PCCH Preschool

For more than 60 years, Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill (PCCH) Preschool has been a joyful, nurturing space for children in Philadelphia. So when their director returned to us last year – nearly a decade after we first built their site in 2016 – we were honored to help them write the next chapter in their digital story.

“Designing sites for preschools is especially fun,” says our project manager. “We get to use bright colors, creative fonts, wavy lines, big buttons, and lots of pictures of happy kids in action.”

PCCH was no exception. Our goal was to capture the vibrancy and warmth of this historic preschool, while reflecting the professionalism and care that have defined it for generations. As a beloved mission of the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, it was important that the site feel  both welcoming and trustworthy.

We began by exploring multiple homepage mock-ups, aiming for a balance of fun and clarity. After experimenting with a variety of fonts, the team chose a typeface that is clear, friendly and accessible – just like the school itself. Getting the right header photo for the landing page was also a careful exercise of finding just the right image with an orientation that allowed for text overlays. We selected a close-up of a single child with a bright, welcoming smile to convey the joy of this program.

The site’s navigation is intuitive and parent-friendly. Prominent buttons on the homepage guide visitors to essential content, including a vibrant “Classrooms” page that introduces the Bumblebees, Beetles, Butterflies and other groups – each illustrated with colorful, themed imagery.

To build trust and connection, we featured parent testimonials throughout the site rather than grouping them on a single page. This way, prospective families encounter genuine endorsements wherever they browse.

Although PCCH is part of a church community, having its own dedicated website offers many advantages. Parents and newcomers can access preschool-specific information directly, without sorting through unrelated church content. It also helps expand outreach to families beyond the church, welcoming a more diverse community.

Our advanced calendaring system is another important component of the new PCCH site. We offer a variety of options for our partners, depending on their needs. In this case, we chose a simplified list view to highlight their 1-2 events per month. Parents can easily stay in the loop, making it more likely they will remember deadlines and participate in activities. Driving engagement is one of the primary goals of any well-designed website.

Online forms also make it easy for busy parents to submit needed paperwork without the hassles of printing, mailing or remembering to deliver in person. For PCCH, we installed contact us, inquiry, admissions and enrollment forms on the site. For hiring purposes, there is also a convenient online employment application.

We love when we can exceed a partner’s expectations. The original site served PCCH well for nearly ten years, and this redesign reflects who they are today: a thriving, modern preschool rooted in tradition and growing toward the future.