Project Overview:

Client: Amwell (formerly American Well)

Industry: Telehealth, Healthcare Technology

Role: Lead UX/UI Designer, Senior Graphic Designer, Project Manager

Tools: Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word), Jira, Teams

Duration: Q2 2023 - Q3 2024

Project Type: End-to-end responsive website redesign & rebranding

Project Description:

Amwell, a leader in telehealth services, was looking to overhaul its online presence after undergoing a rebranding process in March 2020. Despite its new visual identity, their website still had an outdated design, with fragmented navigation and inefficient user flows. These issues resulted in poor user engagement, reduced lead generation, and an overall confusing experience for users.

Our project scope included a full redesign of the website with a complete rebranding to reflect Amwell’s new image, enhancing accessibility through WCAG conformance and simplifying navigation and user flows to ensure an optimized user experience for a diverse range of users, including healthcare providers, payers, government organizations, and educational institutions.

Project Goals

Align the website with Amwell’s new visual identity post-rebrand.
Simplify navigation to improve the user experience, reducing cognitive load.
Create intuitive user flows to help users find the information they need quickly.
Develop content strategy and structure to communicate Amwell’s services to different audiences clearly.
Increase lead generation by making key actions (like requesting demos) more visible and accessible.

The Challenge:

Amwell's website had become outdated, with navigation and structure that didn’t reflect the company's evolution and services. It also hadn’t been redesigned after their rebranding, making it harder to establish brand credibility. Previous redesign attempts by external vendors had failed to meet expectations, so the Brand Director entrusted me with leading the redesign process.

Problem Statement

Amwell's website was failing to meet the needs of their users, primarily because of:

Outdated Design: The existing website design did not align with the brand’s modern image and innovation-focused direction.
Complex Navigation: The navigation was convoluted, making it difficult for users to find critical information like services and support.
WCAG Accessibility: The site was not fully WCAG 2.0/2.1 compliant, limiting its accessibility for users with disabilities.
Failure to Communicate Services: The site did not effectively communicate the services Amwell offered to its various stakeholders (providers, payers, government, education).
Unsuccessful Redesign Attempts: Prior attempts by external vendors didn’t work, requiring a fresh, successful approach.

Thus, the project aimed to address these challenges by aligning the website with Amwell’s new identity and improving usability through better navigation, accessibility features, and clear messaging.

Research & Discovery

User Interviews

We conducted interviews with key stakeholders across Amwell’s primary user groups, to gain insights into their unique needs and pain points:

Healthcare Providers: Doctors and nurses who require seamless integration with Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and telehealth tools.
Insurance Payers: Insurance managers focused on reimbursement processes and regulatory compliance.
Government Representatives: Policy makers needing telehealth solutions that adhered to government regulations.
Educational Institutions: Universities needing telehealth for student health programs.

These interviews highlighted common frustrations with the old site, such as difficulty in accessing essential features and understanding telehealth offerings, while also revealing key needs like simplified user flows and secure, compliant systems.

Competitive Benchmarking
We analyzed a variety of competitors in the telehealth space, noting key industry trends, best practices, and functionality. This included reviewing the design patterns, content strategy, and navigation structures of top competitors to ensure we aligned Amwell’s new website with industry expectations while differentiating them from others in the field.

Benchmarking Analysis: Key Competitors in the Telehealth Space

This benchmarking analysis revealed several insights:

Clean, minimalist designs and easy-to-follow user flows were common strengths among high-performing competitors.
Program/service descriptions and effective CTAs were executed well by competitors, but none fully mastered a seamless booking experience that was both functional and aesthetically pleasing. This gap became a focus for Amwell's redesign.

Research & Discovery: Key Findings

From the benchmarking data, it was clear that Amwell had the opportunity to differentiate itself by combining elevated minimalism with a strong accessibility focus. This would not only enhance visual appeal but also optimize user flows, making critical actions like booking and service discovery more intuitive and efficient.

Personas

Personas are critical tools for understanding the diverse needs and goals of our target audiences. For this project, we created detailed personas based on user research and interviews. These personas represent key stakeholders—healthcare providers, insurance payers, government representatives, and educational institutions. By understanding their unique behaviors, preferences, and pain points, we were able to design a website that caters to each group's specific needs while ensuring a seamless experience across the board.

Name: Dr. James
Title: Primary Care Physician
Goals: Deliver quality care via telehealth, ensure efficient appointments, maintain patient relationships.
Needs: Simple, intuitive platform with HIPAA-compliant communication and integration with existing Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems.
Name: Sarah
Title: Healthcare Insurance Manager
Goals: Simplify telehealth reimbursements, ensure compliance, and improve member satisfaction.

Needs: Easy-to-understand tools for claims submission, integration with internal platforms, and data-driven reports on telehealth effectiveness.
Name: Oliver
Title: Public Health Policy Advisor, Defense Health Agency (DHA)
Goals: Expand telehealth access for military personnel, ensure compliance with defense health regulations.
Needs: Scalable telehealth solutions that are compliant with the Department of Defense’s policies, integration with military healthcare systems.
Name: Emily
Title: College Wellness Coordinator
Goals: Provide virtual healthcare to students, especially for mental health, during stressful periods.
Needs: User-friendly platform for students, integration with wellness programs and student health records.

Journey Maps Overview

The Journey Maps illustrate the experiences, emotions, and touchpoints each persona encounters throughout their interaction with Amwell. By mapping out each stage—from awareness to retention—I provide a detailed visualization of the personas' journeys, helping to identify pain points, key decision-making moments, and opportunities for improving their overall experience. These insights guide the development of user-centric solutions that cater to each persona's specific needs and goals.

