What was the scope of their involvement?
Guidea created a design language system that enables us to quickly brand digital and physical materials for our provider practice clients.
Our work with Guidea began with Discovery. They sought to understand what we wanted to achieve and conducted a design inventory of representative digital, print, and web assets.
In the next phase, Guidea explored different strategic directions for provider and patient materials. We eliminated those that didn’t align with our vision. Once a direction was chosen, they developed design principles and prototypes, which we further refined before testing.
Guidea then conducted consumer research with patients and providers to explore what each audience expected visual and digital collateral to look like from a health and wellness brand. They investigated two potential executions and determined which one or which combination of them rose to the top. They shared the results with us, and we aligned on what their recommended direction was.
Based on the research learnings, Guidea began constructing the digital and print components for use when creating websites, mobile apps, wearable apps, and physical print materials. As part of the component library, they included behaviors, examples demonstrating proper execution, and explanations so users of the library understood how the components should be applied. The end result will be a cohesive set of digital and physical assets for each provider client.
The collateral library Guidea helped us build is located in a centralized online application that people can access when building a new website, digital application or physical collateral. Components can be easily dropped into applications for convenient construction of digital or physical assets. In addition, this library enables users to rapidly change the design language. For example, if a provider’s practice is acquired by a competitor, their materials could be transitioned to the new brand language in about a week.
To ensure the component library maintained its consistency, Guidea recommended we establish a gatekeeper and a governance committee. They worked with a pilot team to demonstrate how to use the design language system and trained the gatekeeper on how to grant access, educate others, etc. Once the team understood how to use the system, they launched it and it’s now in use.
What is the team composition?
We worked with 5–7 Guidea staff with UI/UX, Interaction Design, Developer and business backgrounds on the two workstreams.
How did you come to work with Guidea?
I identified five design consultancies as potential partners for this work. Guidea came recommended by a senior design leader I knew at another company. Their response to our RFP was solid, and once I discussed their proposal with them in more detail, it was clear they were the best fit for the project.
Guidea’s proposal reflected a best in class process with delivery of valuable materials in a format that made the most sense for our organization. Humble and supportive, they explained technical details in an easily understood way, and they proactively provided recommendations based on lessons learned from past projects. They also had extensive experience creating design language systems for complex situations, which the other candidate firms didn’t.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Guidea in January 2018. They’re still working with us on projects, but I’m no longer involved.
The redesigned site was created through a collaborative process, resulting in a product that aligned with the original vision. The team accurately estimated the budget, deadlines, and resources throughout the project. Their flexibility and adaptability make them a valuable ongoing partner.