Context
Southern California's largest federally qualified health center
By 2015, AltaMed.org was desktop-only, its navigation mirrored internal departments, and its Spanish content wasn't strong enough to earn the trust of a largely Spanish-speaking patient base.
MY ROLE
Six years, two phases
Lead UX across the full engagement, from initial discovery through the 2017 launch and into research-driven iteration through 2021.
PHASE 1 RECAP · 2017 LAUNCH
01
Mobile-first delivery
The first responsive version of AltaMed.org, built for patients who reach their healthcare from a phone.
02
Accessibility
The first WCAG 2.0-compliant version of the site, consistent for every patient regardless of ability.
03
Patient-facing language
Clinical terms replaced with the words patients use. Spanish arrived as original copy from native-language specialists, not a translation of the English.
04
Simpler navigation
Errors surface at the field level, not at submission.
CHALLENGES · PHASE 2
Returning to what we built
A post-launch audit and early feedback surfaced four gaps between what shipped and what patients needed.
Research
AltaMed research participants
46 interviews. Two languages. Three groups.
Six months after launch, I led structured interviews across three patient and caregiver groups. It was the first time the site's decisions rested on what patients told us directly.
Every group included English speakers and patients who spoke only Spanish or preferred it. I ran the interviews in both languages.
What the interviews found
The most common case was an elderly patient with no one helping, not the edge case the team had assumed.
Adult children often reviewed information with their parents at the same time: English-speaking families, a Spanish-only parent with an English-speaking child, and Spanish-speaking parents and children.
Much of that reading happened on one phone, with two people looking at the same screen.
• Confusion came from how information was presented, much of it tied to language, and it set in faster for older patients.
Interview discussion guide and segment user flows.
Personas + insights
Four personas, three patterns
01
Gen X + millennials
Two personas, similar findings. Both have little tolerance for friction or long waits, expect booking to be quick, and want to be treated as a person, not a case number.
02
Dedicated caregivers
Managing a family's healthcare alongside their own, often unaware of everything available. Values compassion and flexible scheduling above all.
03
Spanish-preferred patients
Trust comes from quality content, not automated tools. Looks for cultural cues that AltaMed knows their community. Language preference shapes whether they engage at all.
AltaMed personas.
Experience strategy
Research translated into direction
Each pillar traces back to a specific user research finding.
01
Authentic linguistic inclusion
Spanish content developed with native-language copywriting specialists, briefed by what Spanish-preferred patients said in interviews. It reads as original, not adapted.
02
Research-driven architecture
Sitemap and navigation rebuilt around how patients search.
03
Language choice on arrival
A language toggle offered on the first visit, so Spanish-preferred patients don't have to hunt for it.
04
Faster access to care
Find a Doctor refined for mobile, with essential actions inside the viewport and fewer decisions per step.
Information architecture
Sitemap + navigation
I rebuilt the sitemap and filter taxonomy around the paths patients described in interviews. The Phase 2 sitemap renamed the main navigation, added a caregiver pathway, and gave PACE enrollment its own entry point.
Three layers of the mobile navigation.
Annotated Phase 1 and Phase 2 sitemaps.
Design decisions
Homepage overhaul
Passive to purposeful
Patients arrived with a task: find a doctor, find a location, understand a service. I replaced the hero carousel with modules ordered by those tasks, cutting the clicks between arriving and getting care.
Final mobile and desktop homepages.
Find a Doctor flow, with the final mobile filter and results states.
Find a Doctor
Fewer decisions at the highest-intent moment
The most important path on the site was also the most cluttered. I consolidated filters, tightened labels, and moved "No preference" to the top of each filter to cut steps.
Spanish site optimization
Trust takes more than translation
The copy came from native-language copywriting specialists; I didn't write it. My part was the research behind it and keeping content decisions tied to what Spanish-preferred patients told us.
NOTE: I did not write copy on this engagement. A designated copywriter developed all content. I provided research-grounded direction and ensured all content decisions aligned with findings from Spanish-preferred patient interviews.
AltaMed.org screens in Spanish, with the language toggle that appears on the first visit.
Impact
What we delivered
Reflection
What I took forward
Other projects
