Tanglewood Dental Associates
Reimagining a 65-Year-Old Dental Practice Through Design
Role
Brand Designer & Web Developer
Industry
Healthcare
https://www.tanglewooddentalassociates.com/
Client Overview
Tanglewood Dental Associates is a dental practice with a 65-year legacy, thriving solely through word-of-mouth referrals. Serving a multi-generational client base that leans toward the older demographic, the clinic has never engaged in formal marketing or had an online presence. The practice focuses on providing remarkable dentistry through sincere relationships, aiming to build long-term connections.
Software Used
Notion, Asana, Figma, Webflow, ChatGPT, Claude AI, Relume, Trello, Google Analytics.
North Star
To kick off the project, I collaborated with marketing head Brendon in a 90-day planning session to define our north star, establishing the first-ever marketing and web development efforts for a 65-year-old clinic that had never needed them before. I shadowed the staff to understand their workflows, technologies, and patient interactions, ensuring our strategy aligned with their trusted approach.
https://www.tanglewooddentalassociates.com/
Client Overview
Tanglewood Dental Associates is a dental practice with a 65-year legacy, thriving solely through word-of-mouth referrals. Serving a multi-generational client base that leans toward the older demographic, the clinic has never engaged in formal marketing or had an online presence. The practice focuses on providing remarkable dentistry through sincere relationships, aiming to build long-term connections.
Software Used
Notion, Asana, Figma, Webflow, ChatGPT, Claude AI, Relume, Trello, Google Analytics.
North Star
To kick off the project, I collaborated with marketing head Brendon in a 90-day planning session to define our north star, establishing the first-ever marketing and web development efforts for a 65-year-old clinic that had never needed them before. I shadowed the staff to understand their workflows, technologies, and patient interactions, ensuring our strategy aligned with their trusted approach.
Key Findings from Patient Interviews
Based on interviews with multiple patients at the dental practice, several consistent themes emerge:
Strong emphasis on maintaining dental health rather than cosmetic improvements
High value placed on trust and long-term relationships with dental providers
Fear and anxiety are major factors in dental care decisions
Personal referrals and word-of-mouth heavily influence provider selection
Limited use of internet research for dental information or provider selection
Willingness to travel significant distances for trusted dental care
Practice atmosphere and staff friendliness are key differentiators
Key Findings from Patient Interviews
Based on interviews with multiple patients at the dental practice, several consistent themes emerge:
Strong emphasis on maintaining dental health rather than cosmetic improvements
High value placed on trust and long-term relationships with dental providers
Fear and anxiety are major factors in dental care decisions
Personal referrals and word-of-mouth heavily influence provider selection
Limited use of internet research for dental information or provider selection
Willingness to travel significant distances for trusted dental care
Practice atmosphere and staff friendliness are key differentiators
Positioning & Messaging
To refine our approach, I presented and iterated on the key positioning and messaging strategy with Dr. Lawnin and head of marketing, ensuring a cohesive and patient centered content strategy moving forward.
Visual Design Identity
I wanted to hone in on the distinct visual design identity for Tanglewood Dental Associates because we were in the process of a new office, website, and content pipeline. The design merges our primary brand color with vintage/modern minimalism aesthetics.
Golf and vintage elements subtly reflect the approachable personality of Dr. Lawnin and his staff, ensuring a cohesive, genuine patient experience across digital and physical spaces. This identity serves as the visual foundation for our UI, digital content, and brand strategy.
Key Elements: Long distance travel for dental care, Relationship building, ANTI sterile and cold generic dental clinics.
Visual Design Identity
I wanted to hone in on the distinct visual design identity for Tanglewood Dental Associates because we were in the process of a new office, website, and content pipeline. The design merges our primary brand color with vintage/modern minimalism aesthetics.
Golf and vintage elements subtly reflect the approachable personality of Dr. Lawnin and his staff, ensuring a cohesive, genuine patient experience across digital and physical spaces. This identity serves as the visual foundation for our UI, digital content, and brand strategy.
Key Elements: Long distance travel for dental care, Relationship building, ANTI sterile and cold generic dental clinics.
Brand Design Refinement
I wanted to refine the Tanglewood Dental visual identity by softening the typography to better convey the practice's warm, welcoming approach. I also added a green tone to strengthen the brand's luxury heritage feel.
Note: We did decided to keep the original logo because it is more of an emblem than a logo. The design refinement is for the website since the original font is harder to use.
