Unifying & aligning fragmented product navigation
Overview
I lead the design & delivery of a new unified IA & navigation experience that enables users to browse & search for prescription savings, health information, and online care.
In collaboration with product, development, design system, and content strategy teams, I drove this first step of the "experience unification initiative", bringing GoodRx's fractured product experiences together under the same roof.
Role
Lead Designer
Duration
4 months
Responsibilities
Design strategy, design systems, user experience & interaction design, technical documentation
Context & problems
Each GoodRx service (savings, telehealth, health info) was built as separate platforms by different feature teams with their own objectives, priorities, and IA.
I worked with a content strategist to explore, design, and deliver solutions to start fixing these problems with a new unified IA & global navigation pattern; helping the org move from a "house of brands" to a "branded house".
Users problems
Customers got lost, stuck, and confused as they navigated the site, which lead to drop-off and abandoned sessions.
Business problems
Our stakeholders struggled to communicate the value of GoodRx, and everything it has to offer customers.
Internal problems
Our design + engineering teams lacked a “source of truth” which created repeat work, miscommunication, and inefficient processes.
Each GoodRx service (savings, telehealth, health info) was built as separate platforms by different feature teams with their own objectives, priorities, and IA.
I worked with a content strategist to explore, design, and deliver solutions to start fixing these problems with a new unified IA & global navigation pattern; helping the org move from a "house of brands" to a "branded house".
Users problems
Customers got lost, stuck, and confused as they navigated the site, which lead to drop-off and abandoned sessions.
Business problems
Our stakeholders struggled to communicate the value of GoodRx, and everything it has to offer customers.
Internal problems
Our design + engineering teams lacked a “source of truth” which created repeat work, miscommunication, and inefficient processes.
Each GoodRx service (savings, telehealth, health info) was built as separate platforms by different feature teams with their own objectives, priorities, and IA.
I worked with a content strategist to explore, design, and deliver solutions to start fixing these problems with a new unified IA & global navigation pattern; helping the org move from a "house of brands" to a "branded house".
Users problems
Customers got lost, stuck, and confused as they navigated the site, which lead to drop-off and abandoned sessions.
Business problems
Our stakeholders struggled to communicate the value of GoodRx, and everything it has to offer customers.
Internal problems
Our design + engineering teams lacked a “source of truth” which created repeat work, miscommunication, and inefficient processes.
Each GoodRx service (savings, telehealth, health info) was built as separate platforms by different feature teams with their own objectives, priorities, and IA.
I worked with a content strategist to explore, design, and deliver solutions to start fixing these problems with a new unified IA & global navigation pattern; helping the org move from a "house of brands" to a "branded house".
Users problems
Customers got lost, stuck, and confused as they navigated the site, which lead to drop-off and abandoned sessions.
Business problems
Our stakeholders struggled to communicate the value of GoodRx, and everything it has to offer customers.
Internal problems
Our design + engineering teams lacked a “source of truth” which created repeat work, miscommunication, and inefficient processes.
Discovery & goal-setting
To learn how a new navigation pattern would solve these problems, we ran workshops with each feature team, leveraged user testing results, and gathered input from design & product leadership.
We summarized all of this discovery into defined project goals, that considered the priorities and areas of impact for each discipline (product, brand, design systems, engineering, and UX),
Guide patients end-to-end
Create a continuous experience for every user's unique healthcare journey, across all GoodRx features and products.
Show cross-product value
Help customers find & understand our services, and create opportunities for continuous support and conversion across products.
Build once, deploy everywhere
Leverage our design system, patterns, and components to create a source of truth for current and future team needs.
To learn how a new navigation pattern would solve these problems, we ran workshops with each feature team, leveraged user testing results, and gathered input from design & product leadership.
We summarized all of this discovery into defined project goals, that considered the priorities and areas of impact for each discipline (product, brand, design systems, engineering, and UX),
Guide patients end-to-end
Create a continuous experience for every user's unique healthcare journey, across all GoodRx features and products.
Show cross-product value
Help customers find & understand our services, and create opportunities for continuous support and conversion across products.
Build once, deploy everywhere
Leverage our design system, patterns, and components to create a source of truth for current and future team needs.
To learn how a new navigation pattern would solve these problems, we ran workshops with each feature team, leveraged user testing results, and gathered input from design & product leadership.
We summarized all of this discovery into defined project goals, that considered the priorities and areas of impact for each discipline (product, brand, design systems, engineering, and UX),
Guide patients end-to-end
Create a continuous experience for every user's unique healthcare journey, across all GoodRx features and products.
Show cross-product value
Help customers find & understand our services, and create opportunities for continuous support and conversion across products.
Build once, deploy everywhere
Leverage our design system, patterns, and components to create a source of truth for current and future team needs.
To learn how a new navigation pattern would solve these problems, we ran workshops with each feature team, leveraged user testing results, and gathered input from design & product leadership.
We summarized all of this discovery into defined project goals, that considered the priorities and areas of impact for each discipline (product, brand, design systems, engineering, and UX),
Guide patients end-to-end
Create a continuous experience for every user's unique healthcare journey, across all GoodRx features and products.
