Premium Designation platform redesign
Workflow
Topical Research
UI/UX Design
Achieving Stakeholder Buy-In
My Role
Sole UI/UX Designer
Team
Jeff Suedbeck, Product Owner
Brooke Klaers, Director of Market Engagement
Napit Narpendra, Engineer
Chon M La, Engineer
Lance Gutzman, Engineer
Timeline
3 months
Context
Messy site architecture with multiple entry points to the same content and dead ends frustrated users trying to find their designation status
No UHG branding made the platform feel disconnected from the healthcare ecosystem
Internal teams showed complex statistical formulas believing physicians needed to understand why they received their scores—but physicians aren't statisticians. They wanted three things: their score, whether they achieved designation, and how to improve.
Approach
Discovery through Constraints
Due to internal restrictions, I was unable to access physicians directly, but I triangulated insights by:
Interviewed every major stakeholder to understand business requirements, historical issues, and competing priorities
Analyzed call feedback with Marketing Director who monitored physician complaints and feature requests
Conducted heuristic analysis of existing application, revealing navigation issues directly correlated with user frustration
Proposed quantitative survey, though this was not approved
Building Design-Dev Partnership
I established weekly design reviews with engineers before stakeholder presentations:
Validated technical feasibility early
Built engineering buy-in before business pushback
Ensured designs moving to development had higher success probability
Created collaborative dynamic in team unused to design process
Data and Information Battle
The core design challenge wasn't visual—it was convincing stakeholders that less information served users better.
Display all statistical calculations, complex formulas, detailed methodology
Clear score, designation status, actionable improvement steps
I spent weeks advocating for user needs over stakeholder assumptions, using call feedback data as evidence. I won the data display battle (show results, hide calculations) but lost the naming convention fight (Effectiveness vs Efficiency remained despite user confusion).
This experience taught me to pick my battles. I prioritized the issue that most directly impacted user comprehension.
Solution
Redesigned Information Architecture
Cleaned site map eliminating dead ends and duplicate entry points
Created clear hierarchy: Status → Score → Actions (not Status → Formulas → Calculations → Maybe Actions)
Streamlined navigation based on user intent, not internal organizational structure
Initial Site Map
Site Map after Redesign
Applied UHG Design System
Integrated brand consistently across platform
Made Premium Designation feel like cohesive part of UHG product ecosystem
Used established patterns for familiarity and trust
Redesigned Data Visualization
Prioritized outcome over process (the user's designation, not how it was calculated)
Surfaced actionable insights over statistical formulas
Progressive disclosure: summary first, details available for those who want them
Complete UI Redesign
Desktop and mobile responsive experiences
Clear visual hierarchy emphasizing critical information
Accessibility considerations for healthcare professional workflows
Initial UI
UI after Redesign
Conceptual wireframes representing information architecture approach. Actual designs are under NDA.
Impact & Outcomes
Stakeholder Alignment Achieved
Convinced leadership to prioritize physician comprehension over data transparency
Secured engineering buy-in through collaborative process
Delivered complete redesign addressing methodology changes and user experience issues
Process Established
Introduced design review cadence for team that had never worked with designer
Created documentation and handoff materials for seamless development transition
Built foundation for design-led decision making in future iterations
As a note, my contract ended at handoff before launch and post-launch metrics. The redesign addressed every pain point identified through call feedback and heuristic analysis.
Learnings
The strongest design decision wasn't a screen—it was convincing stakeholders that physicians didn't need to see statistical formulas. Design leadership means knowing when to push back on business requirements that conflict with user needs.
As the sole designer on a team unused to design, establishing collaborative rituals (weekly engineering reviews, stakeholder interview protocols) was as valuable as the interface redesign itself.
No direct user access didn't mean no user insight. I triangulated data from multiple sources—call feedback, stakeholder interviews, heuristic analysis—to build evidence-based arguments for design decisions.
I couldn't win everything (naming convention lost), but I won what mattered most (information hierarchy). I had to choose which fights were worth having.