St. John's Health
OVERVIEW
Client
St. John's Health
Scope of work
Design visuals that communicate the hospital's large infrastructure project to employees, the public, and donors.
Outcome
The visual assets were spread across ____ products and on average the visuals received a ______ favorability score out of 5.
THE PROBLEM
A complicated and consequential project
How to communicate the moving pieces and promoting why they matter was a challenge to the hospital team.
Issue 1
Visually communicating WHAT infrastructure projects are happening in a way that is clear
Issue 2
Visually communicating WHY these updates matter to people and why now
Issue 3
How to weave these pieces into a story throughout different media channels
TARGET AUDIENCE
Employees, the Public, and Donors
Employees, the public, and donors each have independent interests and concerns. Many visuals can speak to the groups, but the storytelling and content that wrap the visuals is different.
Employees
Public and Donors
ISSUE 1
WHAT infrastructure projects are happening
The hospital was undergoing multiple
ISSUE 2
WHY these projects matter and why now
The intended use of each map control was also not obvious to trailgoers. Through moderated interviews it became clear that most users of AllTrails didn’t use the map controls at all, and when they did, their ability to correctly identify what each button did what was relatively low.
ISSUE 3
How to weave these assets in stories across channels
When a trailgoer started navigation mode, the map did not change at all to help support the act of direction finding. Because the navigation mode was so similar to the regular map, participants in moderated testing often weren’t sure whether they’d entered navigation mode.
After
Before
THE APPROACH
From moderated interviews, it was clear that the existing navigation mode didn’t really provide additional value to trailgoers leading to a large drop off in use after the first time. Additionally, users largely denied using the map controls.
To promote on-trail usage of the product, I proposed creating a dedicated navigation mode that would start by default when users hit “start,” and help users stay oriented on their route. This new mode couldn’t exist in isolation, however, and since the existing map control states were inconsistent and confusing I proposed an update to the overarching map controls across the product to create a consistent experience. I also A/B tested iconography in the controls to improve overall information scent among users.
IDEATING
Auditing the competitive landscape and sketching possible navigation models
To start, I audited a range of navigation and mapping applications to identify the most common patterns for iconography, map states, and overall map control behavior.
Next, I explored different navigation and map control options on paper. From research, I had learned that users on average glanced at the AllTrails map while on trail about 5 times per navigation session. This meant that any navigation aid would need to help the user self-orient at a glance. Some ideas I explored included audio turn by turn directions, highlighting one’s proximity to the next turn to the map, and simply applying a map tilt and tracking the user’s orientation to help improve the glanceability of the map while navigating.
TESTING
Testing each control to optimize comprehension
Participants in moderated research at times struggled to identify the intended uses for the existing map controls. Because of this, I decided to run quick unmoderated user testing with variant iconography to determine whether alternative icons would help users better understand what each control would do.
Through this process, I identified relatively small changes that drastically improved user confidence in map controls. For example, by adding an “N” for north in the compass, participants’ ability to correctly identify the intended use of the map control increased from 20% to 70%.
Participants in moderated research at times struggled to identify the intended uses for the existing map controls. Because of this, I decided to run quick unmoderated user testing with variant iconography to determine whether alternative icons would help users better understand what each control would do.
Through this process, I identified relatively small changes that drastically improved user confidence in map controls. For example, by adding an “N” for north in the compass, participants’ ability to correctly identify the intended use of the map control increased from 20% to 70%.