Loma Linda University Medical Center
Empathetic Design in the Digital Health Space
Easy to use. Empathetic. Expert. These are not terms often used to describe online interactions with hospitals and other large medical institutions. We set out to change that in our website redesign for Loma Linda University Health—a medical center with six hospital locations, multiple clinics, practices and affiliates, and a medical school.
Most situations prompting a person to seek medical information are confusing or overwhelming at best, and stressful or catastrophic at worst. We placed a comprehensive search tool front and center on the homepage to ease the discovery process, providing clear, well-organized results in easy-to-understand language.
Early discovery and workshops led us to emphasize utility and empathy throughout the project. Simple and welcoming language, expressive media selections and a balanced blend of components for finding information and telling stories are some of the ways that emphasis came through in the design.
