WebMD

The previous site build wasn't responsive to the emerging variation in device and screen sizes, and the content was over-saturated and overwhelming for our users. Users had trouble navigating the site to find the information that mattered to them — 96% of traffic arrived through search-engine deep links directly into our content.

Build a more focused and cohesive experience for our users across all device and screen types by uniting the platforms and driving toward a personalized experience — the mobile site, baby app, pregnancy app, symptom checker app and diet app should all integrate into an overall personalized view of WebMD for end users.

This redesign effort couldn't impact content availability or our sponsorship and advertising content. With that in mind, the business chose to run the test with the Diet and Fitness segment — a drawback of a small segmented beta being that users could start in the beta design and then get directed to content outside of it.

We also ran into an issue with our outdated CMS — a symptom of running massive amounts of content on a legacy version of the system, seven versions behind current at the time — which created constraints and demanded creative thinking as we worked to address new technology needs like responsive web design.

We partnered with IDEO New York to develop and execute our user research, working closely together to identify our unique personas for the Diet Center. The IDEO team identified target users for our personas and carried out site visits, follow-up communications and testing with them.

This partnership with IDEO was very educational for me — it was my first time being part of a much deeper dive into user research and feedback than I'd previously experienced.

Through collaborative wireframing and design, we tested several variations of content hierarchy, continued navigation functionality, and the introduction of truly personalized content. The old site had a three-column format — a long static link list in column one, content in column two (littered with other static content drivers), and more supplemental content in column three. In this round we worked to create a strong focus for primary content, with secondary content supplementing on the right.

Knowing the majority of our user base arrived through search-engine deep links to articles and slideshows, we mapped flows from articles and slideshows to determine where and what a user might want to explore next. These flows helped identify supplemental content and navigation strategies.

Alongside content tagging, we introduced calculators — like the heart rate calculator — that collected a user's results and began building a profile for recommending content. This content was only saved for future use once a user chose to log in and save it.

Working closely with product management, we scoped a test plan for various content and design versions, testing on the same days of the week to measure against comparative traffic. The testing initiative spanned three months, to accurately test individual variables.

We landed on finalized decisions and scoped a roadmap delivering releases in content segments. The visual vision was built on five principles:

• Modern
• Positive
• Legitimate
• Curated
• Inviting

I led the redesign of the mobile site, and worked closely with the team to carry the new vision of WebMD into the native applications.

Build a more focused and cohesive experience for our users across all device and screen types by uniting the platforms and driving toward a personalized experience — mobile site, baby app, pregnancy app, symptom checker app and diet app should all integrate into an overall personalized view of WebMD for end users.

I collaborated with other designers to design and evolve WebMD's native app offering.

I collaborated on the ideation and design for several of WebMD's native apps, building out WebMD's original library of native app offerings during the introduction of mobile and native apps to the industry — including some app concepts that didn't make it to market.