To top it off, it would takes months before I had appropriate corporate issued hardware/software necessary for me to do my job. I adapted, working back & forth between my well equipped personal machine and their limited PC. I don't blame my manager. He hired me because he was the one individual that knew the importance of serving the user. As his first full-time product designer hired to the group, he simply didn't know what he didn't know (I needed).
From my start, I was innately aware that the product was in dire need of my skills. I hold the belief that healthcare, particularly Medicare, is often overlooked by great designers. This is why I decided to come aboard a few years back. I'm confident that my work has the power to have a positive impact on our user's lives. What can I say, I like a challenge!
The bad. The good. The crazy hours.
No design assets existed. I had to re-create or reverse design every icon, component and page from the existing HTML as working Sketch files.
The site had recently been rebuilt to be responsive. I at least did have some reference points in this regard, as I set off establishing core working graphic files.
We were a dispersed, remote team. I had to coordinate and manage deliverables globally across multiple time zones. My day would now begin at 4:30 AM.
With limited digital literacy, seniors frequently struggle to effectively navigate digital products. Interactions are further complicated by a degradation of cognitive and motor skills. Our product required a transformation to more effectively meet the needs and capabilities of our primary user base, with the business goal of reducing support calls.
My early research led me to the theory that by surfacing critical information immediately after authentication, we could potentially reduce cognitive load through reduced navigation. Relevant account information could be presented early in the journey and within a glance - fast to scan and easy to comprehend. The homepage was without doubt the best initial candidate to test my theory. This approach further aligned perfectly with a business need of greater flexibility around the timing or delivery of content. The desire to surface timely and actionable elements with the least amount of user interaction would become one of my overall guiding design principles.
The above mentioned user challenges were some that naturally came with this space. Additionally, nearly everything I did, or tried to do, fell under various compliance regulations that impacted my work. Occasionally, these regulations even prevented me from realizing certain creative concepts altogether.
Once a clarity of purpose was understood and everyone was on the same page, it was time to get started working on possible solutions.
Now comes the phase in the process where I'd love to share how we, as a unified team, enthusiastically participated and engaged together. Truth is, that's sadly not how this organization operates. This wasn't without a lack of effort on my behalf. Since my initial early days, I established and communicated the importance of process to everyone I encountered. When it came to participation, most were simply reluctant to take the time or make the effort. Therefore, I did my best with all I had, to keep this a true team initiative while still moving the work forward. We agreed upon two high-level directives to guide me during explorations:
1. Provide a beautiful, simple, and actionable layout featuring users' current coverage and HRA status (when applicable).
2. Surface relevant, time sensitive actions and critical information to empower self-service with plan status, answering questions, managing problems, while consequently reducing customer support requests.
A central theme - modular and dynamic core components - began to develop throughout discussions and sketch iterations. You can identify them in the center areas of the sketches below. As we honed our focus, I produced the final concepts. The single selection was to be the basis of our approach. It would be what I mocked up next and tested early.
"I'm old! I didn't grow up with this internet thing. I don't know how to do things on your website and I'm afraid to try. But I have no other choice!" – Marketplace user
The near end of my work cycle saw me working with QA and other internal test groups to check for edge cases or bugs - as we attempted to drive bugs to as few as possible prior to deployment. In the age of nearly automatic software updates, it's easy to release buggy software because you can always update it later. Our users were much, much more averse to change as others. Therefore, we needed to get it as right as possible up front. We needed polish and refinement. We were already going to hit them with an entirely new experience upon their next log-in. We couldn't afford to have the new experience buggy.
The team learned a lot. As proclaimed by them, they learned the importance and value of process with their full participation in it early and throughout. I believe the organization learned a lot - that with effort, a lot of effort, they just might become more design-centered and user-obsessed as I am.
This case study recounts the captivating journey of my efforts to craft a more intuitive and visually pleasing medical plan shopping experience for our ~53,000+ daily active users. I was tasked with bringing a level of design & UX sophistication to the product never seen before within the group. In an entirely hands-on role, I conceived and designed all elements featured here as I collaborated with three Product Managers, two FEDs and a team of BEDs spread across three different Scrum teams.
CompanyAonProductResponsive WebRolesResearch, Ideation, Prototyping, Visual & Interaction DesignLinkretiree.aon.com