Be the Sun Role & Timeline Role: Experience and Design Lead Timeline: Aug 2024 – Jan 2025 Responsibilities: UX team leadership, journey mapping, design, prototyping, user testing, and visual design Key Skills: Experience strategy, UX, test design, service design, visual design “Be the Sun” is so named because of a talk Harry gives about becoming a center of positivity for others by finding that energy in ourselves. At its heart, the brand is quirky, yet practical and empathetic. The consensus was that the overall look should feel somewhat bespoke and elicit surprise and delight with its presentation. The store needs to be linked to related materials on the site, and extremely easy to use. Visual conventions favored by older audiences should apply, as should WCAG guidelines Strategy 90 % Interface 70 % The consensus was that the overall look should feel somewhat bespoke and elicit surprise and delight with its presentation. The store needs to be linked to related materials on the site, and extremely easy to use. Visual conventions favored by older audiences should apply, as should WCAG guidelines The initial round of branding was conducted concurrent with website development, and quickly evolved into merchandising concepts. Focus testing for the brand identity was conducted separately using third party services. Once developed, the look of these was adapted further for the website visual design, with initial raw design components created in Figma and made interactive for prototyping purposes as the project progressed. Analytics Overview ProblemFacilitate meaningful connections between patients and caregivers; avoid user attrition by better serving the group’s membership. GoalsDeliver an online experience that manifests Commonspirit’s patient-oriented nature by providing valuable, user-friendly tools and experiences. Research Google Analytics Survey data Form submissions Seminar registrations Physical goods sold Opportunities Create a new branded online marketplace Target a new group of potential seminar attendees Use motion to create a layered interactive experience Demonstrate utility and excitement of BTS products Establish the foundation of a new design system Baseline 0$ Total Merchandise Sold 81.4% Bounce Rate 5.7%Repeat Visitor Rate 79% Homepage Bounce Rate Archetypes Marythe Chronic Care Seeker 68, retired, managing diabetes & hypertension. Uses MyChart monthly, needs appointment access, simplified provider search, and billing clarity. Oliviathe Researcher 50, newly diagnosed with cancer. Seeks clinical trials, specialist care, and trustworthy content. High digital literacy and needs detailed provider info. The journey to care often begins with a simple search. However, for many users engaging with CommonSpirit.org, that search resulted in confusion, frustration, or abandonment.Due to the vastly diverse range of potential users and motivations, user personas were not deemed an effective approach due to their narrow and fictionalized nature. Focused research was used instead, as it was more granular and could be linked to precise real-world interactions. These were then used to develop user archetypes to test against. Carlathe Expectant Mom 31, first-time mother, seeks maternity care and OB/GYN reviews. Values financial transparency and mobile-first appointment booking. Luisthe Multilingual Entrepreneur 38, warehouse owner. Needs urgent care for employees in Spanish, flexible scheduling, and clear insurance help for people after workplace injuries. Dantethe Digital-First Millennial 29, freelance content developer, avoids in-person care unless urgent. Wants fast access to virtual visits, cost transparency, and mobile booking tools. Feedback 20M Total Patients 117 Total Automated Test Subjects In the end, the story wasn’t about whether users could find care—it was about how many gave up trying. The experience needed to become not just more functional, but more human. User data and qualitative feedback revealed key breakdowns in the site experience—beginning with the search functionality itself. In instances where users did not enable geolocation, the platform frequently returned null results, with no fallback suggestions, alternative prompts, or contextual help. This lack of support at a critical juncture increased user frustration and reduced task success rates. The appointment-setting process also suffered from inconsistencies. There were exceptions in availability that contradicted what was initially shown to users. For example, appointment slots presented as available were occasionally revoked after selection, creating dissonance and eroding trust in the reliability of the system. Another significant challenge was the handling of search facets. Users frequently encountered interfaces that either surfaced too many or too few filtering options, resulting in search errors. When overexposed, users felt overwhelmed; when underexposed, they were unable to meaningfully refine their results. This tension contributed to a broader pattern of user dissatisfaction during the search and discovery phase. Survey data reinforced these experiential observations. Interestingly, users across age groups were generally open to AI-driven scheduling tools, so long as these tools demonstrated efficiency and offered error tolerance. The use of machine intelligence was not rejected outright, but expectations around precision, transparency, and fallback mechanisms were high. Design Impact 6.3% Traffic Increase 9.2% Higher Search Completion 12.8M Est. Business Value :36More Page Time While it is true that there is a low bar for expectations from an onsite healthcare search, research indicated that this was due to the lack of detailed information available. This represented an opportunity to add value by providing a more complete resource with more angles to view the subject matter from. Developing the journey maps for user search and appointment setting necessitated overlaying the quantitative and qualitative data, and distilling the key moments and inflection points. Four primary journeys were identified, all of which required some degree of search