We began with a comprehensive review of the client’s expectations, requirements, and scope. We first assessed the existing Clinic Locator tool and conducted a detailed UX audit to identify its strengths and pain points. This audit highlighted three major challenges.

Mobile usability

This was a major concern, with approximately 70% of users accessing the tool from mobile devices. The interface had nested scroll frames and an overload of top-page elements, making navigation cumbersome. The map view lacked actionable CTAs like “Book an appointment,” disrupting the flow of user interactions.

Over-Promotion of Centres of Excellence (CoE) clinics

These premium clinics were always displayed at the top of search results, regardless of proximity, often pushing closer regular clinics further down the list. This arrangement risked causing user confusion and creating the perception that nearby options were unavailable. Furthermore, the lack of explanation about what defined a CoE clinic had the potential to mislead users into thinking that non-premium clinics were inferior.

Information Structure on Centre Cards

Users had difficulty finding the most relevant information—such as the distance to a centre—due to its low visual priority. Images, which added little value, were given precedence.

During the research phase, I explored similar tools, such as store locators and property search platforms, to identify best practices in displaying search results. These comparators helped refine ideas about how to balance proximity, relevance, and business goals.

To understand user behaviour better, I reviewed Google Analytics data. While it didn’t provide insights into how users searched for clinics (e.g. using location services or typing in addresses), it revealed a strong preference for the map view over the list view. This information informed many of the decisions about improving navigation and display settings.

A significant turning point in the process was collaborating with the client to clarify business requirements, particularly around CoEs. The client confirmed that CoEs were premium-tier clinics that paid for prioritised placement. While they recognised the confusion this caused, they were unwilling to provide an explanation for users or remove CoEs from the top of the list. This feedback required a creative solution to ensure user trust and ease of navigation without compromising the visibility of CoEs.

With these insights in mind, I explored several design solutions, including separating CoEs from regular clinics into distinct sections. However, this idea was rejected, as it reduced visibility for CoEs, which could frustrate those clinics. Instead, we decided to reduce the number and range of CoEs displayed, showing only the three closest ones within a 100km radius. If no CoEs fell within this range, the results defaulted to regular clinics, accompanied by a clear message explaining the absence of nearby CoEs.

With a clear understanding of the problems and what users and the business needed, I moved on to make changes to the design. The goal was to solve the main issues we found—making the tool easier to use, improving how information was shown, and ensuring it worked well for both users and the client’s business needs.

Improved mobile usability

Removed unnecessary nested iframes, allowing more information to fit on mobile screens and making scrolling smoother. Ensured all elements were thumb-friendly, reducing click issues. CTAs were strategically placed to minimise back-and-forth navigation, streamlining user actions.

Restructuring clinic cards

Streamlined the design of clinic cards to highlight the most relevant information and actions for users. The layout was reorganised to prioritise essential details, such as clinic distance and the most critical call-to-action ("Book an appointment"), ensuring a clear and intuitive user experience. Labels were added to non-CoE clinics to build trust and provide clarity. These updates created a more user-focused interface, encouraging quicker decision-making and reducing friction in the journey.

Refined search logic

Redesigned the search algorithm to provide more relevant and focused results based on user input. For precise searches using a postcode, full address, or the locate me feature, the system now displays the 10 closest clinics. When users search by city, results are restricted to clinics within that city, and country-level searches show all clinics nationwide. Centres of Excellence (CoEs) appear only when they fall within the refined search results, ensuring more accurate and user-centric outcomes.

Enhanced map usability

To better accommodate users' preference for navigating via the map, we increased its prominence in the interface. On desktop, we added a functionality to hide the clinic list so users can focus on the map. On mobile, we changed the default view to the map view and introduced a “Book an appointment” CTA on the map view card, reducing the need to switch between the map and the list for key actions.

This project was a valuable lesson in finding the balance between user needs and business goals. While it’s ideal to prioritise users in design, real-world projects often require compromises to meet business objectives. For example, we had to ensure Centres of Excellence (CoEs) were visible for business purposes while still improving the user experience. This process showed the importance of working closely with stakeholders to create a design that works for everyone. It proved that great design is about balancing different priorities effectively.