Timeline
Aug - Sep 2023
Role
UX designer & researcher
Employer
Optum Rx
Designing & testing two login call-to-actions for different pharmacy types in a single hero section.
Team composition
UX Design
Lead UX designer
UX Research
Senior researcher + support researcher
UI Design
1 visual designer
Content
1 copywriters
Partners
1 product director & 1 product owner
The objective of this project was to design an intuitive, yet divergent, port of entry for a white-label client supporting two distinct user populations: specialty pharmacy patients and home delivery patients. Because these populations operated within entirely separate ecosystems (i.e., no overlap in account credentials, user flows, or portal experiences) the challenge was to create a single landing page that facilitated a clear, unmistakable choice.
By shifting the design from a hidden selection process to a split-login hero section, I aligned with the populations' mental models and ensured that each patient-group could identify their path based on their specific care needs, significantly increasing the rate of successful authentication.
The primary tension of the Split-Login Hero was the need for absolute conceptual and visual distinction within a single web page section. The project required a solution that could guide two different member groups to two entirely different destinations without causing "entry friction" or navigational errors.
The core difficulty lay in the divergence of the members' mental models. Through collaborative, cross-team research, I discovered a critical gap in background knowledge: while specialty patients possess a high degree of clarity regarding their care, home delivery patients are unsure of what a specialty pharmacy is and its purposes.
This meant that a simple label was insufficient; the interface needed to provide sufficient information scents and visual anchors to prevent users from selecting the wrong portal. Thus the challenge was to design a split-login hero, where the interface both explains the pharmacies' purpose as well as a quick & clear path to account registration & logging in for both member populations.
Scope & parameters
Managed separate pharmacy portals with no overlap in login credentials or registration flows.
Designed a landing page adhering to strict branding requirements for a white-label client.
Leveraged unmoderated user testing to validate content comprehension and path selection for specialty vs. home-delivery members.
Evaluated alternative design options (e.g., slide-out drawer menus) with "split-login" hero section being the most technically feasible & intuitive.
Proposal & refinement
Design explorations
I proposed a variety of entry-point designs, including a slide-out drawer and a tabbed section, to route users to their respective portals. The rationale was to maintain a singular, traditional hero aesthetic and a clean visual footprint, utilizing clear imagery & content to manage the key differences for the two member populations.
Validation & constraints
Despite the visual minimalism of the alternative design options, they proved functionally restrictive or inconsistent with other patterns. The drawer overlay conflicted with existing site navigation conventions, and the tabbed section risked 'banner blindness' where members may miss the input control to select the correct pharmacy type.
To ensure a high rate of successful authentication, it became necessary to move away from hidden menus toward a more explicit & visually equal choice.
Split-login solution
I landed on the split-login hero model as the most viable solution, utilizing a card-based layout that presented both options side-by-side. By providing immediate visual & descriptive information scents, I aligned the interface with the members' internal mental models, allowing them to identify their respective pharmacy type.
While we diverted from a more conventional hero aesthetic, we gained a clearer login section that significantly reduced the risk of entry-point errors. This decision ensured that members could navigate to the correct portal with confidence, providing a stable and intuitive port of entry for two distinct ecosystems.
To validate the "split-login" hero model, I collaborated with the research team to conduct an unmoderated study that focused on content comprehension and path selection. The goal was to determine if members could accurately identify their pharmacy type based on the visual and descriptive content in the click-test prototype. The most critical discovery was a significant gap in domain knowledge: while specialty patients possess a high degree of clarity regarding their care, home delivery patients were unable to differentiate specialty from home delivery in terms of function or purpose.
This research shifted our focus from simple visual aesthetics to face-value content comprehension, where the imagery and copy do the heavy lifting in clarifying the pharmacy types. Since participants were faced with two options, the natural follow-up move would be to read the content more carefully in order to identify their respective pharmacy type.
By iteratively testing imagery and copy, we were able to strip away ambiguous language and replace it with high-signal descriptors, ensuring the "path of least resistance" was also the correct one.
Research insights
Knowledge gap: specialty patients are expert users; home delivery patients are often unsure of the differences in pharmacy types.
I’m not really sure what Specialty Pharmacy means. Maybe that’s where you can check for medications available.
