Transforming Century-Old Healthcare Brand Through Research-Driven Design Systems

The Challenge

Nemours, a premier children’s hospital system with locations in Delaware and Florida, was operating with an outdated website that failed to drive new patient volume or provide current information about appointments, doctors, locations, and services. Competing directly with top-ranked Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, they needed a complete digital transformation alongside a rebrand and migration to Adobe Experience Manager CMS.

Strategic Approach

I led my team through several months of comprehensive research and design system development, creating extensive documentation for offshore development partners. Rather than building separate sites, we determined that a unified presence would leverage the organization’s geographic reach for credibility while carefully planning location-specific controls and navigation.

Business Impact

One comprehensive design system covering three hospitals, a health library, and a charitable foundation site. All KPIs improved following launch, leading to a long-term relationship with the organization and subsequent expansion to Nemours KidsHealth and the Nemours Estate sites.

Leadership & Execution

Comprehensive Stakeholder Research My team conducted three days of intensive interviews and workshops with stakeholders and subject matter experts throughout Nemours, establishing a foundational understanding of organizational goals and patient needs. We created initial audience profiles that we continuously tested and refined throughout the research and design process.

We gathered hundreds of survey responses and conducted extensive interviews to understand audience behavior and needs, then created detailed journey maps showing where Nemours could provide valuable online tools. We also examined potential behavioral differences between the two locations and analyzed the impact of socioeconomic factors on patient experience.

UX Research

My team conducted three days of interviews and workshops, talking with stakeholders and subject matter experts through Nemours. This gave us a basic foundation of knowledge about the thier goals, and the needs of their patients.

We followed this by creating a rough set of audience personas that we tested and refined throughout our research and design process.

We got hundreds of survey responses and conducted hours of interviews to really dig into the audiences, their behavior, and needs, then created detailed journey maps that let us see where Nemours could help with online tools. We also carefully examined possible differences in behavior between the two locations, and looked at the effect of socioeconomic factors.

Patient-Centered Information Architecture We developed a new information architecture and wireframes that prioritized patient needs over organizational structure. Our research showed that one unified site would be most effective, as the geographic reach enhanced credibility and some patients chose between locations for specialty care. We designed intuitive location controls ensuring visitors could easily find relevant information while always knowing where they were.

We restructured site navigation around the patient audience, eliminating confusing separate sections for conditions, treatments, and specialties that frustrated both patients and content managers. Both innovations have since become standard practice for health system websites.

Design System Development & Documentation All design work required integration with a separate rebranding process, demanding careful design and art direction coordination. The work was extensively documented for handoff to development partners, with particular attention to achieving desired designs using a limited pool of custom components for easier long-term maintenance and content management.