Show cross-product value
Help customers find & understand our services, and create opportunities for continuous support and conversion across products.
Build once, deploy everywhere
Leverage our design system, patterns, and components to create a source of truth for current and future team needs.
defining our users
To understand how users would use & navigate a unified platform, we used GoodRx's healthcare journey framework to map the separate features to each step, identify different types of customer mindsets, and document the most important customer actions.
These exercises helped focus our thinking on end-to-end GoodRx customers rather than individual feature customers, and helped standardize a unified product framework for our feature teams to leverage for their work.
To understand how users would use & navigate a unified platform, we used GoodRx's healthcare journey framework to map the separate features to each step, identify different types of customer mindsets, and document the most important customer actions.
These exercises helped focus our thinking on end-to-end GoodRx customers rather than individual feature customers, and helped standardize a unified product framework for our feature teams to leverage for their work.
To understand how users would use & navigate a unified platform, we used GoodRx's healthcare journey framework to map the separate features to each step, identify different types of customer mindsets, and document the most important customer actions.
These exercises helped focus our thinking on end-to-end GoodRx customers rather than individual feature customers, and helped standardize a unified product framework for our feature teams to leverage for their work.
To understand how users would use & navigate a unified platform, we used GoodRx's healthcare journey framework to map the separate features to each step, identify different types of customer mindsets, and document the most important customer actions.
These exercises helped focus our thinking on end-to-end GoodRx customers rather than individual feature customers, and helped standardize a unified product framework for our feature teams to leverage for their work.
unifying the IA
With this unified approach in mind, we standardized the site-wide IA and product messaging based on user testing, team input, and business priorities.
Direct, succinct language made CTAs and section titles accessible and easy to scan for users, and reinforced the org-wide brand standards.
Grounding our work with content, brand, and product strategy bridged the communication gaps between teams and disciplines. It allowed us to get the alignment, approval, and input from our stakeholders that we needed to refine our ideas into the final deliverables.
With this unified approach in mind, we standardized the site-wide IA and product messaging based on user testing, team input, and business priorities.
Direct, succinct language made CTAs and section titles accessible and easy to scan for users, and reinforced the org-wide brand standards.
Grounding our work with content, brand, and product strategy bridged the communication gaps between teams and disciplines. It allowed us to get the alignment, approval, and input from our stakeholders that we needed to refine our ideas into the final deliverables.
With this unified approach in mind, we standardized the site-wide IA and product messaging based on user testing, team input, and business priorities.
Direct, succinct language made CTAs and section titles accessible and easy to scan for users, and reinforced the org-wide brand standards.
Grounding our work with content, brand, and product strategy bridged the communication gaps between teams and disciplines. It allowed us to get the alignment, approval, and input from our stakeholders that we needed to refine our ideas into the final deliverables.
With this unified approach in mind, we standardized the site-wide IA and product messaging based on user testing, team input, and business priorities.
Direct, succinct language made CTAs and section titles accessible and easy to scan for users, and reinforced the org-wide brand standards.
Grounding our work with content, brand, and product strategy bridged the communication gaps between teams and disciplines. It allowed us to get the alignment, approval, and input from our stakeholders that we needed to refine our ideas into the final deliverables.
Navigating organizational structures
Managing the large number of stakeholders & opinions was a major challenge, as this work affected every feature team.
Frequent communication updates with each team and structured reviews with leadership enabled decision making and prioritization of requirements and perspectives.
By centering our solutions around brand unification & customer experience, we demonstrated the value in building customer trust and creating convenience for users. This helped the separate feature teams understand the value of this work, and moved them away from the mindset of individual brand ownership.
By listening to the concerns of each team, being open to compromise, and keeping them updated and involved in the process, we slowly created the investment and buy-in from each team that we needed.
Managing the large number of stakeholders & opinions was a major challenge, as this work affected every feature team.
Frequent communication updates with each team and structured reviews with leadership enabled decision making and prioritization of requirements and perspectives.
By centering our solutions around brand unification & customer experience, we demonstrated the value in building customer trust and creating convenience for users. This helped the separate feature teams understand the value of this work, and moved them away from the mindset of individual brand ownership.
By listening to the concerns of each team, being open to compromise, and keeping them updated and involved in the process, we slowly created the investment and buy-in from each team that we needed.
Managing the large number of stakeholders & opinions was a major challenge, as this work affected every feature team.
Frequent communication updates with each team and structured reviews with leadership enabled decision making and prioritization of requirements and perspectives.
By centering our solutions around brand unification & customer experience, we demonstrated the value in building customer trust and creating convenience for users. This helped the separate feature teams understand the value of this work, and moved them away from the mindset of individual brand ownership.
By listening to the concerns of each team, being open to compromise, and keeping them updated and involved in the process, we slowly created the investment and buy-in from each team that we needed.
Managing the large number of stakeholders & opinions was a major challenge, as this work affected every feature team.
