When River Garden reached out to Savvy Partner, their website had served them faithfully for years but it was ready for a new chapter. As one of Northeast Florida’s most respected senior living communities, River Garden needed a site that truly reflected their warmth, professionalism, and commitment to compassionate care.
Our mission was clear: bring their digital presence up to the same standard as their exceptional reputation. Modern, intuitive, and built for every audience they serve.
The Challenge
River Garden’s existing website was informative but outdated. As technology evolved and user expectations shifted, the site began to show its age. The design didn’t capture the heart of their brand, navigation was complex, and mobile performance lagged behind.
The organization serves a wide range of users from residents, family members, donors, potential employees, and community partners. Each looking for different information. The site had to be more than just beautiful; it needed to be strategically structured and easy to use for everyone.
In short, River Garden wanted a website that communicated care, dignity, and trust—while also performing seamlessly on any device.
Our Approach
At Savvy Partner, we believe every great website starts with strategy. Before touching a line of code or design, we dug deep into who River Garden serves and what each audience truly needs.
1. Discovery & Strategy
We started by interviewing River Garden’s leadership and reviewing analytics from their old site. This helped us identify the most-visited pages, common user paths, and areas where visitors dropped off.
From there, we defined key user personas: prospective residents, family caregivers, donors, and job seekers and outlined their ideal user journeys. This became the foundation for our new site architecture.
2. Simplifying the Structure
One of our biggest opportunities was reorganizing the content. The previous navigation buried essential information like “Care Options,” “Donate,” and “Careers” under multiple layers.
We built a clean, intuitive structure that allows users to reach their destination in two clicks or less. Each top-level section—About, Services, Foundation, News, Careers, and Contact—was designed to serve a specific audience clearly and directly.
3. Design with Heart
The new River Garden website needed to feel like their campus: warm, inviting, and full of life. Our design team introduced a modern palette of soft neutrals and calm blues, complemented by large photography and generous white space for readability.
We focused on accessibility, legibility, and emotion ensuring every visitor feels the sense of trust and care that defines River Garden’s mission.
4. Building for Flexibility
We built the site on a flexible CMS (WordPress), giving River Garden’s in-house team the ability to update pages, upload newsletters, and manage events without touching code.
Our developers also optimized the site for performance and accessibility by compressing images, improving mobile responsiveness, and implementing SEO best practices to strengthen search visibility.
5. Launch & Training
After weeks of content migration, testing, and fine-tuning, the new River Garden website went live. We provided team training sessions to ensure staff could confidently manage and grow the site long after launch.
The Results
The new website now stands as a true reflection of River Garden’s identity: modern, welcoming, and mission-driven.
Here’s what changed:
- A cleaner, more intuitive user experience makes navigation effortless for families, donors, and prospective staff.
- Faster performance and mobile optimization ensure visitors can explore the site from anywhere, on any device.
- Improved accessibility and SEO foundations boost River Garden’s reach to new audiences.
- Easy content management empowers their internal team to keep the site fresh and informative.
The transformation was more than visual—it was strategic. River Garden now has a digital home that supports its growth, deepens engagement, and helps families connect with care more easily than ever.
A Partnership Built on Purpose
Working with River Garden was a privilege. Their mission—to provide compassionate care with dignity and respect—mirrors how we approach every partnership at Savvy Partner. We weren’t just building a website; we were building a digital extension of their community.
Explore the New River Garden Website
Take a look at the finished product here: rivergarden.org
We’re proud to help organizations like River Garden strengthen their digital presence and share their story online.
If your brand or community is ready for a fresh digital start, let’s talk. Contact Savvy Partner today!