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American Burn Association

Modernizing a Core Digital Experience to Better Serve Members, Professionals, and the Public

The American Burn Association (ABA) is dedicated to improving the lives of everyone affected by burn injuries. With more than 2,800 members across the United States and around the world, ABA brings together physicians, nurses, therapists, researchers, and first responders to advance burn prevention, care, rehabilitation, and research.

ABA serves healthcare professionals as well as patients, families, and the broader public by providing education, clinical resources, professional development, and access to trusted information in burn care. Guided by four pillars, Education, Quality Care, Research, and Prevention, ABA plays a central role in connecting multidisciplinary experts and advancing standards across the field.

Laptop, tablet, and mobile devices displaying the American Burn Association homepage, including navigation, hero messaging, and imagery of burn care professionals and patients.
Technologies
Storyblok
Services
Design, Development
Industry
Associations, Healthcare, Nonprofit
Live Site
ameriburn.org

Project Goals

ABA sought BizStream’s expertise to evolve the association’s digital presence into a more effective, dependable extension of its mission. The goal was not simply to update the website, but to strengthen it as a core communication and engagement platform that could better support members, healthcare professionals, and the public. Together, the teams focused on creating a clearer, more cohesive experience that reflected ABA’s leadership in burn care while establishing a foundation flexible enough to adapt as the organization’s needs continue to grow and change.

Results

The redesigned ABA website created a clearer, more cohesive digital foundation that better supports members, healthcare professionals, and the public while reducing operational friction for internal teams.

Users can now more easily find critical resources without relying on guesswork or deep knowledge of ABA’s internal systems. Internally, the communications team benefits from simplified workflows and improved content accuracy, allowing them to focus more on strategy and engagement rather than maintenance.

Key outcomes included:

  • Improved findability of essential resources, including Find a Burn Center, events, fellowships, and job postings.
  • A more unified experience across ABA’s digital ecosystem, reducing confusion between platforms.
  • Reduced manual content entry and administrative overhead for staff.
  • Strong early qualitative feedback, including fewer complaints about navigation and difficulty finding information.
  • A scalable foundation that supports ongoing enhancements and future digital initiatives.
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Desktop monitor displaying the American Burn Association website homepage with navigation, hero banner, and content sections focused on quality burn care and professional collaboration.
Laptop displaying the American Burn Association website homepage with featured content about burn care leadership, prevention, and education.

The new site has been easy for members to navigate, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. People are finding what they need, the navigation feels intuitive, and the search experience supports users when it matters most. Overall, it has been one of the most seamless website launches I’ve been part of.

Sue Urbancyzk
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications

Challenges

ABA’s website plays a central role in how the organization supports its mission, engages members, and serves the public. Over time, the site became harder to use and increasingly disconnected from the systems and audiences it needed to support, limiting its effectiveness as a business-critical asset. Key challenges included:

Fragmented Digital Ecosystem
  • ABA’s online presence functioned as several disconnected experiences. Moving between the main website and related platforms, including the association management system, learning platform, community tools, and journal access, felt disjointed and confusing for users.
Complex Experience for a Diverse Audience
  • The site needed to serve clinicians, researchers, patients, families, and the public, all with very different needs. Content was not clearly organized by audience or intent, making it difficult for users to quickly find information relevant to them.
Poor Navigation and Findability
  • Important resources such as Find a Burn Center, events, fellowships, and job postings were difficult to explore without relying on search. Users often had to guess what to look for before they could see what was available.
Misaligned Content Across Audiences
  • In some cases, users encountered content intended for a different audience, such as emergency burn hotlines meant for disaster response coordination, while searching for treatment options. This mismatch created the potential for confusion and misdirected calls.
Inconsistent Brand Expression
  • Visual styles and content presentation varied across the site and connected platforms, weakening ABA’s digital credibility and making the experience feel less cohesive.
Limited Internal Capacity
  • With a small communications team, ABA needed a more manageable way to keep content accurate and current without duplicating effort or relying heavily on developers.
Responsive website mockup showing the American Burn Association website on mobile and tablet devices, featuring burn injury guidance, Find a Burn Center results, and patient education content.

Solutions

BizStream partnered with ABA on a strategy-led redesign that emphasized clarity, usability, and long-term flexibility, supported by thoughtful integration planning.

Discovery Grounded in Real User Needs
  • BizStream conducted in-depth discovery, including member interviews across key personas such as nurses, physicians, and other burn care professionals. These insights clarified where the existing experience was falling short and informed decisions around content structure, navigation, and early personalization opportunities.
A Unified Experience Across Systems
  • The redesigned website established a consistent interface and clearer pathways between the main site and third-party platforms. This reduced the feeling of moving between separate tools and created a more cohesive experience for both members and non-members.
Navigation and Content Structure Built for Diverse Audiences
  • A new information architecture and content taxonomy were developed based on audience personas and user intent. This allowed users to find information by discipline or topic, reducing reliance on keyword searches and minimizing confusion between content meant for different audiences.
Streamlined Workflows and Reduced Dual Entry
  • Key integrations eliminated the need for staff to manually re-enter information across systems, particularly for events, job postings, and other frequently updated content. This improved accuracy, saved time, and reduced internal friction.
Clearer Visibility Into Membership Value
  • Previously hidden or difficult-to-find opportunities were surfaced more effectively, allowing prospective members to see the breadth of ABA’s offerings while maintaining appropriate access controls for member-only content.
Accessible, Scalable CMS Foundation
  • BizStream implemented a content management foundation that empowers ABA’s small team to manage content independently while supporting accessibility standards, an essential consideration for audiences affected by burn-related disabilities.
Smartphone screen showing burn injury statistics and educational content from the American Burn Association website in a mobile-friendly layout.

A Partnership Built for Impact

BizStream approached ABA’s redesign as a collaborative effort grounded in trust, shared understanding, and long-term thinking. Our team:

  • Led with discovery and audience insight before design or development decisions were made.
  • Worked closely with ABA’s communications and strategic initiatives teams to align priorities and constraints.
  • Designed navigation and content structure around real member needs rather than internal assumptions.
  • Balanced ambition with practical realities, including where third-party platforms limited change.
  • Focused on reducing internal workload through integration and workflow improvements.
  • Provided training and enablement so ABA’s team could confidently manage and evolve the site after launch.
Mobile and tablet views of the American Burn Association website highlighting membership options, role-based resources for healthcare professionals, and educational content for burn care teams.

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