Comprehension: testing multiple versions of imagery & content demonstrated a clear version to use on the live site that resonated well with participants.
Over half of participants successfully clicked the correct home delivery pharmacy CTA, validating the split design's effectiveness
Affordance friction: heading/image styling misled participants in looking actionable, necessitating clearer interactive cues.
38% of participants clicked static images, text, or the wrong pharmacy type, indicating opportunities for stronger affordances and refined visual hierarchy in future iterations.
Lo-Fi explorations
Single-entry style
Concept: a unified login path capable of routing all member populations regardless of pharmacy type.
Tension: this represented the ideal State. While it would eliminate all entry friction, technical & backend system constraints made a single login path unrealistic for the current scope.
Tabbed style
Concept: a tabbed interface allowing users to toggle between pharmacy types within a single hero section.
Friction: high risk of "banner blindness." Past research indicated members might overlook the tabbed component and default to the visible "home delivery" path, regardless of their actual needs.
Pricing-plan style
Concept: a side-by-side comparison layout—the direct predecessor to the final Split Hero model.
Winner: this model provided the most intuitive layout for pharmacy identification. It allowed for each pharmacy to be displayed equally and had the best balance of descriptive text & imagery, serving as the foundation for the launched design.
Key results
54% success rate
Over half of participants successfully clicked the correct home delivery pharmacy CTA, validating the split design's effectiveness
6% neutral outcome
Participants clicked "Register now" in some cases (neutral outcome in live environment, as it still routes to appropriate signup flow)
38% clicked other areas
Some participants clicked static images, text, or the wrong pharmacy type, indicating opportunities for stronger affordances and refined visual hierarchy in future iterations.
(Image click test) Heatmap results & zones
Visual symmetry
A split-login hero with two distinct pharmacy pathways, each with dedicated login and registration entry points, supported by clarifying copy and visual hierarchy designed to guide members to the correct experience.
Content clarity
Recognizing the domain knowledge gap between specialty and home delivery patients, I focused the design on specific visual & textual cues that participants understood best from user testing. Thus, the clarifying content guides the user toward the correct pharmacy type.
Desktop mockup | Split-Login
What went well
The split-hero pattern validated that a majority of test participants could find the correct pharmacy login when presented with clear differentiation
Using pricing-page layout inspiration alongside healthcare component constraints produced a feasible, effective pattern
Embedding research into the design iteration cycle allowed rapid concept refinement based on real member behavior
What I'd do differently
Test alternative visual designs and microcopy earlier, not just validate a single pattern at the end
Spend more time simplifying the relationship between registration and enrollment flows across both pharmacy types earlier in the design process
Test with members who hold accounts in both pharmacy types to better understand their mental models and expectations
Moving forward
Future iterations could explore alternative layouts and copy for members with accounts in both pharmacy types, a segment we didn't specifically test.
The split-hero pattern proved foundational, but opportunities exist to further reduce cognitive load and increase visual resonance through iterative refinement.
The most significant takeaway from the Split-Login Hero project was the need for seemingly obvious content to explain distinctions between pharmacy types. The cost of a "wrong turn" for a member not only wastes time and potentially floods that backend system with invalid accounts but also increases the member's anxiety & frustration. When a user is attempting to access care, any ambiguity in the interface is amplified by the stress of their condition & circumstances.
The move from clean & sleek interaction patterns to a simple but transparent design layout was an exercise in content clarity. I learned that the most effective interfaces are not those that simply provide the correct path, but those that actively bolster the user's confidence in making a selection. By prioritizing comprehension over cleaner aesthetics, we shifted the burden from the member to the system.
Ultimately, this project reinforced my belief that the role of a designer is to constantly be aware of the user's mental energy for any given interface. The Split-Login Hero project demonstrated how "entry points" are not mere gateways, but the first and most critical opportunity to build transparency & autonomy with the user.
Strategic outcomes
Significantly increased the rate of successful authentication by aligning the entry point with the members' internal mental models.
Opted for the clearest interface to address members' knowledge gaps by introducing a split-login hero model.
Leveraged an unmoderated user study to determine content clarity for pharmacy labels & comprehensible descriptions, reducing the cognitive load for home delivery patients.