CASE STUDY
My Role
UX/UI and Web Designer
Freelance
Client
Anne Susas, Professional Healer
Project
Redesign her website
Problem Statement
People who need healing take different paths. Some are open to alternatives. Others are scared but need help beyond the norm.
How might we design a website for Anne Susas that promotes understanding, appreciation and interest in her as a healer with people who are scared and with people who already are open and trust her?
User Research
Since alternative healing is such a specialized industry, I decided that my best bet to learn about users was to interview Anne Susas’ patients.
In the design of interview questions, my first goal was to understand the mindset of users who were interested in seeking alternative healing. What might be their preconceptions, expectations, fears, etc. as they are viewing a healer’s website? Then my second goal was to identify what users thought was most important to know about Anne Susas herself and her services after working with her.
Interview Questions
What Did You Think of Alternative Healing Before?
What Brought You to Alternative Healing?
What Brought You to Anne?
What Do You Want to Know about a Healer?
What Do You Appreciate about Anne?
The Work
How Do You Communicate with Anne?
User Types
Based on interviews with ten patients, I found that users fell into two major groups - The Pioneers and The Skepticals.
The Pioneers were people who instinctively were very open to alternative viewpoints on the world. These people actively sought out alternative healing methods and were not afraid to try something new or unknown to them.
The Skepticals were people who were more traditional, many raised with a religious upbringing. They tended to go to traditional western medical doctors for their healthcare. They viewed or were raised to view alternative medicine and healers with suspicion. However, when western medicine failed to help them with their physical problems as well as psychological and emotional problems, they looked to alternative healing for relief.
A Pioneer User
““She has a real sensitivity to not only the unseen world but to the humanness of me and all the people she has touched in my life.”
”
A Skeptical User
““Here is the beauty of it. Going into a session, you don’t have to reveal anything. You don’t have to say anything besides your name. She will tell you what the problem is.” ”
Information Architecture and Content
Interview analysis also revealed what users considered the most important information to know about a healer. Using above info, I determined page placement in the main navigation as well as content placement on individual pages.
Testimonials
Training/ Experience / World View
Specialty
Competitive Analysis
Since the alternative healing industry is very broad and varied, I thought it would be important to do an analysis of other healer websites for context. I did my own research on healer websites, and I also asked the client to recommend websites since she herself has been immersed in the industry for many years.
After analyzing the website features of 5 comparable healers, I found that standard features were commonplace to most websites: contact form, navigation, pricing etc. However, we identified several potential features that could really add more value to her patients outside of their one on one healing sessions:
A blog
Free resources
Member area with more targeted information for regular clients
Prototype
Due to budget and time restraints, I decided to only prototype the homepage. I started in low-fi with content while also developing a color palette and typography. Once the client approved content, layout, color and fonts, I developeda high-fi version of the prototype with colors, photos, graphics etc.
Conclusion
Most of Anne’s new clients come to her through word of mouth from current clients and her community. Clients continue to work with Anne because they feel comfort in her presence and she helps them in whatever way they need help when they need help. Many prefer to see Anne in person but they also recognize the convenience and efficacy of remote healing..
Every healer is unique and their online platform should also be unique in its representation of the healer. There is an opportunity for Anne Susas to build an online platform that represents her uniqueness and services with both future and current clients. Not only can her website educate potential clients about Anne and her services, it can also serve as a resource to her current clients as they pursue their healing in partnership with Anne as their healer.