Case study
Northwind Health
Patients often left visits unsure what to do next. Northwind wanted a portal that respected fatigue, accessibility, and care that happens outside the clinic.
- Healthcare
- Web
- Accessibility
Problem
What wasn't working
The portal followed internal org structure, not patient tasks. The right info was in there, but heavy copy and department labels hid it. People kept calling the desk with the same questions about timing, insurance, and who to contact.
Goals
What we aimed for
Rebuild the home experience around “what do I do next?” after a visit or message.
Hit WCAG AA for contrast, focus order, and form errors without watering down clinical facts.
Give each main task one obvious action per screen so choices do not stack up.
Document patterns so clinical and content teams could extend things without breaking consistency.
Contribution
My role & tools
My role
UX and UI from discovery through build: service blueprinting with operations, workshops with clinical staff, usability tests with patients and caregivers, responsive UI, and accessibility notes for engineering.
Tools used
- Figma
- Miro
- Stark
- UserTesting
Process
How we moved from insight to interface
Research
We watched front-desk and phone workflows, read call transcripts, and ran task tests with patients and caregivers. Recurring themes were order of steps, vocabulary, and whether “official” next steps felt believable.
Wireframes
Wireframes tried a task-first home: timelines after visits, plain labels, and a steady path to a real person. Each view aimed for a single primary action.
Design
Visual work favored quick scanning, AA contrast, and patterns that worked with assistive tech. States, errors, and tone were written down so new services did not drift.
Results
Key outcomes
We tracked navigation-related support load and how confident people felt after releases.
- Navigation support callsNoticeable drop in “where do I find…?” calls within two release cycles.
- Task confidenceFollow-up surveys showed more people saying next steps were clear.
- AccessibilityAA contrast and keyboard paths checked in QA, with component states written down.
Solution
What shipped
The updated portal centers on what to do next, in everyday language. Timelines, contacts, and paperwork sit together by task instead of by department, closer to how people actually move through care.
