Our team was tasked with designing, developing, and deploying a new website for a Hawaii based rehabilitation center that focuses on rehabilitation and detox for individuals struggling with addiction.
To fit the budget and scope of work we chose to better understand the needs and expectations of the rehabilitation industry, we took a deep dive into all of the competitors to familiarize ourselves with the industry.
Our Role on the project
“We believe that if we make a vibrant, interactive, and modern website it will bring a refreshing new look to the rehabilitation industry.
From looking at all the reference websites based around the Kono, Hawaii area we found a few similarities that we wanted to avoid. Mobile first design being the biggest hit to most of these other websites. The lack of mobile first designs is a big deal considering 80% of internet users access it through a mobile device.
Here's what the competitors were missing
Spending some time working with the founders directly who have been through recovery and rehabilitation programs throughout their life as well as the competitive analysis we had a good understanding of where to start. Using this we started drafting up some ideas with paper wireframes.
We have created several user flow diagrams from every step of what the user can do on the site. We like to do this for every project no matter the scope of work to stay organized and mitigate pain points.
We sketched several paper wireframes that allow us to draw out as many ideas as possible with the knowledge of the required elements to the applications design based on users goals, needs, and frustrations. We took these paper wireframes and built digital versions in Figma to build interactive wireframes for test groups to well…test.
We took our original wireframes and turned them into a black and white prototype in Figma where we iterated on feedback and defined design themes, and visual hierarchy we also played around with several iterations of colors, fonts, and images. Unfortunately due to the scope of work, and time crunch we were unable to run a second wireframe test and went into development.
After a few iterations and multiple tests and debugging we designed the final screens with Figma We conducted a final A/B test on some elements we were still unsure about during that process we finalized, defined, and implemented the final design patterns, elements, and colors.
Our goal was to make a vibrant, interactive, and modern experience to set our clients website apart from their competition utilizing lottie animations, videos, animations, and most importantly a mobile first design process.
Competitive analysis goes a long way.. Our clients had one goal in mind before we started this project and it was to stand out from the competition. Before taking a dive into the reference websites and similar companies in the area we were unsure how much we’d actually learn from them. Surprisingly we were able to compare and contrast what they were doing and how we could make it better while still maintaining the goal of standing out.
Limitations aren’t always a bad thing. This project came with several limitations with the time crunch, budget, and getting a new company out there. With these limitations it forces you to think outside the box and really focus on your MVP. We had to sacrifice parts of our standard design process to fit within the timeline and budget but we were still able to put together a great website and focus more on SEO and driving traction to the site itself with UX better than its competitors. As we continue to work with Hawaii Treatment Center we will continue to iterate and enhance the user experience.
