Ortho Axis Web and Mobile Design

Ortho Axis / 2018
Founder and UX Designer
Lead designer for the MVP of both web and mobile of a brand new product
The Team
My Role

Ortho Axis strives to be the "Amazon" of the orthopedic world. It is a one-stop shop for orthopedic materials, reviews, trainings and a marketplace where surgeons and sales representatives can interact efficiently and educate one another.

Problem
Steve Taylor, an orthopedic surgeon felt frustrated over the process to get new surgical tools in his hands. He felt like the current process is outdated, convoluted, and frustrating. As a surgeon, he doesn’t have time to research products on different vendor websites, nor find the right person in the industry who sold those products, nor have the time or resources to meet with them to learn more about products. He knew he wanted to fix this.
In the beginning, I conducted stakeholder interviews to help guide the direction of where this grandiose idea was going. We zeroed in on the Taylor's three goals:
  • Create a central place of information where surgeons could research products
  • Give users easy access to Sales Representative’s information
  • Have the product act as a hub where surgeons could share product reviews and techniques with other surgeons
The Vision

Validating the assumptions

  • Most difficult part is access to these people. Anytime a surgeon is with a sales representative, they’re not with a paying customer. It’s like pulling teeth to try and get time with a surgeon.
  • Marketing to a surgeon is not an easy thing to do. They’re very busy, intelligent people. Currently, the sales representative tries to catch surgeon in between surgeries. This is a huge hassle.
  • Companies put ads in journals and trade shows but this provides minimal return. Social media does not work for this demographic either. This was a good sign for Ortho Axis because it reaffirmed our belief that there was a problem that needed to be solved, and Ortho Axis was going to help solve for it.
  • We asked users to share the last experience they had when trying to order from a sales representative. Two of the users responded that it was difficult. Finding the right person for the desired product was frustrating and waiting to hear back from representatives took too long. This caused patients to get rescheduled.
  • One material manager physically keeps a record of business cards in a binder and tried to manage a ginormous excel spreadsheet. This was an opportunity! The material manager was having difficulty keeping up to date records because it was so hard to reach these different sales representatives. That’s when we knew; Ortho Axis could help streamline this process. Think digital rolodex.
Initially, we targeted the following: physicians, sales representatives, allied providers/nurses, physician assistants, material managers, and nurse practitioners as our possible users. But first, we needed to fully understand the problem.

I interviewed one orthopedic surgeon, two sales representatives, and one material manager. Findings included:
User Interviews
Takeaways
There is a HUGE disconnect between sales and surgeons. Ortho Axis could fill in this market gap.
We thought that the site would be used by orthopedic surgeons, sales representatives, and material managers. But by going through the persona exercise, we came to the realization that for the basic foundation of the site, sales representatives didn’t need to be users; they were just beneficiaries of the site. Behind the scenes, their companies could provide all the information Ortho Axis would need to list the sales representative. For the future road map, sales representatives could be added as a user base.
Personas
Competitive Analysis
It was time to dive deeper into the competitors' website. What was interesting about Ortho Axis is that it didn't have a direct competitor. We were trying to migrate a process and method that existed in the physical space to the digital space so we decided to look at the direct vendor's websites since one of the goals of Ortho Axis was to be a central hub of information where one could research a multitude a different brands and products. We discussed what we thought worked, what didn't, and why.
Takeaways
Competitors were hyper-focused on busy homepages. X-rays were super beneficial for the users to view. Advertisements were very important to the client.
Storyframing
For this particular project, I wanted to try a method called storyframing. Storyframing is a hybrid document between a script/story and a wireframe. By going through this exercise, I was able to create the narrative for home page before jumping into design software.

The client and I went through this copy a few different times, fine tuning it into what it is today. Overall, it was well received and really helped us narrow down what we were trying to accomplish.
Takeaways
Having a story frame helped us stay on track with the overall vision of the product.

Design Thinking

Wireframing
It was time to start wireframing. I always like to start with pen and paper, re-itering a few times before jumping into Sketch. I was fortunate enough to have one of my mentors look over these designs as well. He made some really good recommendations and posted sticky notes all over my designs.

Call to actions became more refined, modals were created, some field forms were axed, and pages were added. What we really came to learn is that the primary call to action was to have the user contact the sales representative right away on the site. This is where the modal idea took fruition. Once a user clicked on "contact sales representative", a modal would appear and give the user opportunity to e-mail or call the sales representative right away.
We used card sorting as a method to help determine category hierarchy. From our activity, we found that orthopedic surgeons grouped categories by:
  • different sections of the body such as spine, shoulder, elbow, hand & wrist, hip & pelvis, knee, and foot & ankle
  • biologics
  • independent
  • brands
  • sales representatives
  • techniques
Card Sorting
In development
I passed off the groundwork of Ortho Axis to the client. The client loved my designs and style guide, taking them to phase 2 of the project. Ortho Axis is being developed by a Canadian development group.

Recently, the client asked me to assist with the Mobile App version. I consult for him every now and then. Below are screenshots of the work I did for the app.
Mobile
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