Drug Website Migrations
An enterprise initiative to unify present and future global brands and web technologies under a single design language through the use of a new internal design system.
Role:
Visual Designer, UX Consultant
Platform:
Web
Timeline:
Mar 2019 - Dec 2023
Overview
I had the opportunity to partner with a large pharmaceutical company on a task force called the enterprise website initiative (EWI), aimed at unifying their global web technologies under a single design language through a new internal design system platform. My role focused on designing and prototyping websites for both new and existing brands, while also providing strategic guidance on usability, accessibility, and regulatory compliance for their teams.
The Problem
Eli Lilly has 40+ brands in over 20 countries, and in each country, every brand owns its product branding and website. The siloed ownership led to their 3 million+ patients and healthcare providers getting different experiences depending their location and what drug website they were using. Each brand site in every country had a different look and feel, with varying levels of design and user experience. Every site was custom-build on its own codebase, which created significant challenges for ongoing maintenance, compliance with evolving accessibility regulations, and overall scalability. |
Goals
Unify design on a global enterprise scale
With the scale of brands and the need to unify their digital experiences we needed to establish a cohesive design foundation. While the long-term goal was to allow brands to explore their own identities within the system, we first needed to provide a platform they could build upon. This foundation had to be culturally inclusive, compliant with global medical regulations, and deployable at scale within a short timeframe.Migrate all existing applications
All existing websites needed to be manually migrated and rebuilt in the new design system platform.Provide UX solutions and training
After migrations, brand teams would need additional UX support and training to help with new product releases and major content updates.Develop scalable processes
Given the scale of the initiative (200+ websites, 40+ brand teams, 20+ countries) we needed to develop clear processes to ensure alignment between stakeholders, accuracy across handoffs, and efficiency across multicultural teams and time zones. The systems would be essential for meeting deadlines without sacrificing quality.
Impact
The EWI team successfully achieved all our core objectives. By 2021 we completed the initial migration of all existing brand sites, designed and launched dozens of new sites for newly approved brands, and provided ongoing UX support to help brand teams manage content updates and respond to continual regulatory requirements.
Brand teams appreciated the flexibility within the new constraints
Brought all brand sites to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards
The systems we developed increased the efficiency of web-based content publishing and updates across the company by over 30%
The Approach
The primary deliverable for both the migration and new release project was a set of regulatory ready, developer ready, high-fidelity prototypes. My primary role as a EWI designer was to produce these prototypes.
Process summary
Work with brand teams and agencies to gather requirements, assets, manuscripts, and information architecture.
Meet with the brand to point out design, usability, and accessibility pain points.
Build out high-fidelity prototype of the site utilizing our design system, agency mockups, and any live sites (if present).
Have peers review prototype before reviewing with the brand.
Submit prototype for brand review, then make revisions until all parties are satisfied
Handoff prototype to dev team, along with assets and all necessary additional information
Once site is developed, review the staging link, and work with the developer on revisions
Challenges
Not getting to provide my own designs
Due to time constraints and existing contracts with external agencies I was not supposed to provide new designs. Our role was to "translate" their (often poor and not web-optimized) designs into the system.
While we could suggest visual changes, the agency had the final say of the visuals and IA of the given site.
Inexperienced developers
The majority of the development teams were off-short. They were isolated, hard to communicate with, and not given enough training in how to use the design systems code-base. This resulted in sub-par final products.
I wish that we could have developed a better communication system in order to solve some of the problems we encountered.
Balancing multiple projects
I was assigned to 3-5 projects at any given time. Each assignment had varying degrees of complexity, their own timelines, scheduled meetings, and different teams around the world all working in their own timezones.
It was a balancing act to keep my projects and their work organized. Some days it felt like I was a full-time manager of 1 just to keep everything afloat and delivered on time.
Future steps
Since the initiative’s goal is to continue maintaining and launching new websites for brand teams, the next step is applying updates from the newly launched design system.
After my time on the EWI project, I joined the Lilly Design System (LDS) team to bring insight into brand site needs, limitations, and regulatory constraints. As LDS evolves, EWI sites will need ongoing updates to ensure a more modern look and feel, expanded component flexibility, and a stronger, more unified connection to the Lilly brand.