input/output. Developing a component set – and kickstarting a nascent design system – began with the initial designs and grew organically over time. Deviations from primary traffic paths also needed to be addressed. These included the media section of the site which covers blogs, news, and events, as well as the treatments and conditions library. Developing the journey maps for user search and appointment setting necessitated overlaying the quantitative and qualitative data, and distilling the key moments. Usability Most searches dropped from the homepage The legacy site permitted null results Substantial pre-existing survey data available Surfacing too few or too many results also caused bounces Numerous exceptions to the primary search path Location and caregiver search not closely related Findings Desktop search rate still substantial Most searches dropped from the homepage Surfacing too few or too many results caused bounces Majority of searches began with a caregiver Mobile search was the primary use case Majority of users viewed the new site positively Successes Improved completion rate for physician search Improved completion rate for location search Improved overall traffic Delivered a compelling brand-authentic experience Improved interface and tightened funnel gaps Developed method for ranking caregivers by specialty Smooth interoperability of doctor and location search Backlog More compelling micro animations at key moments Need more accurate data from physicians Post-launch testing of detail pages for content development Switch to third-party API for rating system Expand support for meaningful use of EHR data More featured testimonials and patient input Increase depth of treatments and conditions content The majority of user interactions were related to locating a physician or a facility, with physician searches, with the majority of them starting with the caregiver. This is where we started our ideation process, as this would ultimately be a part of most other search operations. Despite the broad scope of the improvements, issues remained. In particular, these were items that fell outside the initial scope. Noteworthy among them were remaining generic errors in the scheduling system when the inputs included a certain set of variables. Other areas for focus in the near future include the integration of limited patient records, and filling in areas of the physician and location templates that remained unpopulated. Physician and location templates will be continuously optimized based on analytics data. Additional improvements are also planned to the post archives, with unique templates for the specific types of time-stamped content. There is also a plan in place to integrate third-party reviews in the physician templates, to replace the site-specific rating system that currently exists. SUNNY NOT SALTY ROLE & TIMELINE Role: Design Strategist / Creative Lead Timeline: Jun 2023 – Aug 2024 Responsibilities: Client communications, project design/planning, team management, research, data analysis/visualization, creative strategy, presentations, test design, copy concept, experience design, visual design, prototyping Key Skills: Creative strategy, research, UX, service design, visual design Launch a memorable site to make a lasting impression, then roll out new products and content based on fulfilling the brand’s promise of encouraging inner and exterior harmony. Interactions should feel entertaining and unusual. Strategy 90 % Interface 100 % “Be the Sun” is so named because of a talk Harry gives about becoming a center of positivity for others by finding that energy in ourselves. At its heart, the brand is quirky, yet practical and empathetic. The consensus was that the overall look should feel somewhat bespoke and elicit surprise and delight with its presentation. The store needs to be linked to related materials on the site, and extremely easy to use. Visual conventions favored by older audiences should apply, as should WCAG guidelines The consensus was that the overall look should feel somewhat bespoke and elicit surprise and delight with its presentation. The store needs to be linked to related materials on the site, and extremely easy to use. Visual conventions favored by older audiences should apply, as should WCAG guidelines Quantitative Data: Google analytics for previous site that was taken down SEMrush data on competitive brand associations Traffic estimations for sites in the category Limited sales data from products offered in prior years Surveys: Audience surveys of existing seminar participants (+show quote from previous website) Qualitative Data: Journey Map: No existing journey map; create an idealized journey (+show simple journey map) Feedback: Users unhappy with current website, and retention is net zero Interviews: 6 customers were interviewed briefly. The goals were to understand the value of the brand in current form, and what offerings would be perceived as most valuable as it is translated online. Questions such as; “What made you initially choose Harry as your keynote speaker? What do you think the current brand represents? How do you typically shop for themed merchandise, if you do?” (+show pull quotes from PodCast interviews) Personas: Based on behavior exhibited by users of competitive sites; client input; current customers; and broadening it to a lifestyle brand to use those associated metrics. Three distinctive personas were developed, with the first two representing the majority of current customers. Corporate Influencer: Someone who moves the dial, driving change in their particular organization Community Organizer: A person who motivates the people around them to act for the common good Free Thinker: Individuals who value independent thought, self-improvement, and living in harmony with the world around them Usability Number of Users: 9 individuals were asked to participate in the initial round of usability testing; 6 of them were ultimately available Demographics: 45-65 73% Female 150-500,000 Annual Income Married with Children 42% Prior Experience w/ Self Improvement (*pull text with portrait