Mesa County Public Health
Public health information made easier to find, understand, and act on — for residents, families, providers, and the partners we serve.
Mesa County Public Health does a lot — immunizations, WIC, family health, behavioral health, environmental inspections, mobile clinics, emergency preparedness, community outreach. The old website turned all of that into a digital filing cabinet, organized by department instead of by what families and partners actually need. We refreshed the brand and built a public-health clarity system — a warm, calm, plain-language website plus a coordinated print and field-communications kit so the same trustworthy voice shows up online, in clinic, and on a community-fair table. This is a concept piece, built to demonstrate our approach; the county is illustrative.
When public guidance is unclear, staff carry the burden. So we made the site carry it instead.
For years, Mesa County Public Health was a small department with a simple site. As the region grew, so did its work — WIC, immunizations, behavioral health, environmental inspections, mobile clinics, emergency preparedness, school health guidance, partner resources, and a constant stream of public alerts. The site stayed the way it was. Information was there; people just had to know exactly where to look. The result: residents called, staff answered the same questions over and over, and partners gave up trying to find what they needed.
The real problem wasn't a homepage. It was that the site was built around internal departments instead of real-life needs. The brief: turn it into a public clarity system that the county, residents, and partners could all trust.
One journey, applied to Mesa County Public Health.
Brand refresh
Before a single page, we refreshed the identity — the Mesa mark (a rising sun over the county's mesas, set inside a soft care silhouette), a warm sand-and-teal palette with one reserved alert color, Poppins + Inter, and a calm humanist voice with the occasional handwritten note.
Audience-first IA
We collapsed the department map into six audience pathways — Parent, Clinic Patient, School/Childcare, Restaurant/Business, Healthcare Partner, Public Health Guidance — and an eight-category service finder written in plain language.
Build the clarity system
A Resident Action Center on every page, a real appointment pathway (five steps, no jargon), a public-alert system that feels calm, not panicked, and a partner hub for schools and clinics — all on WCAG-AA components.
Extend to print & field
The same brand and voice in a coordinated kit: posters, brochures, banners, business cards, door hangers. So the family that sees a Boil Water door hanger reads the same Mesa County they meet at WIC and online.
We refreshed the brand the site stands on.
Mesa County had an old seal and a folder of accumulated assets. Nothing that an outreach coordinator could pick up and use cleanly on a brochure, banner, or a clinic-room door.
So before a single page, we built the Mesa Horizon identity — a mark, a palette, a typeface, and a voice — then designed the website, the print, and the field communications on top of it. One coherent system, top to bottom.
Inside the Mesa Horizon brand book.
A public-health identity built for clarity and warmth — a calm mark, a sand-and-teal palette, plain-spoken type, and a voice that leads with the answer.
A rising sun over the mesa, held inside a soft care silhouette. The sun signals optimism and a new day; the mesa grounds it in place; the care shape signals public service. Keep clear space equal to the sun; never recolor the rays or stretch the mark.
One brand, every touchpoint.
A public health department doesn't communicate only on a website. So we built a flexible system that holds together everywhere residents meet the county — online, in clinic, in print, and in the field.
A public-health clarity system
Resident Action Center
Search + the eight tasks residents need most — schedule an appointment, find a service, view alerts, family support, inspections, behavioral health, events, data.
Audience pathways
Six clear front doors — Parent, Clinic Patient, School, Business, Partner, Public Guidance — so people self-select in seconds.
Service finder
Eight plain-language categories from Immunizations to Emergency Preparedness, searchable by age, eligibility, and location.
Appointment pathway
Five clear steps: choose a service, check eligibility, gather documents, schedule, know what to expect.
Health alerts & notices
A calm but prominent alert system reserved for the moments that matter — boil-water, outbreak exposure, air quality, advisories.
Print & field comms
Posters, brochures, banners, cards, and door hangers — same brand, same voice, same accessibility commitment.
Less phone tag. More public health.
A public-facing clarity system: residents self-serve the basics, staff get out from under repeat calls, and every program, alert, and partner resource shares one trustworthy voice. Names and data shown here are illustrative concepts.