Website Refresh & User Experience Redesign
Situation
Pace Center for Girls completed a full platform migration in 2021, building a modern site on a new foundation. Over the following years the organization continued adding content, but the user experience and information architecture had not kept pace with what the organization now understood about the people it was trying to reach. Girls and families, donors, community partners, and prospective team members were all arriving at the same front door, and the site was not effectively serving any of them.
The content was largely text-heavy and narrative, outcomes were not prominently featured, program pathways were unclear, and the news, blog, and girl stories content was siloed rather than woven through the experience. As Pace was simultaneously deepening its work on talent acquisition, girl recruitment, and multi-audience campaigns, the gap between what the site offered and what those audiences needed became a strategic priority.
My Role
I led the discovery process, directed content and user experience strategy, edited all content, and managed all visual and interface decisions throughout the refresh. I worked with a web company to manage the build and served as the primary connection point between organizational strategy and execution.
The findings drove every structural and content decision in the refresh: families needed to see outcomes before they would engage, program descriptions needed to be specific and actionable, and girl success stories needed to be woven throughout rather than buried.
The Work
The refresh touched every major section of the site and introduced new pages, new content structures, and a substantially upgraded visual interface. Key areas of change:
Rebuilt the opening experience to lead with impact. Updated all data as infographics. Added a scrolling showcase of schools, employers, and military branches where Pace girls landed after graduation -- making outcomes visible and concrete from the first scroll.
What had been a single combined page became two distinct, purpose-built pages -- one for the Day Program and one for Reach. Each page was structured to speak directly to the families and girls considering that specific program, with clear enrollment pathways.
The content hub was rebuilt from the ground up and integrated throughout the site experience rather than living as a standalone section. Girl stories, program updates, and thought leadership content now surface contextually across relevant pages.
Our Impact was updated with refreshed data and a stronger visual presentation. Our Leadership added a Thought Leadership section. Careers received an updated UI with a culture section moved from Our Impact. Navigation and breadcrumbs were standardized site-wide.
Before & After
Each slide shows the previous version on the left and the refreshed version on the right.
Live Site
The refreshed site launched in 2025 and is live at pacecenter.org.
Visit pacecenter.org →Outcome
The refresh delivered a site that could finally serve the full range of audiences Pace needed to reach, girls and families considering enrollment, donors and community partners evaluating impact, and prospective team members exploring careers. Every major section was updated, new pages were created where the information architecture required it, and the overall experience moved from content-heavy and general to outcome-focused and audience-specific.
In the weeks following launch, the team began seeing an increase in girl enrollment form completions and stronger engagement on the new program pages, early indicators that the audience-centered approach to content and structure was connecting. The site remains live and continues to serve as the primary digital front door for Pace Center for Girls.