Improving discovery of UHN clinical and research support
Making it easier for researchers, learners and clinicians to find the services and resources they need.
My Role
Lead designer
Team
4 designers
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Miro,
Optimal Workshop
Timeline
4 months
Project type
Master's capstone
What did I work on?
As part of my Master’s capstone project, I led the redesign of the UHN Virtual Library, a critical digital resource serving clinicians, researchers, staff, and learners at University Health Network.
In a team of four designers, I redesigned a 100+ page website to improve access to services and resources. I conducted interviews and card sorting sessions, then validated the new site structure through usability testing and tree testing, achieving a 92.5% task completion rate.
Stakeholder interviews
We began by interviewing members of the library team to better understand the problem.
To better understand the problem space, we began by interviewing 8 members of the library team, including leadership, librarians, and information specialists.
These interviews aimed to:
learn about the resources and services the library provides
understand the motivations behind improving the website
gain insight into the team’s experiences providing support to users
What we learned
Library staff shared their assumption that users struggled to find key resources due to inconsistent navigation, unclear terminology, and layout issues.
Directions with user research
Through user research, we aimed to validate these assumptions and uncover additional factors that may impact the discoverability of library’s resources and services.
Primary research
To assess these initial assumptions, we interviewed researchers and clinicians at UHN to understand their experiences with seeking library support.
The first part of the session was a semi-structured interview where participants reflected on their experiences with seeking support during their clinical, learning, and research journeys. In the second half, we did light usability testing by providing users with tasks to complete on the current website, such as finding contact information, using research guides, and locating clinical tools.
We analyzed out findings using Miro and identified several key themes:
Low awareness of available support from the library
Through our interviews, we found that many participants were unaware of the library's resources and services, with many expressing a general lack of awareness about the website itself. One student researcher at UHN said, "We all know that a library exists, but we often don't see it as an active thing that can really help you or support you.”
Hesitation to reach out for help
First-time users often express hesitation when it comes to reaching out for library support. Researchers expressed facing more challenges early in their research journey, as they are less familiar with the problem space and research questions and expressed that they would value library support at this stage. However, one participant mentioned that "because I don't know anyone personally, I probably wouldn't contact for support."
Difficulty finding key resources
Users struggle to find value in the website due to poor navigation and unclear terminology. Participants, particularly healthcare professionals, reported difficulty locating essential resources quickly, especially at the point-of-care. Key issues include the use of unfamiliar or unclear terms and vague categorization of navigation items.
Overwhelming content in research guides
Content-heavy research guides made it hard for users to find relevant information efficiently. The lack of subheadings and sections make it difficult for users to identify information that is relevant to their work and research.
Current user journeys of researchers and clinicians
We created journey maps to align stakeholders and highlight pain points in the current experience with finding support in people's clinical, research, and learning journeys.
When learners and researchers needed support most, they struggled to find it.
Clinicians need quick access to 1:1 library support so that they can focus on patient care.
Card sorting and improved navigation
It was clear that many struggled to find the resources and services they needed. Therefore, our initial focus was on improving the website's information architecture.
User research confirmed that many struggled to find the resources and services they needed. We ran 10–15 minute card sorting sessions with 4 end users using OptimalSort. These sessions helped us understand how users naturally group content, revealing mental models we used to guide the navigation redesign.
Based on these insights, we restructured the site’s navigation. In subsequent usability testing round, users achieved an 92.5% task success rate with the improved navigation. Some changes include:
Design & Prototype
We also redesigned key pages of the website to improve access to support and discoverability of library resources.
01/ Home page
Before: Users were often unclear about the library’s role and unaware of the support it offers.
After the redesign: Users feel more confident about reaching for help, and feel empowered by the resources available to them.
We redesigned the homepage to position the library as an active source of support and learning.
We placed a prominent “Contact us for support” call to action to make it clear that users could receive personalized, one-on-one help. We avoided using a more generic label like “Contact” because we wanted to reinforce that sense of direct support.
To help researchers and clinicians feel supported in their work, we organized resources by task rather than by identity-based labels, making it easier for users to find what they needed based on what they were trying to do, regardless of their role.
We also highlighted workshops and research guides on the homepage to position the library as a space for learning and encourage exploration beyond 1:1 consultations.
“The purpose is clear for me, what this site is for and how it will serve the purpose.”
02/ Contact page
Before: Users feel hesitant to reach out due to a lack of clarity around who to contact and how.
After the redesign: Users clearly understand the available support options and feel confident reaching out.
The revised contact page aims to make users feel more confident about reaching out for support
We designed a cleaner layout that clearly presents multiple support options in a simple, approachable way, so users can choose the method that feels most comfortable to them.
To support users who felt hesitant about emailing directly, we added more context and offered alternatives like contact forms to help ease that barrier.
We also introduced a table format to make it easier for users to quickly find the right information specialist for their subject area, helping them feel more confident about reaching out.
“A lot of resources and support are right there... you don’t have to scroll.”
03/ How did we solve the issue of inconsistent navigation?
In the previous website, research guides were scattered across various sections, making them difficult to discover. These guides used a nested “guide within a guide” structure, where the main library site (built on LibGuides) acted as the parent, and each individual guide had its own unique navigation. This led to inconsistent menus, disrupted user flow, and caused confusion when users were unexpectedly presented with different navigation systems.
We proposed a solution of created a decoupled "home page" for all research guides:
We created a centralized place for research guides to make them easier to find and use
With this solution, we decoupled the research guides from the main website to avoid confusion caused by changing navigation menus.
Users can now easily browse or search guides by category, and bookmark relevant guides that they want to refer to later on.
This also gives the library the flexibility to expand its collection of research guides without overcrowding the main site navigation.
“This page would be useful to me.…if you implement this before I graduate I will definitely use these research guides.”
Finding from user research: Users found research guides to be content-heavy and difficult to scan for important information.
We improved in-page navigation in research guides to make content more digestible
We added subheading navigation so users can quickly jump to the sections most relevant to them, making it easier to find the information they need without unnecessary scrolling.
"
The project team's process and product exceeded our expectations. Faith led her group through two sets of interviews, a series of user tests, wireframe development, and stakeholder engagement. Her user-driven mindset was evident as she consistently strived to understand the experiences of users, including the nuances of the healthcare context within which our department operates…Their final recommendations exceeded our expectations and will have practical applications for us moving forward.
— Director, UHN Library Services
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