Userflows

The userflow section illustrates the step-by-step journey each persona follows to engage with the Amwell platform. By mapping out their actions, decisions, and potential outcomes (yes/no scenarios), we can better understand how users interact with the system at various touchpoints. This process helps optimize the user experience by identifying key decision moments and ensuring a seamless transition between stages of their journey.

Information Architecture & Wireframes

The information architecture was completely revamped to reduce complexity and ensure users could find what they needed in fewer clicks. The main elements of the new site structure included:

Top-level Navigation: Simplified into Services, Solutions, About, and Support.
Sub-navigation: Tailored content for each persona, ensuring that users were presented with relevant services upfront.
Footer: Includes essential links to legal, privacy, and accessibility pages.

We created wireframes for key pages, including the homepage, service pages, and contact forms, to visualize the content hierarchy and ensure that user flows were intuitive.

Design Strategy & Concept

The design embraces elevated minimalism, using white space, clean typography, and high-quality imagery to create a sophisticated yet accessible experience. The visual rhythm guides users naturally through the content, while a clear hierarchy and intuitive navigation ensure ease of use. The modern color palette and thoughtful design choices convey professionalism and trust, aligning with the brand’s values. This approach balances simplicity with purpose, enhancing both the visual appeal and overall user experience.

Typography & Color Palette: We updated the typography to align with the new brand. A modern, sans-serif font was chosen for clarity and readability, while the color palette reflected Amwell’s professional and trustworthy image (blues, grays, and accent colors).

Imagery: High-quality images were used throughout to emphasize the human side of telehealth, promoting a sense of accessibility and trust.

To explore more about the rebranding process and how it shaped the overall design, click the button below to view the full rebranding case study.

View Rebranding Case Study

Wireframing

Wireframing was a key step in the Amwell website redesign. I created low-fidelity wireframes to map out the structure of key pages, including the homepage and service pages, focusing on simplifying navigation and optimizing content layout for better usability.

The wireframes established a clear visual hierarchy, helping users easily navigate the site and access critical information. By prioritizing functionality, I laid a strong foundation for the interactive design and prototyping phases. This iterative process helped refine the user journey and streamline navigation before moving into high-fidelity design.

Building a Cohesive Design System & UI Components Library

As part of the Amwell website redesign, we developed a comprehensive design system to ensure consistency across the entire user interface. This system included key elements such as buttons, form fields, typography, color schemes, and icons, all aligned with Amwell's refreshed branding.

The design system was built with usability and scalability in mind. We created a set of reusable components that not only supported the brand’s visual identity but also provided a consistent and seamless user experience across different pages and devices. For example, buttons were designed to be highly visible and intuitive, guiding users toward key actions like requesting demos or contacting sales.

This approach ensured that the website maintained a cohesive look and feel throughout, while also streamlining the design and development process by providing a central reference for future updates and iterations.

Guidelines for WCAG Conformance

An essential aspect of the redesign was ensuring the website complied with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) at Level AA. This included meeting various technical and design standards, such as color contrast, font sizes, and color combinations, to ensure the site was accessible to users with disabilities.

To learn more about how we ensured WCAG conformance, click the button below to view the detailed case study.

View WCAG Case Study

Key Features of the Final Design

Homepage: A clean, engaging design that communicates Amwell’s core services. The homepage included clear CTAs directing users to learn more about specific solutions and request a demo.
Product & Service Pages: Each page was tailored to the target audience (providers, payers, government, education), providing information relevant to their specific needs and pain points. Visual elements such as icons, charts, and infographics helped communicate complex information in a digestible format.
Responsive Design: The website was fully responsive, ensuring a seamless experience across desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Streamlined Navigation: We simplified the navigation structure, ensuring users could quickly access important information without feeling overwhelmed by too many options.

Results & Impact

Brand Consistency: The redesigned website now reflects Amwell’s updated brand identity, with modern aesthetics that speak to the company’s core values of professionalism, trust, and innovation.
Improved User Experience: By simplifying the navigation and restructuring the content, users can now find key information more easily, improving overall satisfaction.
Lead Generation: Key conversion points (like demo requests and contact forms) were optimized, resulting in higher engagement and lead generation.
Cross-Platform Accessibility: With mobile optimization, the site is now easily accessible across all devices, ensuring a smooth experience for all users.
Stakeholder Satisfaction: The project received positive feedback from both internal stakeholders and external clients, contributing to an improved brand image and stronger market positioning for Amwell.

Results & Impact

Brand Consistency: The redesigned website now reflects Amwell’s updated brand identity, with modern aesthetics that speak to the company’s core values of professionalism, trust, and innovation.
Improved User Experience: By simplifying the navigation and restructuring the content, users can now find key information more easily, improving overall satisfaction.
Lead Generation: Key conversion points (like demo requests and contact forms) were optimized, resulting in higher engagement and lead generation.
Cross-Platform Accessibility: With mobile optimization, the site is now easily accessible across all devices, ensuring a smooth experience for all users.
Stakeholder Satisfaction: The project received positive feedback from both internal stakeholders and external clients, contributing to an improved brand image and stronger market positioning for Amwell.

Conclusion

The Amwell website redesign was a comprehensive, end-to-end project that not only updated the company’s visual identity but also addressed the usability issues of their previous website. By focusing on a user-centered design process, we were able to create an intuitive, responsive website that aligned with Amwell’s goals and helped them better communicate their services to various target audiences.

This project exemplifies how a thoughtful approach to UX/UI design can drive both aesthetic appeal and functionality, making a tangible impact on user experience and business outcomes.

Reflection:

As a Lead UX/UI Designer and Project Manager, I led the team through every phase of the project, from research and user testing to final implementation. This redesign not only helped elevate the brand but also provided an improved platform for user engagement, driving Amwell’s digital presence forward.