Death to Stock
We moved away from generic stock photography. Instead of using images from typical stock sites like Unsplash, we now source our visuals exclusively from Death to Stock.
The result is a more memorable visual identity that reflects our brand's unique perspective rather than blending into the sea of predictable imagery found in regular dental clinic sites.
Building Trust Through Answering User's Questions
Moving beyond the conventional blog format, I developed a learning center that positions Tanglewood Dental as the go-to resource for dental education. Each article is crafted to address real patient questions and concerns which include questions we get asked daily from patients.
I created distinct labels that align with common patient needs and questions using AI. From practical 'Care & Maintenance' information to engaging 'Common Concerns' content each category serves a specific purpose in the patient's journey.
Building Trust Through Answering User's Questions
Moving beyond the conventional blog format, I developed a learning center that positions Tanglewood Dental as the go-to resource for dental education. Each article is crafted to address real patient questions and concerns which include questions we get asked daily from patients.
I created distinct labels that align with common patient needs and questions using AI. From practical 'Care & Maintenance' information to engaging 'Common Concerns' content each category serves a specific purpose in the patient's journey.
AI That Documents, Monitors, & Analyzes Our Patient Visits
Answering patients' endless questions while documenting consultations was draining the staff's time and focus. Dental Bee solved this challenge by listening to patient visits, automatically recording notes, and identifying questions that need addressing. This AI system helps us create targeted content for common concerns while letting us focus on what matters most, curating the patient journey.
AI That Documents, Monitors, & Analyzes Our Patient Visits
Answering patients' endless questions while documenting consultations was draining the staff's time and focus. Dental Bee solved this challenge by listening to patient visits, automatically recording notes, and identifying questions that need addressing. This AI system helps us create targeted content for common concerns while letting us focus on what matters most, curating the patient journey.
Client Website Vision Alignment & Strategy
I began by discussing Dr. Lawnin’s frustrations with traditional dental websites, which he felt contained excessive fluff and failed to center the patient as the hero of their own dental journey.
Many of these sites were too focused on showcasing the clinic and the doctor rather than addressing the patient's concerns which include: cost, problems, comparisons, best of, and reviews.
Client Website Vision Alignment & Strategy
I began by discussing Dr. Lawnin’s frustrations with traditional dental websites, which he felt contained excessive fluff and failed to center the patient as the hero of their own dental journey.
Many of these sites were too focused on showcasing the clinic and the doctor rather than addressing the patient's concerns which include: cost, problems, comparisons, best of, and reviews.
TL:DR
We didn't want our site to be cold, generic, sterile, and impersonal.
TL:DR
We didn't want our site to be cold, generic, sterile, and impersonal.
Trust Building Site Map
I worked with our marketing lead Brendon to take their initial sitemap for a trust-building sales website and turned it into practical wireframes using Relume AI. From there, I designed clean, user-friendly pages and developed our site, keeping everything focused on supporting sales and building trust with customers.
Trust Building Site Map
I worked with our marketing lead Brendon to take their initial sitemap for a trust-building sales website and turned it into practical wireframes using Relume AI. From there, I designed clean, user-friendly pages and developed our site, keeping everything focused on supporting sales and building trust with customers.
Accelerating Design and Development with Relume AI
For our dental practice website launch, I leveraged Relume AI to dramatically streamline the development process. After creating wireframes in Relume and transporting them to Figma, I utilized Relume's pre-built Webflow component library to rapidly transform designs into a fully functional website.
This approach eliminated the need for manual coding and custom responsive design work. This allowed us to launch our site quickly, accelerating our ability to attract new patients and improve our digital visibility.
Accelerating Design and Development with Relume AI
For our dental practice website launch, I leveraged Relume AI to dramatically streamline the development process. After creating wireframes in Relume and transporting them to Figma, I utilized Relume's pre-built Webflow component library to rapidly transform designs into a fully functional website.
This approach eliminated the need for manual coding and custom responsive design work. This allowed us to launch our site quickly, accelerating our ability to attract new patients and improve our digital visibility.
User-First Navigation: Writing for Patient Understanding
I designed the navigation following minimalist principles championed by Tesla. Instead of cluttered menus, we focused on essential services with meaningful, patient-centric labels.
