National Rural Health Resource Center Launches New Website, Unveils New Branding

The National Rural Health Resource Center, the leading technical assistance and knowledge center focused on rural health, has launched a newly designed website that offers a fresh, modern look and promises an improved user experience to visitors from hospitals, clinics, state and federal agencies, and others. The new site is part of a larger brand refresh that includes the adoption of an updated logo and other design elements.

The revamped site, which continues to be located at ruralcenter.org, is designed to encourage deeper engagement and continue building on the positive experience thousands of visitors have come to expect from the site. The site features streamlined navigation, a more visually appealing design and layout (including an emphasis on video), and improved user experience.

The website, last redesigned in 2014, includes pages dedicated to The Center’s population health services; its four federally-funded programs that provide assistance to the nation’s rural hospitals, clinics, State Offices of Rural Health and other rural stakeholders; and its collections of resources — toolkits, guides, webinars and other materials — on topics ranging from small rural hospital and clinic finance, and health equity, to population health and quality reporting. Throughout the site, pages were edited for conciseness and increased use of visual elements like photographs, videos and pull quotes.

The Center’s new brand identity elements — an updated logo and brand colors — are also visible on the site. The graphical components of the new logo — abstract icons that depict a landscape with a crossroads in the foreground, signifying togetherness and collaboration, and a rising sun in the horizon, conveying positivity and possibilities — as well as new brand colors are incorporated on most of the site’s pages.

The site redesign and brand refresh are the result of more than six months of work — including audience research, listening sessions, a communications audit and a technical audit — led by an outside design firm.

“Our refreshed site and new logo represent important milestones for The Center,” said Center CEO Sally Buck. “While our old website served its purpose, we knew that we needed to make our site easier to navigate so that visitors can more quickly find the answers to their questions and the resources they’re looking for, and more easily connect with our team. We want our stakeholders — whether they’re staff at hospitals or clinics, state rural health programs, federal and state partners, or others working in the rural health field — to have a first-class experience when visiting our site.”