Teaching old sites new tricks:Transforming the Better Health Channel into a Web 2.0 platform

Outline

1 About the Better Health Channel2 The gap between 'health' web in government and

industry3 What are users doing in health online?4 Deciding how to move forward5 Psychographics and mental models of users 6 Visual design: managing stakeholder business

and user divergence7 Preview of the new site, and the future

redevelopment agenda

About the Better Health Channel

» Better Health Channel was launched in 1999 as a 'Web 1.0' content distribution channel

» Accessible: health and medical information in plain English

» Very popular – about 1 million visits per month» Most visited Victoria Government website (Hitwise)» Most visited Australian Health and Medical Information

website (Hitwise)

Better Health Channel – Current homepage» Good SEO» No major IA

or visual redesign in the last 10 years

» Passive –info distribution

Gap between 'health' web– government vs industry

Social media integration – facebook, twitter, specialist networks

-Connectivity

Text-based articles or factsheetsVideos, imagesElearning, instructional, decision-treesBlogsDiscussion (Forums, Q&As, Blog comments, etc)MappingTargeted emails

Text-based articles or factsheetsBasic geo-mappingBasic email newsletter

Formats

Information provisionDecision supportUser generated content / sharingNetwork building (my personal health network)Personal health information management

Information provisionSome service locators

Engagement

Web 2.0Web 1.0Web generation

IndustryGovernmentArea

Gap between 'health' web– government vs industry

Broad definition of healthIncludes medical, CAM, lifestyle, relationships, etcFull lifecycle: prevention, through to diagnosis, management, etcTopical

Medical view of health (esp. conditions)More recently broader 'healthy lifestyle'Service descriptions

Content scope

Multiple ‘voices’ of authority and experienceAggregated information sources (mash-ups)Consumer QA (User needs to decide on quality)

Single authoritative sourceStrict QA & governance

Content publishing & QA

Desktop PC (browser, email)Mobile handsets (browser, apps, txt)

Desktop PC (browser, email)Print

Channels

SEOSEO

Online (banner ads, search advertising/SEM)Traditional mediaMarketing

IndustryGovernmentArea

Users are in a Web 2.0 worldDiagram taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27048731@N03/3764657489/

Users are in a Web 2.0 worldDiagram taken from: http://socialwhisper.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/will-the-internet-eventually-control-us/

Have your say – text or video blogs

Aggregated feeds for H1N1 - Twitter, RSS, mapping

Twitter feed site H1N1Twitter during H1N1

Consumer choices model – entry into the health system

Connect to people in a similar situation

Manage my own or my families health information

Why change?

If the site is so successful, why change?» Competition has evolved their offerings» Competition provides a richer user experience » User expectations – are we still meeting them?

Are we still relevant?» Health info seeking: users shop around for

health information – others have recognised this and try to build ongoing engagement

» Need to build loyalty

How to move forward

» Review our business goalsWhat are we trying to achieve?

» Understand our target audience, our usersWhat's their story? How do they understand 'health'?What are their goals?

» Design a model for customer engagement» Our values, our brand» Information architecture» Interactive design

» Involve our customers all along the way

Understanding our users

» Understand their motives, what drives them to the completion of their goals

» Their personal health journeys» Elicit their mental models of health and health

information» Know their goals

= customer profiling

Understanding our users

Profiling: Demographics vs Psychographics

» Ideally, use both approaches when buildingcustomer profiles.

Demographics vs Psychographics

The personal 'who and 'why'The demographic 'who'

“The household health hub”“The curious well”

The typical better health channel user is Female, aged between 35 and 60, and has two kids.

Examples: motivations (or reasons for doing or wanting something), views they hold, their values, activities, interests, opinions and overall lifestyles, and personal stories or journeys.

Examples: age, family size, gender, race, ethnicity, income, and education

From a subject's perspective, particular feelings, beliefs, desires or discovery made from information pertaining to a personal experience

Does not draw on any assumptions, prejudices, or values of particular subjects.

Psychological, sociological and anthropological factors.

Observable measurable segments of a population’s characteristics.

PsychographicsDemographics

Our base psychographic profiles

» Health consumer types:Patient - someone who is diagnosed with a physical or mental health problem, or is worried about their physical or mental health

Lay caregiver – they have a personal, non-professional health care role, usually within a family. They are usually the key influencer with regards to the health of those they care for

The curious well - they don’t have a health problem, but are motivated by interest and curiosity, generally in response to a media

article, etc.

