We get creative for print and web

How to convert a print piece to a website

How to reach people who are embarrassed to be seen reading the health information they need and want: That was the challenge presented to us by the Pennsylvania Perinatal Partnership. The PPP wanted a booklet about depression during and after pregnancy — perinatal depression — which affects 1 in 7 women. Help is available, but women don't know that, and more tragic, are ashamed to admit they need help.

Working with PPP's experts and with feedback from focus groups, we created a booklet that provides personal stories, information and resources — packaged in a design that screams supermarket tabloid. The cover is so loud and intriguing that it leaps out from the dull literature in any health clinic waiting room. Everyone will be curious enough to pick it up, so it doesn't send the signal that would surely be sent if you picked up some somber trifold with "Symptoms of Depression" on the cover.

As a vehicle for public outreach, the booklet is good, but like all print products, its reach is limited by the cost of printing and distribution. This public outreach effort went from good to great when PPP came back to us to make the booklet into a website. Now the content is available 24/7 worldwide, and those who want it in printed form can download the booklet from the website.

When converting a print piece to a website, keep this in mind:

  • A Home Page is not just a digital booklet cover. It has to do triple duty as the grabber of attention, provider of priority information, and gateway to all site content.
     
  • Simple, clear navigation is crucial to the success of a website. Readers don't page through, they jump around. Organize the Web version so that related content is grouped together.