of user) These reflected the demographics as currently understood based on available analytics. Questions: Questions asked during the two rounds of initial research included; “What 2 aspects of your favorite online shopping experience do you like the most?”, and ultimately; “Do you feel that this type of experience includes the things you like the most about online shopping?” Methods: 2 rounds of blind testing were conducted. The first used one of two design concepts, with respondents answering online in their own time. The second round of tests used a simulated interface with prototyping through Figma. Results: Regular engagement through media channels Fresh inventory with new items regularly available Notification of deals and new items Clear imagery and models wearing the clothes Easy checkout and return processes Actions: Summary of findings and recommendations in a discrete design document. Quotes “Pull quote from website goes here.” Hypothesis Launch a memorable site to make a lasting impression, then roll out new products and content based on fulfilling the brand’s promise of encouraging inner and exterior harmony. Interactions should feel entertaining and unusual “Be the Sun” is so named because of a talk Harry gives about becoming a center of positivity for others by finding that energy in ourselves. At its heart, the brand is quirky, yet practical and empathetic. The consensus was that the overall look should feel somewhat bespoke and elicit surprise and delight with its presentation. The store needs to be linked to related materials on the site, and extremely easy to use. Visual conventions favored by older audiences should apply, as should WCAG guidelines (+show project mood board) Concept Wireframes: The initial round of branding was conducted concurrent with website development, and quickly evolved into merchandising concepts. Focus testing for the brand identity was conducted separately using third party services. Once developed, the look of these was adapted further for the website visual design, with initial raw design components created in Figma and made interactive for prototyping purposes as the project progressed. (+show raw wireframes) Information Architecture: A simple IA was structured around the presentation of visual media as a primary objective, as rapid, repeat imagination, substantiation and identification of core concepts by the user as deemed the most effective potential path to conversion (+show taxonomy) Flow: Initial taxonomic structures were direct and simple, centered around media and visual content provision. (+show flow diagram) Test Mid-Fidelity Designs Usability Testing: Detailed prototypes were created for the core website experience. These were particularly refined to accurately communicate the unique nuances of the online experience and the way these focused the core values of the brand (+show prototype) Final UI Design Final Designs: Final design work began with establishing the core component set required for template development. These were then transferred to the various page types (+show page designs) Design System Components: These components were the foundation of the a new design system designed specifically around an interactive component set. The system included all aspects of the online brand experience; from forms and calls to action to style sheets and interstitial animations (+show components) (+show style sheets) Design Impact Performance Data: The relatively short germination period for the new brand elements and website meant that we were allowed the opportunity to get a relatively quick sense of how successful they were, based on real world data. A key factor in accelerating this process was the implementation of a PPC campaign, which drove much higher levels of traffic. It is worth noting that the results of the optimization continued to be felt even after the launch campaign was concluded. After 1 Week 8,446% increase in traffic 01:17 increase in average time spent per page 2,900% increase in merchandise sales 239% increase in repeat visitorship 813 user registrations 1,096 mailing signups (+show results graphic) After 6 months 219,108 new users 54,179 repeat visits 22,632 mailing signups 2:10 average time on page >$370,000 in merchandise sales >50 speaking engagements >25,000 copies of book shipped (+show results graphic) Successes: Some implementations of the paid search campaign took advantage of the core brand development work, including the creative positioning and mission statement. The relatively flat taxonomy and oversized visual inputs were successful in keeping visitors on the rails, and delivering the conversions the new business needed to prove its case to future investors. When questioned about which aspects of the site they liked the most, the brand visualizations were mentioned >30% of the time. Areas for Improvement: Repeat visits seemed to drop off after the second instance. Shopping experiences were more frequently repeated than visits to the areas dealing with the book and speaking engagements. Because the webstore had frequent product updates that were driven by new product releases, it will eventually be necessary to pay more attention to other areas of the site to keep the content fresh. Opportunities for Optimization: By bringing the podcast over as part of the website experience, we can find solutions to the content aging problem in other areas of the site. The areas dealing with speaking engagements also need to be beefed up with more recorded media and excerpts from the book to increase cross linking opportunities. Be the Sun MULTI-CHANNEL CX Arris Surfboard PRODUCT SITE | APP | CUSTOM SEARCH Lamb Weston SHOWCASE | VIRTUAL TOUR Brookfield MARKETPLACE | CODE ARCHIVE Tailwind UI MARKETPLACE | DASHBOARD Recent Stuff VISUAL BRANDING | STANDARDS Bankside E-COMMERCE | DRIVER DISPATCH NAPA / Genuine Parts LMS | DASHBOARD | APPS SCTE.org PHYSICIAN SEARCH | APPOINTMENT SETTING Premier Ortho SERVICE DESIGN | PROSPECTING Kaiser Permanente CREATIVE | DESIGN | CONCEPT Other Stuff WEBSITE Commonspirit Health EXPERIENCE DESIGN Crowdbotics Medtronic Diabetes
