Gross Knowledge

Mass General Hospital website redesign

2008-12-13T02:04:00.009-05:00

Today my 2-year "production" finally took the stage at http://www.massgeneral.org/.

The corporate website is the main attraction. Move your mouse around on the homepage visuals of "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" and you'll see its story-telling immediately capture you. Hidden inside are features we've taken from best practice websites like Amazon.com such as "faceted-browse" and have applied that to our MD search http://www.massgeneral.org/doctors/.

Do a search for your condition (try "heart attack") in the upper right hand corner of the site and you'll notice the search box begin to offer you suggestions. A "word-wheel" lifted from the best of the best: Google. And once you land on the search results page you'll again see that you can facet (or narrow-down) your results by medical category. (Sorta like filtering an Amazon.com search result for "Harry Potter" by "books," "CDs" and "DVDs.")

Spend enough time on the corporate section and you'll find campus building maps http://www.massgeneral.org/visit/maps/massgeneral_main_campus.aspx where you can select the name of the building where you have your doctor appointment and get info on nearest parking garages, valet services and driving directions. We've used Google Maps and graphic overlays to power this feature. Dig a little deeper and you'll find "Experience modules" in the research section http://www.massgeneral.org/research/experience/ that are filled with audio clips and bold visuals. Soon we'll add video to these Flash tools.

Not happy with YouTube plug-ins, we decided to build our own media players and here's one that's broadcasting Heart Center educational media http://www.massgeneral.org/heartcenter/multimedia/multimedia.aspx?id=31

And while there are clinical departments in "Centers & Services" the real crown jewels of the corporate website -- the stars of the show -- are the five Center of Excellence business priorities of the hospital's strategic growth operations. Full-standing micro-sites with their own global menus:

Heart Center: http://www.massgeneral.org/heartcenter/

Cancer Center: http://www.massgeneral.org/cancer/

Vascular Center: http://www.massgeneral.org/vascularcenter/

Digestive Healthcare Center: http://www.massgeneral.org/digestive/

Transplant Center: http://www.massgeneral.org/transplant/

All of the Centers have their own Patient Experience modules like Vascular http://www.massgeneral.org/vascularcenter/experience/ and Heart http://www.massgeneral.org/heartcenter/experience/ ... but it doesn't stop there ...

While the visuals across the site are all custom art directed, the depth of content writing is just as impressive. 90% of the copy site-wide was created completely from scratch from physician interviews. View "Treatment Programs" within the Heart Center http://www.massgeneral.org/heartcenter/services/ and you'll find custom-Mass General tabbed content that describes what makes the hospital the best of the best. For an institution that has been busy "doing" for 200 years, getting it to take a moment and pause to "document" was not a simple task.

For the dozens of clinical departments, we built "model homes" that everyone across the hospital can use to house their new web content. Some entities using them on Day 1:

http://www.massgeneral.org/emergencymedicine/

http://www.massgeneral.org/urology/

http://www.massgeneral.org/surgery/

And for the hospital entities that weren't quite ready for the new website, we created 1-page interstitial's that link back to old websites like http://www.massgeneral.org/radiology/ and http://www.massgeneral.org/neurosurgery/.

We even created "mini-model homes" with custom illustrations for the smallest of entities around the hospital when we couldn't budget photography e.g. http://www.massgeneral.org/blooddonor/.

In the months ahead we'll continue to think Health 2.0 by offering patients a myMGH personalized page-login tool where you can create an account and save and make notes on the web pages that are most important to you, family and physician teams. In the years to come as the hospital becomes more digitally-minded, you'll use your myMGH account to pay bills, re-fill prescriptions and make appointments.

This first-phase redesign took roughly 2 years, a core team of 5 web professionals, 12 marketers, 40 web steering committee members, 100 senior administrators, 60 hospital web coordinators, 6 writers, 1 Flash designer, a photographer, an illustrator, 5 software engineers, 2 front-end programmers and a consultant company that staffed 8 employees for 12 months of the project's first half. It's been an incredible learning experience and I thank my team for their dedication, vision and 'round-the-clock-overtime-(and a few sleepless nights) work ethic to get this project complete on budget and on schedule.

