The Challenge
Patterson Dental is one of the largest dental supply companies in North America, serving tens of thousands of dental practices with equipment, software, and support services. Their existing website had grown organically over years into a sprawling, unfocused experience — part product catalog, part marketing site, part support portal — without a clear strategy for how any of their core audiences actually used it. It needed a full redesign from scratch, grounded in real user behavior rather than internal assumptions.
Approach
I served as Art Director on this project, leading a team of 5-10 people across design, development, and content. Before touching a single pixel, I advocated for formal UX research training — Patterson invested in Human Factors International methodology for the team, which gave us a rigorous, science-based framework for every design decision that followed.
The research phase was comprehensive:
- Stakeholder interviews to understand business objectives and internal constraints across Patterson’s multiple divisions
- Focus groups with dental office managers — the primary buyers — to understand their decision-making process, pain points with the existing site, and what they actually needed from Patterson online
- Focus groups with sales representatives to understand how the site supported (or failed to support) field sales conversations
- Analytics review of the existing site to identify actual usage patterns, drop-off points, and content that wasn’t serving anyone
- Card sorting and information architecture research to restructure the site around how users think about dental practice needs, not how Patterson’s org chart was arranged
- Persona development to give the team shared reference points for design decisions
- Journey mapping to trace the full arc from initial research through purchase and ongoing support
- Usability testing on prototypes to validate design directions before committing to development
This wasn’t UX theater — every method fed directly into design decisions. The card sorting fundamentally changed the site’s navigation structure. The persona work resolved internal debates about whose needs to prioritize. The usability testing caught issues that would have shipped otherwise.
Solution
The redesigned site reorganized Patterson’s sprawling product and service offerings around how dental practices actually operate. The top-level navigation — Equipment & Technology, Software, Services — maps to purchasing decisions rather than internal departments.
The homepage leads with Patterson’s scale (“150,000+ Solutions and Unmatched Support”) then immediately addresses the primary user tasks: finding the right equipment, getting a software treatment plan, accessing technical service, and exploring the rewards program. Each section serves both the first-time visitor evaluating Patterson and the returning customer who needs to get something done.
The content strategy shifted from feature-dumping to benefit-oriented messaging. Rather than listing what Patterson sells, the site frames everything around practice success — “Here to support your success,” “Find the right equipment for your practice,” “Get a software treatment plan that works for you.” This language came directly from the focus groups: office managers didn’t care about Patterson’s product taxonomy, they cared about solving problems in their practice.
The partner and manufacturer ecosystem (Solventum, Dentsply Sirona, KaVo) was surfaced prominently — the research showed that brand trust in specific manufacturers was often the entry point for dental equipment purchases, and burying those relationships cost Patterson credibility.
Results
The site launched as a complete ground-up replacement of Patterson Dental’s web presence, serving as the digital front door for one of the largest dental supply companies in North America. The redesign established a user-centered design practice within Patterson’s marketing organization — the Human Factors International methodology I advocated for became part of how the team approached subsequent projects, including the Eaglesoft product site that followed.