boston children’s hospital

Taking a complex digital ecosystem to a defined strategic visual direction and intuitive design system

An iterative series of design sprints to reimagine how the existing BCH brand might be applied to the website in order to reinforce BCH’s position as the nations best Children’s Hospital.

Role Experience Designer
Context Freelance project · Augusto Digital Agency
Year 2025

Short Term Objective

  • Leverage existing standards

  • Leverage existing content + architecture

Long Term Objective

  • Increased appointment requests

  • Increased phone calls

Designing for a digital ecosystem, not a single page.

Boston Children’s needed a digital experience that could feel cohesive across a large and complex ecosystem while still helping very different audiences find what they need. I worked with the team to explore the visual direction, shape the experience strategy, and build a scalable design system that could support the broader site.

Understanding the structural, template, and system requirements

Researching BCH’s differentiators from their market peers helped define these clear specification on how we can successfully apply the predetermined brand in a more intentional way.

Defining the visual strategy.

Multidisciplinary Centers of Care

BCH understands that patients have more than one doctor to help them heal, which is why they offer multi-disciplinary centers of care, where doctors are all in the same location and able to collaborate on your care plan.

Nationally Recognized

BCH is consistently recognized as one of the top 3 children’s hospitals in the nation by U.S. News.

History of Innovation

BCH has a long history of innovation and research and is the highest funded research institute in the country.

Support

BCH is prepared to support families that are coming from further distances seeking the best care.

Building a system that can scale.

Rather than designing each page independently, I developed a reusable visual and component system that could support different content types, audiences, and responsive breakpoints. This gave the team a consistent foundation while leaving room for individual departments and content needs.

Creating a meaningful, flexible system, created to grow.

I presented multiple visual strategies to the client, helping shape the direction that ultimately moved forward. I then translated that direction into a reusable system and supported the design work through implementation, creating a foundation that could extend beyond the initial concepts.

CREATING APPLICATION WITH INTENT

Homepage

  1. Primary Navigation - Subtle, clean direct
(Overlay for mega menu revealed 
on rollover above)

  2. Hero with CTA - Rich Image that projects optimism with custom tint overlay

  3. Top Actions Toolbar - used for top transactions

  4. Headline call out differentiation and emotional connection

  5. Image Block Navigational Cards

  6. Condition Search

  7. Video Carousel

  8. Images Mosaic with Body Copy

  9. Form style

  10. Secondary Footer Banner

  11. Footer with Trust symbols, labels and nav items, and statement with CTA

Patients & Families

  1. Primary Navigation - Subtle, clean direct
(Overlay mega menu revealed on rollover)

  2. Secondary Hero with photo and CTA

  3. Actions Cards

  4. Link Blocks

  5. Images Mosaic with Body Copy and CTA

Programs & Services

  1. Primary Navigation - Subtle, clean direct
(Overlay mega menu revealed on rollover)

  2. Search Function with radio filters

  3. Result Program/Service Card

  1. Primary Navigation - Subtle, clean direct
(Overlay mega menu revealed on rollover)

  2. Secondary Hero with photo and CTA

  3. Tabs Secondary Nav

  4. CTA Block for connecting with BCH

  5. Detail description content block

  6. Highlight Block

Programs

Find a Doctor

  1. Primary Navigation - Subtle, clean direct
 (Overlay mega menu revealed on rollover)

  2. Doctor Search

  3. Guided Filtering for Doctor Search

Doctor Profile

  1. Primary Navigation - Subtle, clean direct
(Overlay mega menu revealed on rollover)

  2. Profile Image and Key Info with Quick Actions

  3. Appointment Requests

  4. Highlight Block

  5. Additional Profile Content Blocks

Built for the real world.

The resulting design language and system informed a live Boston Children’s digital experience, extending the work beyond the original design sprint into a real-world product. Evolving constantly utilizing the base strategies built above. See how the templates evolved.

view live site