Frequent communication updates with each team and structured reviews with leadership enabled decision making and prioritization of requirements and perspectives.
By centering our solutions around brand unification & customer experience, we demonstrated the value in building customer trust and creating convenience for users. This helped the separate feature teams understand the value of this work, and moved them away from the mindset of individual brand ownership.
By listening to the concerns of each team, being open to compromise, and keeping them updated and involved in the process, we slowly created the investment and buy-in from each team that we needed.
advocating for users
Another major challenge was balancing the 'discoverability' and 'visibility' of content, ensuring we were reducing friction and empowering users rather than overwhelming them.
Lo-fi designs helped visualize and communicate these tradeoffs, and find a balance between scalability, usability, and complexity.
Leveraging competitive research and industry standards helped communicate the value in UX best practices; we gave users 3 - 6 choices where possible, and designing a new end-of-page component to support teams that needed a compromise for content-rich sections.
Another major challenge was balancing the 'discoverability' and 'visibility' of content, ensuring we were reducing friction and empowering users rather than overwhelming them.
Lo-fi designs helped visualize and communicate these tradeoffs, and find a balance between scalability, usability, and complexity.
Leveraging competitive research and industry standards helped communicate the value in UX best practices; we gave users 3 - 6 choices where possible, and designing a new end-of-page component to support teams that needed a compromise for content-rich sections.
Another major challenge was balancing the 'discoverability' and 'visibility' of content, ensuring we were reducing friction and empowering users rather than overwhelming them.
Lo-fi designs helped visualize and communicate these tradeoffs, and find a balance between scalability, usability, and complexity.
Leveraging competitive research and industry standards helped communicate the value in UX best practices; we gave users 3 - 6 choices where possible, and designing a new end-of-page component to support teams that needed a compromise for content-rich sections.
Another major challenge was balancing the 'discoverability' and 'visibility' of content, ensuring we were reducing friction and empowering users rather than overwhelming them.
Lo-fi designs helped visualize and communicate these tradeoffs, and find a balance between scalability, usability, and complexity.
Leveraging competitive research and industry standards helped communicate the value in UX best practices; we gave users 3 - 6 choices where possible, and designing a new end-of-page component to support teams that needed a compromise for content-rich sections.
solution
The final designs focused on simple, intentional interactions across screen sizes, empowering users to explore, save, learn, and discover the right solutions for their healthcare needs.
We prioritized popular pages, and refined the visual hierarchies & look-and-feel to create a experience that represented the brand & business, and was easy to read and understand. We created sections for dynamic content for feature teams to own, sharing responsibilities and enabling collaboration.
The final designs focused on simple, intentional interactions across screen sizes, empowering users to explore, save, learn, and discover the right solutions for their healthcare needs.
We prioritized popular pages, and refined the visual hierarchies & look-and-feel to create a experience that represented the brand & business, and was easy to read and understand. We created sections for dynamic content for feature teams to own, sharing responsibilities and enabling collaboration.
The final designs focused on simple, intentional interactions across screen sizes, empowering users to explore, save, learn, and discover the right solutions for their healthcare needs.
We prioritized popular pages, and refined the visual hierarchies & look-and-feel to create a experience that represented the brand & business, and was easy to read and understand. We created sections for dynamic content for feature teams to own, sharing responsibilities and enabling collaboration.
The final designs focused on simple, intentional interactions across screen sizes, empowering users to explore, save, learn, and discover the right solutions for their healthcare needs.
We prioritized popular pages, and refined the visual hierarchies & look-and-feel to create a experience that represented the brand & business, and was easy to read and understand. We created sections for dynamic content for feature teams to own, sharing responsibilities and enabling collaboration.
Outcomes
This work established the navigation infrastructure and cross-team collaboration standards needed for GoodRx to continue to unify their brand and product experiences.
While I transitioned off before post-launch optimization, the content and design frameworks I delivered created the foundation for measurable cross-product engagement that wasn't previously possible to track or improve.
This work established the navigation infrastructure and cross-team collaboration standards needed for GoodRx to continue to unify their brand and product experiences.
While I transitioned off before post-launch optimization, the content and design frameworks I delivered created the foundation for measurable cross-product engagement that wasn't previously possible to track or improve.
This work established the navigation infrastructure and cross-team collaboration standards needed for GoodRx to continue to unify their brand and product experiences.
While I transitioned off before post-launch optimization, the content and design frameworks I delivered created the foundation for measurable cross-product engagement that wasn't previously possible to track or improve.
This work established the navigation infrastructure and cross-team collaboration standards needed for GoodRx to continue to unify their brand and product experiences.
While I transitioned off before post-launch optimization, the content and design frameworks I delivered created the foundation for measurable cross-product engagement that wasn't previously possible to track or improve.
A version of this work has since been adapted and updated, and can be viewed at https://www.goodrx.com/.
Thank you to my teammates + peers for the collaboration, feedback, support and guidance (including but not limited to): Dan Sozanski, Kirk Nathanson, Emily Hom-Nici, Kathleen Henning, Lucia Anaya, and Nicole Pritchard.