Information Architecture

The National Breast Cancer Coalition is an advocacy organization focused on improving breast cancer research and the quality of care for patients. NBCC's trained advocates have lobbied at the national, state, and local levels for public policies that affect breast cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment.

The Challenge
NBCC wanted a new web site that would inform trained research advocates and motivate other visitors to support advocacy through donations.

The new site would include research summaries, news, training information, advocate profiles, and information about NBCC. Much of the content would include medical terminology--including the names of drugs and therapies--and hot topics such as breast cancer screening and mammography. The same topics could be represented in multiple sections of the web site.

Our Work
We provided information architecture in this redesign project led by Beaconfire Consulting. Beaconfire also built the new site in Convio and implemented the client's own visual design.

Outcomes
The new site, www.knowbreastcancer.org, boasts a simple information architecture that makes both in-depth research and general information accessible at a glance. Breadcrumbs on interior pages show where the user is and how to backtrack through the site.

To serve the needs of people interested in very specific topics (e.g., certain breast cancer drugs), there is a taxonomy-based filter called Find Information by Topic that appears on the homepage and throughout most areas of the web site. This feature calls up a dynamic list of all site content pertaining to a topic selected by the site user. Results in the list are organized by the section of the site in which they appear, so the user can see whether they are research articles or news stories.

There are also taxonomy-based cross-references (Related Articles) on many content pages, to help site users find content on topics that interest them.