Peer Health Exchange Website Redesign
Peer Health Exchange teamed up with Slam Media Lab to transform their 2003 brand to reach Gen Z and with impactful and engaging health resources.
The TL;DR
Peer Health Exchange started as a small team of undergrads determined to fill health education gaps in their local community. In 2003, the best way to do this was to bring comprehensive health education straight to the classroom. Now, they reach hundreds of thousands of young people across the country.
The Challenge
How can we modernize Peer Health Exchange's website to appeal to youth while maintaining a professional appeal for donors and partners?
Our challenge for this project was to design a brand and a website that captures the attention of today's youth with vibrant, engaging elements while also maintaining a polished, professional appearance that reassures donors and partners. This involves creating a user-friendly experience with a contemporary design that resonates with young users over the years, and seamless UX to meet their user behavior. At the same time, we knew how important it is to uphold the credibility and accessibility needed to engage and reassure the stakeholders who support Peer Health Exchange's mission.
The Journey
Centering young people in design thinking
Young people are Peer Health Exchange’s first priority, always and forever. We made sure this deep care translated across every page of their website. Case and point: before we even started the build, we ran brand discovery workshops with young people from Peer Health Exchange’s Youth Advisory Board to get clear on the direction they wanted us to go in.
Amping up the interactivity
To make the brand truly unique, we introduced colorful window treatments throughout the site, creating a visually engaging experience. We designed a playful icon that adds a fun, relatable element to the brand, engaging users in a memorable way. The mascot pops up in various sections of the site, guiding users and adding a layer of interactivity that keeps the experience lively and engaging.
Designing for engagement and ease
We designed comprehensive wireframes to map out the entire site, ensuring a seamless and intuitive user journey. These wireframes connected every aspect of the site, from navigation to content layout, and were created through constant collaboration with Peer Health Exchange.
The Solution
Breaking with the norm: Adding some oomph with custom texture packs
Minimalism is out, maximalism is in. We ditched a white-walled site in favor of playful patterns that give each page some saturation and appeal to youth.
Bringing the site to life with Lottie animations
Peer Health Exchange came to us with a static site that needed some good old TLC (tender love & care) to stand out from the crowd. We delivered with Lottie animations, a lightweight solution for spicing up a site without slowing it down.
A nonprofit brand that shines on its own
Once we got started designing each page, we retained Peer Health Exchange’s youth-first ethos with animated faces of young people, plain language, and that Y2K feel they asked for. From the home page to the careers page, the org’s prioritization of and respect for youth shines through.
Hear What Our Client Has To Say
During my time at Peer Health Exchange, I was introduced to Silvia and her agency. Slam Media Lab is one of the leaders in SEO & web development for social impact organizations. Silvia and her team delivered and created content to reach young people through organic search and designed a beautiful and dynamic WordPress site that represented the direction we wanted. They’re extremely organized, fast-paced, responsive and easy to partner with.
FAQs
Peer Health Exchange (PHE) is a national nonprofit that trains college students to teach health education to high school students in under-resourced communities across the United States. Their model leverages near-peer connection to make health information more accessible and credible for young people.
Slam Media Lab (slammedialab.com) provided digital marketing and content services to PHE — helping them reach college student volunteers, school district partners, and individual donors through a more cohesive and compelling digital presence.
College student recruitment requires meeting students where they spend time: Instagram, TikTok, and campus-specific platforms. Messaging should emphasize personal growth, resume value, community connection, and tangible impact — not just altruism. Peer testimonials from current volunteers are the most persuasive content.
SEO for health education and volunteer opportunity searches, social media for community building and program stories, email for volunteer management and donor stewardship, and a well-organized program page that makes it easy for schools, volunteers, and donors to understand how to engage.
Yes. Slam Media Lab (slammedialab.com) has developed marketing strategies for health education nonprofits — reaching the multiple audiences (youth, volunteers, donors, school partners) that sustain a health-focused mission. +++
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