PCORI
website redesign & optimization
Overview
Impact: Our work helped PCORI raise awareness and share the results from research studies and related projects, totaling $3.7 billion. The site also helps patient and caregivers make informed healthcare decisions.
Awards:
Vega Award 2022
Communicator Award 2022
Objective: How might we:
effectively demonstrate the impact of PCORI-funded work
disseminate research and resources
position PCORI as a leading source of actionable information for the healthcare industry
optimize the user experience of PCORI’s digital properties
My Role: I was the Design Lead on the project. I strategized and led specific activities and deliverables including:
Design leadership
Design discovery & workshops
Competitive analysis
Site map and wireframes
Taxonomy definition
Content model
Usability testing
Design system optimization
Timeline: 2020 - today
About: Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, or PCORI, funds research to help patients, caregivers, clinicians, policymakers, researchers, insurers, and other stakeholders make informed healthcare decisions.
Background
Background
PCORI has been a Forum One client since 2013. In that time we’ve redesigned the site a few times and provided ongoing digital strategy and optimization.
Scope
Redesign the PCORI.org
Conduct usability testing
Provide ongoing design strategy and recommendations
Design Leadership & Presentation
Here’s one of many wireframes created for the project.
I joined the project in the middle of the design phase. Discovery was complete. Wireframes were mostly complete and the full design system was nearly complete.
I was the primary presenter at weekly design reviews. I presented updated wireframes or design components and we discussed the approach and implications for every decision on the page, in detail.
Reviewing Design Work & Meeting Preparation
To prepare for these meetings, I met with the team of designers who executed the work. I would review their work, which was excellent, with a fine-toothed comb ensuring that I understand every detail and that we addressed any inconsistency. I was most commonly reviewing the work to ensure it:
reflected the audience needs.
worked toward the business objectives.
considered current and future content.
was addressing issues identified in past research.
Responding to Feedback
We would always record these meetings so that those who were not there could catch up on the feedback. This was also handy for our designers, who could see how I presented, handled critical feedback, and influenced decision-making.
Later I talked with them about this specifically and they found it most helpful to see how I re-frame or guide conversations, especially when it went in a less-than-desirable direction. Some of the approaches I use are:
Initiating my response with a positive
Yes, that’s a very good point.
Yes, thank you for sharing your perspective.
Yes, there are definitely some ways we can improve this.Conveying that I heard the feedback and repeating it to make sure I understand
I hear what you're saying
I can see how that's an issue
I'm hearing you say two things, ...Staying curious and get a sense of scale and urgency
What makes you say that? Did this come from some recent data you gathered?
Talk to me about how often this issue arises.
What's the impact if we do or don't ...?
Has this come up in the past? How did you handle it?Keep a positive outlook
Ok, let us think on this issue and get back to you with some ideas.
I think we can figure this out. We'll get to work on it asap.
Thanks for raising this. I think we're on the right track, but can still make a few improvements.
Thanks for your feedback today. It's helping us make this solution even stronger. I'm very excited about the direction we're headed.
Keep it Interesting
I introduced a friendly competition between the designers where we guessed the date when design would be complete. The person who guessed the closest date without going over won!
What did they win? I promised them "something tacky, but awesome."
It wasn't really about the prize. It was about having something else that united us and gave us something to remember and reflect on. So every week when we did more iterations or got more feedback, there was friendly banter about what the prize was or who was knocked out of the running.
You want to know the prize? It was socks with the winner's face on them. Tacky, but awesome I think.
This is a slide from our presentation on Topic page design.
Tackling Issues, Thoroughly
After the new site launched in 2011, we celebrated!
And then got back to work. There were refinements to make and things to optimize. At this point PCORI had a list of issues for us to investigate.
Each week I'd meet with with our designers and map out our research and recommendations for the next client review. I developed a fairly rigorous outline we could reuse for each issue:
What is the problem we're trying to solve?
Who's most affected by this?
What exists now?
If it exists now, how is it performing?
How are other organizations solving this? (look in other industries, not just direct competitors)
How might we solve the issue? (1-3 options)
What is the logic behind these options? What are the pros and cons?
What did we consider that didn't make the cut?
What option do we recommend? Why?
What are the technical, content, or implementation considerations? How will it affect external and internal users?
As you can see, we're not throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. This is all very intentional and rigorous. This structure also ensures that we're fully prepared for each meeting. We've left no stone unturned (we think!).
When the designer I'm overseeing is doing their work, we'll review and go through these questions. If we have answers for all ten, we're ready to go!