builder for under $20/month to allow for collaborative editing and scalability. However, when Laura decided to leave her full-time role to focus on her business, funds were tighter than expected. We decided to wait a month before subscribing to the builder to ensure she had the resources.
While finishing the rebrand, Laura’s mentor suggested we consider Circle.so, offering to absorb the platform costs and take a percentage of proceeds once revenue began coming in. This was appealing, especially since the mentor would volunteer his time to help manage the platform and add content to the resource library leveraging the guidance that I provided.
Shift to Circle.so + Immediate Benefits
As Laura began working on her Family Caregiver Kickstart course, the decision to move to Circle.so allowed us to set up the platform quickly (within an hour instead of a couple weeks) and start adding resources. The platform also allowed the course and community resources to be housed together, providing easy access for caregivers.
Limitations and Adjustments
One downside of using Circle.so was the limited flexibility in customizing the UI and overall site structure. The platform had pre-established design elements, so we couldn't fully implement the brand/style guide, particularly around typography, layout, and color scheme.
While this restricted some of the visual customizations we had hoped for, I focused on structuring the content in a way that made it easier to discover resources. Although we couldn’t adjust the information architecture as much as we wanted, we worked within these limitations to ensure that the content was still organized and user-friendly.
Family Caregiver Kickstart course on Circle.so, providing caregivers with easy access to educational content and community support within the platform.
Creating Accessible Educational Resources
With the insight from the alignment exercise, I began working on transforming plain text documents into stylized, accessible content that could be printed or shared digitally. I focused on making these resources visually appealing and easy to navigate for caregivers.
This included designing worksheets and behavior tracking tools that not only helped caregivers track progress but also served as tools to increase the visibility of Laura’s educational offerings. The goal was to create resources that were both practical and aligned with Laura's vision for the platform.
Comparison of the plain text (left) and polished (right) resource versions. The polished version features enhanced formatting and accessibility, with a green paint stroke across the top, added at the client's request.
Contributing to Course Development + Instructional Design
As part of my ongoing work with Laura, I assisted in shaping the instructional elements of the Family Caregiver Kickstart Course, ensuring the content would not only be accessible but also engaging and measurable in terms of learner comprehension.
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Learning Objectives: I recommended defining clear objectives upfront to guide learners through the course material and set expectations.
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Checks for Understanding: I suggested integrating short quizzes throughout the course to assess learner comprehension and retention in real time.
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Instructional Video Structure: I advised keeping videos under 9 minutes to maintain focus and ensure better engagement.
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Leveraging Outside Technology: I recommended using Google Forms as a workaround for Circle.so’s limitations in handling interactive assessments, complementing the platform's infrastructure where it fell short.
Optimizing Workflow for Content + Resource Creation
Phase 1: Updating the Branding + Template Creation
With Laura’s updated branding, she needed a new template to ensure visual consistency across all resources. This included incorporating custom iconography and other design elements to align with the new brand identity. The initial design request included two sections: one for the icons and one for a photo representing the resource, along with a visual overlay to maintain a polished look.
This template helped ensure brand cohesion, but the process still required multiple steps: dragging and dropping icons and photos, and adjusting the overlay for each image. While it met Laura’s visual goals, the process was time-consuming due to the complexity of managing multiple image layers.
The three-step process to update the first resource image template, taking about two minutes per image. Steps included adding icons (fixed in place), dropping the photo into the frame, and dragging the visual overlay into place.
Phase 2: Simplification to One Multi-Purpose Image
Recognizing the need for a more efficient workflow, I proposed simplifying the process to one multi-purpose image. By focusing on the card image’s core purpose of visually representing the content, I removed the need for separate elements like icons and overlay adjustments.
This change allowed Laura to use a single image for both the card and cover images, eliminating the extra steps and reducing the time spent on each image from two minutes to under 10 seconds.
The multi-purpose cover/card image template on the left shows how the wider cover image automatically crops to the appropriate size for the card image on the right.
The multi-purpose cover/card image template, used for the resource cover image, automatically crops to fit the cover format while maintaining visual consistency.
▸ Stakeholder Insight
Impact of Simplified Workflow: Laura’s Perspective
After implementing the simplified image process and optimizing the resource page workflow, I received valuable feedback from Laura on the impact these changes had on her day-to-day tasks. She shared:
"Some of the changes you made (like the frame around the resource images that allow me to use the same image for both the cover image and the card image) have made a huge difference in streamlining the content creation process. I actually still love the process of dropping the image into the frame, whereas before I found it cumbersome and often frustrating."
- Text Message from Laura Herman, Founder of ABC Dementia
This feedback highlights how the simplification of the image creation process significantly reduced the time and effort involved, allowing Laura to focus more on content creation and community engagement.
Enhancing Resource Findability
In addition to simplifying the image creation process, I focused on improving findability within the resource library since Circle.so did not have a robust tagging system available. To make it easier for users to discover content, I recommended a new structure for presenting resources on the platform:
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A header section at the top of the page identifying the type of resource (workbook, tracking tool, video, etc.).
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A list of categories related to the resource (“financial”, “medical”, “caregiving”, etc.) to help users quickly identify relevant topics.
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A brief summary before diving into the resource itself, giving users an overview of what they could expect from the content.
These changes helped improve searchability and organization, ensuring that users could easily find the resources they needed without unnecessary effort.
