Project Spotlight: QA Prep

Mar 12

As a website designer, I'm always excited to collaborate with clients on projects that breathe new life into their online presence. Recently, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Maelisa McCaffrey, the mastermind behind QA Prep (https://www.qaprep.com) and the original Maven of My Digital Maven.

QA Prep is a business that provides mental health therapists with the tools and resources they need to streamline their progress notes, improve documentation, get caught up on case notes, and more. Maelisa originally launched her website on Squarespace back in 2015. While it served its purpose, it had become outdated and lacked the visual appeal to truly capture the essence of her brand.

Fair warning…I’m going to geek out on design a little bit. Okay, proceed.

The old QA Prep home page:

When I was working through the home page design, I thought it really needed a larger variety of sections. The information was good, but we also added:

A review block for client testimonials
A news feed to showcase the latest blog posts
More interesting paths to other products

The new home page from My Digital Maven:

The Plan

We initially met and discussed where her business is, what she has planned for it, and the role her website will play in all that. Maelisa initially envisioned a complete website rebuild on Squarespace. She already had a Squarespace page, but had courses and other products hosted on another platform called Kajabi. After exploring some options, we discovered that Kajabi offered a more comprehensive solution that better aligned with her goals. Kajabi integrates courses, programs, website functionality, marketing funnels, and automations – all under one roof. So that means less hopping around between different websites and easier linking. This not only streamlined Maelisa's workflow but also offered a VERY cost-effective alternative.

The Challenge

One of the biggest challenges in this project involved streamlining the vast amount of information on the website. Maelisa is incredibly prolific, and her website reflected that. My goal was to transform all this information into a user-friendly experience.

A few things we did to achieve this include:

Strategic Highlighting: Key phrases were emphasized using color, font style, and size to guide visitors' eyes to the most crucial information.
Clear Sectioning: We divided information into clear sections, creating a logical flow and making it easier for users to navigate the website.
Visual Appeal: Vibrant colors and captivating imagery were incorporated throughout the website to enhance user engagement from the get-go.

Old product page

NEW product page

You’ll notice the new page is MUCH shorter.

This is because much of the page was taken up with Common Questions and thorough responses,

There were two things I did to reduce the need for a common questions section:

I integrated nearly all of the information into the body of the main page, often using icon or feature titles to answer those questions directly.
Many questions referred to a program called Get Notes Done (GND) Days. Every product page had GND Day information, so I made a dedicated GND Days page and anywhere it was mentioned, a link was provided.

While the old site contained an abundance of excellent information, it needed more visual interest.

Icons were key to the fun-yet-professional look of Maelisa’s new website.

Brand Identity

In addition to the website refresh, Maelisa also wanted a brand identity update, particularly a new color palette. Knowing her personality, I suggested replacing the existing peach color with pink. We explored various shades until we landed on #D55C80, a rich and sophisticated pink that embodies both playfulness and professionalism.

While the pink was a key component of the brand refresh, I felt the website also craved a new blue for a more balanced color palette. The existing dark blue leaned heavily towards black. The solution was to introduced a lighter blue, reminiscent of denim. This new blue injects a touch of vibrancy, making it ideal for website borders, backgrounds, and even headline text.

The result is a more cohesive and visually appealing user experience.

To help the website's visual versatility, I created multiple color palettes that transitioned uniformly from light to dark—especially important in areas where blocks of color will be underneath text. By having a range of lighter and darker shades within the same color family, we ensured readability regardless of the text color chosen. This not only enhances user experience but also allows us to create dynamic layouts with great color combinations.

The website transformation wasn't just about aesthetics; it was about creating a platform that effectively communicates QA Prep's value proposition and resonates with its target audience. The project spanned roughly 1.5 months, and the end result is a website that is not only visually stunning but also strategically designed to engage with her ideal client.

If you’re a therapist who needs help with your clinical documentation be sure to visit www.qaprep.com and see how Maelisa can help you!

Additional Branding Assets

After we established the new colors, Maelisa wanted to update all her course graphics to match both the new color pallets, and also the look & feel of the website.

Old course graphics

NEW course graphics

Aside from reinforcing brand identity and unifying the look of everything, the colors actually serve an additional and more practical purpose. Maelisa offers several groups and courses on QA Prep’s website, and many people have access to multiple products which all show up on a dashboard, She wanted each course or group to have a very unique look so a person could quickly tell them apart.