For example, rather than using traditional terms like 'Cosmetic Dentistry' or 'Smile Design' that emphasize aesthetics alone, we chose 'Smile Restoration' to reflect our comprehensive approach. This intentional language shift communicates that we're not just focused on surface-level appearances, but rather on restoring both the function and beauty of your smile for lasting oral health.
User-First Navigation: Writing for Patient Understanding
I designed the navigation following minimalist principles championed by Tesla. Instead of cluttered menus, we focused on essential services with meaningful, patient-centric labels.
For example, rather than using traditional terms like 'Cosmetic Dentistry' or 'Smile Design' that emphasize aesthetics alone, we chose 'Smile Restoration' to reflect our comprehensive approach. This intentional language shift communicates that we're not just focused on surface-level appearances, but rather on restoring both the function and beauty of your smile for lasting oral health.
Validating User-Friendly Navigation with Tree Testing
I knew that our dental clinic site's navigation was unconventional which led me to conduct a tree test using Optimal Workshop. The goal was to validate the clarity and effectiveness of our site's navigation structure, ensuring that patients can easily locate critical information such as aesthetic restorative treatments, general dentistry, pricing details, and our clinic's background.
Validating User-Friendly Navigation with Tree Testing
I knew that our dental clinic site's navigation was unconventional which led me to conduct a tree test using Optimal Workshop. The goal was to validate the clarity and effectiveness of our site's navigation structure, ensuring that patients can easily locate critical information such as aesthetic restorative treatments, general dentistry, pricing details, and our clinic's background.
Tree Test Results
Navigation label | % of users that got the task correct |
|---|---|
Smile Restoration | 100% |
Cost & Coverage | 100% |
Book an Appointment | 100% |
Lifelong Care | 70% |
Learning Center/Your Questions Answered | 70% |
Learning Center/Our Story | 100% |
After receiving the results, we decided to further iterate over our navigation labels. Users seemed to get Lifelong Care confused with Your Questions Answered. We decided to change Lifelong Care to Lifelong Services to clarify that this where you can find information about preventative care services at TDA.
Tree Test Results
Navigation label | % of users that got the task correct |
|---|---|
Smile Restoration | 100% |
Cost & Coverage | 100% |
Book an Appointment | 100% |
Lifelong Care | 70% |
Learning Center/Your Questions Answered | 70% |
Learning Center/Our Story | 100% |
After receiving the results, we decided to further iterate over our navigation labels. Users seemed to get Lifelong Care confused with Your Questions Answered. We decided to change Lifelong Care to Lifelong Services to clarify that this where you can find information about preventative care services at TDA.
Storytelling
Throughout our site I made sure to include personal touches that really conveyed the history of our clinic.
Storytelling
Throughout our site I made sure to include personal touches that really conveyed the history of our clinic.
Web Development
Webflow Development: I chose Webflow as our development platform because it is the industry leader for CMS-heavy sites, making it the perfect solution for our content-driven approach. Additionally, I integrated Google Analytics to measure engagement.
SME Collaboration: Gathering insights from subject matter experts to refine treatment descriptions and service structure on our site.
Brand Positioning and Messaging on Site: Developed trust-building site content like "Our Commitment to Excellence" instead of a traditional "awards" section to reflect authenticity.
Web Development
Webflow Development: I chose Webflow as our development platform because it is the industry leader for CMS-heavy sites, making it the perfect solution for our content-driven approach. Additionally, I integrated Google Analytics to measure engagement.
SME Collaboration: Gathering insights from subject matter experts to refine treatment descriptions and service structure on our site.
Brand Positioning and Messaging on Site: Developed trust-building site content like "Our Commitment to Excellence" instead of a traditional "awards" section to reflect authenticity.
Key Takeaways and Impact
Content Strategy Success: Established a scalable content production model, ensuring consistent, high-quality content.
Improved Brand Messaging: Aligned the practice’s online presence with its core values, making it more trustworthy and patient-focused.
Innovative Website UX: Shifted from conventional dental website structures to a unique, high-converting design that prioritizes patient experience.
AI-Powered Efficiency: Leveraged AI tools to expedite content and website creation.
Key Takeaways and Impact
Content Strategy Success: Established a scalable content production model, ensuring consistent, high-quality content.
Improved Brand Messaging: Aligned the practice’s online presence with its core values, making it more trustworthy and patient-focused.
Innovative Website UX: Shifted from conventional dental website structures to a unique, high-converting design that prioritizes patient experience.
AI-Powered Efficiency: Leveraged AI tools to expedite content and website creation.
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