Orlando Regional Healthcare
A website becomes a trusted friend and
resource, rather than a cold, sterile experience.
Covenant Communications
Creative director/project manager: Justin Ramb
Client: Orlando Regional Healthcare
Contact: www.covweb.com
800.994.3844
Design firm Covenant Communications says the
focus of Orlando Regional Healthcare’s brand was
very clear: Dr. Mom—the woman who must care
for children, husband, aging parents and herself. She
would need an online experience that is quick, easy
and informative, with lots of organized information
for all of her health needs.
So how do you personify a website? “Technically
and functionally, the user experience drove the project,”
explains Rob Bullock of Covenant. “We chose
not to over-design or to create so much functionality
that the user experience would be diminished in any
way. Everything we incorporated had to make things
easy for the user. Because the project involved eight
separate websites, it was important to give standalone
branding for each site, yet tie all of them to an
overall corporate brand.”
The site incorporates a combination of complex
coding and integration of data from third-party
providers. Bullock says they built a custom CMS to
facilitate easy updating and maintenance of all the
sites. They also incorporated content feeds with contextual
linking to further expand the user experience.
If the user clicks on a link to find a heart surgeon,
the site will also offer articles about heart disease,
links to classes on heart health and other resources
that may be useful to the visitor.
“The big challenge was to create a site that is
loaded with content, and yet designed not to overwhelm
the user. We spent a large amount of time
up front with the client determining the priority of
information that needed to be presented, and how
much ‘real estate’ each piece should get on the home
page,” says Bullock. “What needed to be ‘above the
fold’—visible without scrolling?”
Once the priorities were established, the focus
shifted to coming up with a design for each hospital
that matched its clientele and brand, yet tied back to
the parent brand. The final look is clean, bright and
engaging. “The sites have massive back-end designed
to anticipate the user’s interest and serve up content
to match it. But it only works if you can engage the
user up front and get him looking beyond the first
page,” explains Bullock.