The structured header in action, featuring the resource type, relevant categories, and a brief summary of the resource to enhance discoverability and searchability.
Implementation + User Feedback
After completing the branding and structural updates, the next step was to implement the changes across the platform. While user testing is planned, focus has been on engaging the current community and increasing the available resources. The immediate feedback from dozens of community members and LinkedIn followers has been overwhelmingly positive:
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Feedback on Redesign: Multiple community members have commented that the redesign is clean and that the content now feels more professional.
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Improved Findability: Users have expressed how much easier it is to find what they are looking for in the Course & Community resource library, highlighting the effectiveness of the new resource structure and improved findability.
This feedback, while informal, demonstrates the positive impact of the redesign and confirms that the changes have been well-received by users, making it easier for them to navigate and engage with the content.
Resource page within the ABC Dementia community on Circle.so, showcasing caregiving materials like workbooks and tracking tools, designed for easy navigation and access.
Contributing to Course Development and Instructional Design
While Laura had created much of the content for the Family Caregiver Kickstart Course, I consulted on small tweaks to make the learning experience more seamless for participants. My recommendations included:
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Checking for Understanding: I suggested incorporating short quizzes and interactive checkpoints to assess comprehension in real-time.
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Opportunities for Knowledge Application: We designed activities that allowed learners to apply their knowledge, reinforcing key takeaways.
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Engagement Strategies: I advised on keeping videos concise and ensuring the course content was both engaging and accessible for caregivers.
These adjustments helped enhance the flow of the course and improved overall learner engagement.
Advanced Dementia Care Certification Course: Expanding Global Reach
While Laura led the content creation and worked directly with the Chartered Institute of Professional Certifications (CIPC), I supported the development of the Advanced Dementia Care Certification Course by editing instructional videos, aligning captions, and prepping content to be hosted on the CIPC platform. I collaborated with Laura to make necessary adjustments based on CIPC feedback, ensuring the content was polished and aligned with professional certification standards.
In addition, I formatted slideshows and made accessibility adjustments to improve the final deliverables. We managed the project using a shared OneDrive and communicated asynchronously through a detailed task table, which clearly outlined responsibilities. I also created branded digital assets that were included as resources for the course, further strengthening the course’s visual identity and accessibility.
Key Outcomes
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Improved User Experience: The redesign led to clearer navigation and a more professional look, as confirmed by dozens of community members and LinkedIn followers. Users highlighted how much easier it was to find resources in the Course & Community resource library.
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Increased Accessibility: The new resource structure made it easier for users to navigate and access content, improving overall findability of resources.
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Global Reach: The Advanced Dementia Care Certification Course was successfully positioned for global impact through CIPC, opening up access to professional caregivers around the world.
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Measurable Improvements: Feedback confirmed that the simplified workflow for content creation saved time and improved efficiency, leading to a more manageable process for Laura.
Client Testimonial
When I initially started working with Jay, I was looking for help designing an accessible, usable Resource directory for care partners of people with dementia. [...] Jay did an amazing job, and we ended up working together on a complete rebrand for ABC Dementia across our website, newsletter, distributable PDFs, and social media graphics. Jay’s work has made a huge difference in the presentation of my company and the experience of my Members and other users. I get frequent compliments on the professional and memorable graphics and the highly intuitive site navigation. [...] I’m excited to continue working together into the future.
- Laura Herman, Founder, ABC Dementia (LinkedIn, July 2024)
How This Project Strengthened My UX Practice
Working on ABC Dementia was a valuable opportunity to deepen my understanding of accessibility and usability in real-world applications. I was able to apply best practices in information architecture and workflow optimization to ensure that the platform not only served its users but also enhanced their experience by being intuitive and easy to navigate.
A key takeaway from this project was the importance of balancing aesthetic design with functionality. The visual elements I contributed, whether in social media graphics or resource templates, had to work in harmony with the platform’s structure and usability. This reinforced the need for simplicity and clarity in every aspect of design.
Another key lesson was how collaboration with stakeholders is essential to achieving a shared vision. Working closely with Laura on both the branding and user experience helped me fine-tune my skills in client communication, ensuring their needs and goals were prioritized while making thoughtful design decisions.
This project also expanded my ability to adapt design solutions to specific constraints, such as Circle.so’s limitations and the need to make design decisions with future scalability in mind.
What's Next
Looking ahead, I will lead the UX design of an app that will serve as a supplemental resource for caregivers to log behavior tracking details. I’ll work closely with the developer to ensure that the app is both intuitive and easy to use, integrating seamlessly with the broader resources available on the platform.
In addition to the app, the platform will continue to evolve through user testing and feedback to ensure that the experience remains user-friendly, scalable, and optimized for caregivers.
I will also continue improving the resource structure and workflow to ensure content is easy to find and access, further enhancing the overall user experience for caregivers.
Final Reflections
This project was an invaluable experience, especially considering the extremely low budget. The fact that ABC Dementia was funded solely by Laura, a solo founder, makes the work even more meaningful to me. It reinforced my commitment to ensuring that startups and small businesses, regardless of their financial constraints, can access the UX design expertise they need to drive real results and increase their business value.
The project has shown me the profound impact that thoughtful, accessible design can have on both the user experience and the growth potential of a business. I’m proud to have contributed to a platform that will continue to support and empower caregivers, and I look forward to the ongoing evolution of the project.