Case Study: VoICE

As a major data collection center for information on the broad benefits of immunization and costs of vaccine-preventable disease, Johns Hopkins’ University’s Value of Immunization Compendium of Evidence (VoICE) required a web tool that would give users vital information for their specific needs.

CHALLENGE

Solve a two part challenge on an aggressive timeline with a client halfway across the country.

  • Create a tool that gives disease experts quick access to the research studies they need to make their case to lawmakers.
  • Give policy wonks the broad view and simple language they need to advocate for the value of vaccines.

The VoICE database contains hundreds of sources and research studies that needed a strong information architect and UX expert to organize the key ideas and data summaries into a cohesive system of content.

Site users come from a range of backgrounds including: medical sciences, immunization advocates, policy experts, and researchers, among others. One of VoICE’s roles is to widen the knowledge base available to these often specialized users, so it is critical that the way information is organized lends itself helping users quickly discover evidence outside their discipline and connections between those disciplines. At the same time, domain experts needed a super fast way to search via keyword for the exact report or disease that they needed for their research.

Earthling teamed up with KW2 to provide UX and design expertise as we partnered to break down the content and user needs of the site into a course of action for an aggressive timeline.

Listening closely to the needs of VoICE representatives, we worked carefully to identify these goals:

  • Improve UX/UI and provide a more streamlined path to the results for multiple user types
  • Expose users to related ideas and build links between topic areas
  • Support content growth
  • Create a homepage with regularly updated content
  • Move the site to a more relevant url for the VoICE brand

 

SOLUTION

Tightly integrated database of resources organized to maximize exposure to new information and a powerful faceted search interface that allowed for browsing and targeted keyword search.

Our first job was to organize content and pages into a meaningful hierarchy before imaging how the search tool itself would be experienced by the two groups of users. We solved the organization of the database of resources to eliminate duplicate content issues and worked hand-in-hand with KW2 to make sure content, design, and data types were always in synch. Using a series of design and development sprints, we built the site out from the search tool first, designing and developing dynamic content for key pages second and ending on the redesigned homepage. This aggressive development and design model allowed a team working with a remote client to completely redesign and develop a site in seven weeks, one week ahead of their deadline for World Immunization Week.

RESULTS

In the end we designed an attractive website that profoundly improved VoICE’s capacity to serve the needs of its users and meet its mission goals. We also set them up on a domain name to capture more SEO traffic : https://immunizationevidence.org/ and set them up on the Earthling Interactive platform to give their site blazing fast speed on a highly-available hosting platform with a global content delivery network to give their global audience the resources they needed quickly.