And why did Mass General do this? Well it's documented that more than 70% of consumers make their first impression about an organization -- be it a consumer product company, a service, etc. -- through their first impression of that organization's website. The business goal of the new website is to reassure you that if you or a family member need medical care -- there is only one place to go.

This is a web strategy for the informed patient, who in the Information Age, is self-empowered to chose where health care treatments and options are received.

Enjoy clicking around. However, I hope you never have to actually use this website unless you're coming here for good things like delivering a baby or picking me up and getting me out of the office.

Teamwork

2008-10-10T22:28:00.004-05:00

Some amazing stories of saving lives... small little microsite:

http://massgeneral.org/teamwork/

Recent work

2008-08-08T09:57:00.011-05:00

While I've been managing a large hospital redesign it's still important to keep the design production side of my brain ticking. I've recently designed and launched a few small and simple websites for friends and clients.

Ann Sheldon, jewelery designer
http://annsheldon.com/

Management Recruiter of New Glarus, medical recruitment firm
http://recruitmed.com/

Kelly Malone website, Boston DJ and spokesperson
http://kelly-malone.com/

New site

2007-08-16T11:35:00.001-05:00

Recently designed and launched this site for a very interesting and important group and cause.

Citizens to Stop Nuclear Terrorism: http://www.stopnuclearterrorism.org/

Rethinking the web

2007-02-18T14:55:00.000-05:00

The next time you have to explain what "Web 2.0" or "social media" is to someone...just forward them the link to this...

The Empowered Consumer

2007-02-17T11:55:00.000-05:00

It's official. The old guard has taken notice.
We've arrived.
Finally.

Read the article here.

The main character is a meatball

2007-02-01T19:05:00.000-05:00

Page 2 notes that boston spent $750,000 for police to respond to the "scare."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16921137/page/2/

Is the bomb scare van a Bentley?

LaBrace

2006-12-12T23:32:00.000-05:00

Great new restaurant in Boston.
La Brace. Fantastic food.
Ask for Gail and tell her Shawn sent you.
http://www.labraceboston.com/

My Stepmom on NPR

2006-12-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

Speaking with Greg Brown. Fast forward to 22:25 in the broadcast stream.
Priceless.

Integrated Island

2006-09-26T09:43:00.000-05:00

A little bit behind on this pop culture explosion, but just finished LOST SEASON 2 on DVD last night.

Came across these two web sites on Google and Wikipedia...

http://www.thehansofoundation.org/
http://www.oceanic-air.com/

Two great examples of an integrated LOST marketing and brand experience that continues the story, the creator's idea, the consumer's/viewer's relationship with your message, etc., etc.

You can get caught up in all of this... Truly get lost... Perhaps that's the point.

Want to Save the World? Leave.

2006-09-25T16:32:00.000-05:00

A thought from Godin on culture change:

History has shown us that the answer is crystal clear: if you want change, you've got to leave. Change comes, almost always, from the outside. The people who reinvented music, food, technology and politics have always gone outside the existing dominant channels to create something new and vital and important.

Read the rest of his blog post here.

Saving the World ...

2006-09-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

More comic rich media stuff for ESPN Fantasy Football. This is what we do all day. Gotta love it.

http://www.pointroll.com/PointRoll/AdDemo/ESPN/

My colleague's voice makes this great.

Interactive Marketing 101

2006-09-08T11:12:00.001-05:00

lonelygirl15. Gotta love it.
For me, this is the nexus of media and interactive marketing. It's what keeps me totally stoked about the web.

Aug 11, 2006
Blog post on the lonelygirl15 rage:
http://threeminds.organic.com/2006/08/what_to_make_of.html

Sept 8, 2006
LA Times article discusses the mystery ... and if 1 million viewers have been duped:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-lonelygirl8sep08,0,7026609,full.story

Sept 13, 2006
NY Times article outs lonelygirl15 as Hollywood marketing smoke & mirrors:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/technology/13lonely.html

* My point here is to not celebrate the best of interactive marketing as deceptive, but as a way for millions to connect with a brand - truly interact with it - collaborate, share and continue the advertiser's marketing message.

