21st Century Hospital
As part of a $330 million expansion, we combined state-of-the-art technology with tradition interior/exterior wayfinding to help patients and visitors learn about and navigate the 1.2 million square-foot hospital.
My role focused on the digital elements. I was tasked with turning loose sketches into finished products in 9 months. This included:
Further defining client needs to create the correct digital solution
Locating digital elements within the space based on traffic patterns
Designing the physical enclosures
Coordinating architectural integration with the construction team
Specifying precious functionality to define scope
Researching archives to source content and establish story arcs
Art direction on visual design
Scripting, shooting and editing training videos for staff
Brainstorming Digital
I was brought onto the project after my team at Forcade Associates had an initial charrette with the client to loosely define their digital ambitions. They came back with a few sketches and the following wishlist.
Digital Signage Wishlist
Interactive History Wall
Interactive Wayfinding Kiosk
Interactive Cardio Waiting Room Wall
iPhone Wayfinding App
Donor Wall
Bulletin Boards
Cafeteria Boards
Research & Schematic Design
With the digital wishlist in hand, we started researching cutting-edge digital solutions, created form studies, explored materials to elevate the installation, and identified potential functionality based on the client's needs.
Sketch Exploration
Because the project involved many different departments within the hospital, there was a wide range of technical understanding among the staff. In order to communicate effectively with the team, I produced storyboards of user scenarios to highlight key functionality. By doing so, we were able to gain clear buy-in on certain features while cutting others.
Storyboards
History Wall
The UI possibilities for the history wall were endless. Rather than start with a timeline, we wanted to push to a more immersive experience. Two guiding principles for the history wall were to educate users about the hospital's impact within the community and provide a positive distraction for those looking to kill some time. We proposed an interactive scene that required users to explore items for interactivity. To convey this concept, we used a physical desktop where each item had varying levels of interactivity.
Storyboard sketches were used to purposely convey to the client that these ideas were still in the loose, conceptual phase.
Immersive Displays
I found an amazing digital platform integrated into a tabletop that looked extremely promising, but knew we'd have to show the client its potential. We hired a professional cartoonist to clean up my storyboards, which showed 2 different user types interacting with a wall-mounted display and a table-integrated display.
Table-Integrated Display
Wall-Mounted Display
Content & Story Arcs
With digital displays, content creation is a massive undertaking. As a result, we got to play Indiana Jones and go digging in Saint Luke's physical archives for interesting artifacts and other historical nuggets worth polishing up. My personal favorite was the alligator skin doctor bag. If that doesn't scream "don't worry, I got this," I don't know what does.
After the excavation, we grouped interesting content in potential story arcs for the client to review and determine how they wanted to tell their story.
Material & Details
With the digital displays in development and content being documented, we were able to focus our attention on the physical enclosures for each digital element. It was important to elevate the materials and finishes since each digital element would also become a "speakable" destination when providing wayfinding instructions (e.g. walk down the hall until you see the Donor Wall and turn left...).
Architectural Integration
In addition to the many stakeholders on the client side, we also had to be in sync with the architects, general contractors, and our subcontractors to minimize any errors. Our schedule had ZERO wiggle room so we had to communicate constantly with the construction and tech teams to make sure everything was integrated as planned before the grand opening.
It's Alllllliiiiivvve
History Wall
Wayfinding Kiosk
Donor Wall
Training Videos for Staff
After the Forcade team overhauled the exterior signage, interior signage, and created multiple digital signage elements, it was important to communicate the changes to the extended Saint Luke's staff. By doing so, everyone understood how to speak to the various digital elements within the space as well as explain the new wayfinding structure. Forcade hired my company let's dabble to produce the 7-part video training series outlined below:
Overview of Wayfinding Strategy
Exterior Wayfinding Strategy
Interior Wayfinding Strategy
Interactive History Wall
Interactive Wayfinding Kiosk
Donor Wall
Bulletin Boards