PERC
Public-Facing Website
Services Provided
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Website Development
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Aligned Branding
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User Experience Design
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Visual Design and Illustration
PERC Launches User-Friendly Website to Streamline Research & Community Engagement
Eugene, OR – PERC (Pregnancy Postpartum Engagement Resource Center), part of the University of Oregon’s Prevention Science Institute, required a website that served as a central hub for pregnancy and postpartum research, outreach, and recruitment. Unlike its research-heavy sister site, this platform needed to be clear, intuitive, and accessible to multiple audience groups, including researchers, community partners, and advisory board members. MC Digital Strategy designed and developed a structured, user-friendly WordPress website that organizes essential resources while ensuring a seamless experience across all user groups.
Connecting PERC
to Their Community
PERC plays an important role in bridging research, outreach, and community support for pregnancy and postpartum-related issues. However, to be effective, the organization needed a well-organized digital space that made research and engagement accessible to different stakeholders.
The Task Was:
1.) Multi-Audience Navigation: The website had to serve researchers, the data collective/advisory board, and community partners, each with distinct information needs.
2.) Seamless Resource Access: PERC required an organized, user-friendly structure to ensure visitors could easily find research, enrollment details, and outreach materials.
3.) Clear Calls to Action (CTAs): The platform needed audience-specific CTAs that encouraged engagement, whether enrolling in studies, accessing resources, or supporting outreach efforts.
MC Digital Strategy developed a tailored, research-backed web experience that met PERC’s goals while prioritizing clarity, accessibility, and functionality.
"It was really impressive to see how fast you got this site up. It is exactly what we wanted." — PERC Team
Designing for Accessibility, Clarity, and Institutional Trust
The site was structured to serve three key groups:
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Parents seeking support and treatment resources.
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Researchers looking for collaboration opportunities.
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Community organizations needing access to educational materials and partnerships.
Simple, intuitive navigation helps each audience quickly locate relevant content, avoiding the common issue of academic sites being too dense or overwhelming for general users.
By strictly following UO’s web development and digital design guidelines, the site immediately conveyed trust and credibility. The final design balanced a clean, university-affiliated look with an intuitive structure, making it accessible and user-friendly for a non-academic audience.
Custom Visual Design & Illustration
The PERC website required a visually engaging, stigma-free design that aligned with University of Oregon’s branding while remaining approachable for parents, researchers, and community organizations. The site’s visual strategy emphasized clarity, accessibility, and inclusivity, ensuring a trustworthy and welcoming experience.
Designed for Multiple Audiences
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Built a WordPress website with a structured main resources page and 4–5 subpages, each tailored to a specific audience:
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Researchers – Access to treatment effectiveness resources.
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Data Collective/Advisory Board – Enrollment details and contact information.
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Enrollment Page – Step-by-step participation guidance.
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Community Partners – Recruitment support and outreach materials.
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Ensured seamless navigation that allows each audience to quickly find what they need without confusion.
A Thoughtful Approach to Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Resources
Creating a clear, engaging, and stigma-free resource hub required a careful balance of design, messaging, and accessibility. PERC’s website needed to prioritize usability for parents, researchers, and community organizations while maintaining institutional credibility and trust.
Key takeaways included:
Visual Storytelling Builds Connection
Custom illustrations were created to reflect the diversity of families and individuals seeking support, ensuring parents, researchers, and community members saw themselves represented in the resource.
Inclusive Design for Accessibility
We developed a clean, easy-to-navigate structure that made SUD resources more approachable. High-contrast visuals, simple layouts, and clear typography helped make the site accessible for all users.
Clarity Enhances Engagement
Organizing content into clear sections with audience-specific CTAs made the site easier to navigate and more effective in driving participation.
By combining user-centered design, strategic branding, and inclusive visuals, MC Digital Strategy helped PERC deliver a clear, research-backed resource that supports real people navigating substance use disorder and recovery.
Enhancing Engagement Through Custom Illustration & Visual Storytelling
To make the PERC website more engaging, inclusive, and approachable, we incorporated custom character illustrations tailored to the site’s audience. These visuals helped humanize the content, making substance use disorder (SUD) resources feel more relatable and accessible to parents, researchers, and community organizations.
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Representation Matters: We created original, diverse character illustrations to reflect real families and individuals who seek support through PERC.
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Custom Character Development: As part of the final refinements, we designed a new character based on client requests—featuring a brown, plus-size individual with long hair—to better represent PERC’s interns and undergraduates, reinforcing the site’s connection to the people who engage with it.
By integrating thoughtful, research-backed visuals, the PERC website feels community-driven, ensuring visitors see themselves reflected in the resources.