How to Bring the Smack Talk

2006-08-31T21:51:00.000-05:00

Give ESPN's SmackCards a try as you will your cubemates into a corner this Fantasy Football season.

One of my first Arnold projects I've produced for ESPN.com. Good mentions at Adrants and AdCritic.

BIM: Built-In-Marketing

2006-07-13T13:13:00.002-05:00

LG Electronics is set to introduce a new cell phone feature into the US market. The LG-SD410, LG-KP4100 and LG-LP4100 will feature a built-in breathalyzer.

The phone can also be programmed to block outgoing calls to selected numbers (aka Drunk Dialing) when the BAC reading is over 0.08.

Apparently the features are already a hit in Korea, selling more than 200,000 units.

Knowing Your Medium

2006-06-15T17:58:00.000-05:00

How smart and business savvy is Madonna?

Well for starters, she knows her audience. She knows their medium of choice. One look at her new music video and it's obvious that she's creating content for viewing on the video iPod.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjL8vWhBY6M

The Material Girl stays relevant in the 21st Century by thinking and acting like a fan. How often do you do that while sitting at your desk thinking of your next great marketing communication strategy?

In Search of Better

2006-05-24T13:04:00.001-05:00

Thought of the day from Seth Godin:

"When you make something that works a little better, you're playing the same game, just keeping up with the status quo. When you make something different, on the other hand, you're trying to change the game."

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/05/in_search_of_be.html

Dream Job. Maybe.

2006-05-09T23:02:00.000-05:00

It's two weeks in at . It's going to be great here. So much to learn. So many interesting and talented people.

An interactive producer colleague of mine just won a highly celebrated Webby Award for her team's work on one of the newest Royal Caribbean web sites. Its use of Flash is possibly the best I've ever seen executed online.

Meanwhile, I'll be working on some great interactive marketing sites related to this fantastic superbowl spot (give it a minute or two to download) Arnold created back in January.

I'll post more about Arnold culture, the innovative work, the talented people, client experiences and hopefully what it's like inside the ESPN studios in the coming months.

For now, I have to get back to figuring out how to use my new Mac laptop.

Done

2006-04-26T11:11:00.000-05:00

Godin blogs on the factory mindset and finishing assignments.

Great ideas here.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/04/done.html

Leaving

2006-04-20T09:25:00.000-05:00

My 2 1/2 years at Massachusetts General Hospital have come and gone.
Learned so much. A truly world-class and eye-opening experience.
Will miss so many of the talented people I worked closely with.
On to new things now ... will post on that next week.

iHistory

2006-04-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

Japanese MP3 player for less than $9.
http://news.3yen.com/2006-04-11/mp3-player-for-less-the-850/
Hardware no longer has any lasting value. Somebody call Steve Jobs a doctor.

More Eye Tracking

2006-03-31T17:18:00.000-05:00

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2776

The votes are in. (Like I needed Jakob Nielsen to tell me this.)

What your audience loves = your content.
What your audience ignores = your ads.

Advertisers need to think contextually when planning their online advertising spends.

What's the Matter With Rich Media?

2006-03-31T17:12:00.000-05:00

ClickZ discusses rich media advertising's big monkey, "context."

Context is the 800-pound gorilla in every conversation about the value,
effectiveness, and education that a successful online marketing campaign can
provide. It's very important to track how people view something, but you can't
separate the user's eye movement from the fact he's actively pursuing something.
That he's in pursuit is what makes context such a factor in understanding
value.

http://www.clickz.com/experts/ad/rich_media/article.php/3595246

San Juan

2006-03-15T12:17:00.000-05:00

Just posted some new pictures from my birthday weekend trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawngross/sets/72057594080664170/

Might have even salsa'd. Might have.

Maybe It's the Haircut

2006-03-07T19:41:00.000-05:00

Seth Godin. Love this guy.

News Flash: Grilled Salmon cat food ain't for cats.

Watch it. For free!

"All Marketers are Liars" - Seth Godin speaks at Google - Google Video.