Self improvers - individuals who are wanting to improve some area of their health or life. They are unlikely to be suffering from a major or diagnosed illness (e.g. a patient)

Our base psychographic profiles

Sector, industry or workforce types:Health and medical workers - professionals working in the health sector, either delivering services to health consumers (for example, a local GP), or to other individuals within the sector (such as a peak body)

Non health worker - those employed in industry in a range of non health sectors, however, require access to health information and services in the course of fulfilling their job, such as when having to provide a duty of care to employees or customers

Health educator and health researcher - A health educator/researcher is someone involved in teaching in health, or conducting research in health

Information seeking strategies,and interactive design

Psychographic-based profiling helped reveal our customer's information seeking strategiesThis lead to the design of the interactive approach for the siteThey had 3 different information consumption behaviours:− Medical reference directory-style 'look-up' for conditions &

treatments, which was usually searching for a known item

− Magazine-style browsing of topics for “wellness” and lifestyle content

− Service locator approach for finding a health service

Mental models in health

» We found three main mental models in the consumer health domain, which was largely determined if you were a:

1 Nurse2 Doctor3 Health consumer (lay person)

Mental models

» Nurses think of health information in terms of hospital departments

Mental models

» Doctors view health information as systems or specialities

Mental models

» ‘Health consumers’ have a broader view of health, which bundles all health domains together.Consumers are the major target audience of the website.

How the models were elicited

» Users revealed their models by placing them at the centre of the redevelopment process.

» These models were elicited through:Card sorting (and other IA tools & techniques)Interviews (one-on-one, and group)Survey instruments (pre and post workshop surveying, online forms, etc)

Application of mental models

Information architecture – how we structure, label and present our information for the target audiencesInteractive design – our approach to engaging particular audience segments, and aiding them in achieving their goals via BHCVisual design – providing cues which are congruent with users inner representation or perceptions of health (more on this later)

High-level Information Architecture

» Four top level streams:– Conditions & Treatments– Healthy Living– Relationships & Family– Services & Support

» Organised around topics, rather than formats

Interactive style

» Not about ‘factsheets’

» Optimised around consumers goals and perceptionsof health information:– ‘Medical reference’ for Conditions & Treatment– ‘Magazine browsing’ for Healthy Living and Relationships

&Family– ‘Service locator’ for Services &Support– A variety of formats will be embedded within the topic

pages (risk assessments, images, videos, stories etc)

Visual redesign

» The brief:

“The key business goal for the redesign of the Better Health Channel is that the site is bold, innovative and confident - demonstrative of its leadership position.”

Visual redesign & brand values

» In every aspect of it’s use, the BHC brand values represent the values, philosophies and business goals of the BHC entity.

Visual design research & evaluation

As part of determining what form the visual identity of the Better Health Channel (BHC) should take, BHC visitors were encouraged to take part in a survey designed to elicit the:

» Colours associated with health information» Negative and positive associations of two competing

visual design treatments, including their impact on our ‘brand’

» Visual items of high or low priority for users» Visual hierarchy, that is, where users attention

drawn, and what they ignore

Visual design research & evaluation - colours

» There are differences with the association of colour to ‘Health and Wellbeing’ information, in contrast to ‘Clinical / Medical’ information.

» For both Health and Wellbeing (H&WB), and Clinical information, users strongly associated the colours Blue and White:(White likely has a stronger association in the clinical space, as it is often is linked with sterile environments, such as hospitals, clinics, etc.)

» Warm and softer toned colours (green and yellow), were represented more prominently in the top end of the H&WB colour pallet:

» Colours specific to the Clinic space included red and grey:(Red likely appeared due to its use in the ‘red cross’.)

Visual design research & evaluation - colours» It is worth noting that the blue – green – yellow – white

pallet elicited visceral responses from users, such as:» "Green - energy, life, the earth, nature, outdoors White - clean, starting

fresh, uncluttered, blank canvass Blue - calm, ocean, serenity, water (main composition of our body)"

» "green for grass, yellow for sun & blue for water suggest health & wellbeing to me"

» "White to me represents purity and so good health and contrasts well with all other colours Blue makes me think of things good such as blue skies and blue water on a clear day so has a 'positive' vibe about it"

» "Green to me represents growth and health as in plants and vegetation."

Visual design research & evaluation - colours

Visual design research & evaluation

Visual design research & evaluation - layouts

Evaluating visual design

» The challenge of subjectivity

» The “design we need” vs the “design we want”

– Do: Alignment to our goals, and aid the fulfilment of website objectives

– Don’t: Decide based on personal aesthetic preferences and beliefs (my favourite colour, etc)

Preview of the new site

» Homepage» Top-level landing pages:

» Conditions & treatments» Healthy living» Relationships & family» Services & support

» Content page (article)

Where are we going?

Establish a new design with room to growEstablish a new design with room to grow

Make use of rich media Make use of rich media

Give users voiceGive users voice

Find a health service on the run

Find a health service on the run