Building a dental clinic patient engagement ecosystem
Channel :D is a video platform for waiting room screens that helps patients understand procedures and build trust with their dentist.
About project
Channel :D makes fun and informative short educational video clips that dental clinics play in waiting and procedure rooms. Because the videos are light-hearted, they help keep patients entertained while also busting common myths dispelling fears. Our role was to help Channel :D find a match between the brand and the content it produces, design, and develop the customer experience, and design a marketing website.
- UX design
- UI design
- Illustration
- Web development
Behind the scenes
Channel :D was founded by Dr. Michael Sernik, a renowned Australian dentist/communications expert, and developed by the creatives Jordan Sernik and Janis Gott.
Channel :D uses animation, imagery, metaphors, and heartfelt stories, steering clear of dry medical jargon to make patients feel more relaxed and angst-free while in the dental office. As they say on Channel :D, “every frame, character, and voiceover is thoughtfully designed to connect with people on a personal level. Today, hearing patients say they saw it on our screen…, we realize Channel D does more than entertain—it converses and shifts perspectives”.
Mission
As a design team, our role was to create a user interface for the platform accessible via Amazon Fire TV Stick, create a digital presence that Channel :D can then use for their marketing, all in sync with the type of content it produces.
Design Approach
We ran a discovery session with a client to outline the brand attributes, goals, objectives, user personas, and business strategy that we could contribute to through the products we were hired to design.
- Keep the focus on the product – videos
- Build the narrative around the sketch-style site content
- Clean user interface to emphasize the value
- Design the UX within the constraints of a TV OS
Illustrations
We followed the style of several of the Channel :D videos we were shown, minus the color, so there is a visual hierarchy of content and it is obvious what the commodity is and what the supporting content is.
Visual language
We then expanded the style of the illustrations to the rest of the website and made it “the thing”. The website would actually look like a sketch, representing the world that these fun videos are made in.
Icons
A stock set of icons just wouldn’t work, because the concepts we wanted to use them for are not those of a generic website. And yes, there are two flying saucer icons.
Website
Even though the Channel :D content is available via TV app (that we designed later), the website is how you get discovered. So, we worked towards an experience that would reveal the value without making it feel medical, or more serious than it is.
Home page
This was quite straightforward: there are people in the dental office waiting room and they are mesmerized by the video content on the TV above their heads. So, that a woman facing the opposite direction is niw turning full 180 to see the vid. Then, it’s Dr. Michael Sernik introducing the product, the simple set-up demo, and Jordan doing the animated Q&A at the bottom.
Blog
The blog was the only part of the website aside the videos that had color and that’s because the blog is a static version of the videos with artworks actually from the videos.
Mobile experience
It actually looks way cooler on the mobile. Come take a look.
TV App
The app was a centrepiece of the ecosystem and a pinnacle of the customer experience.
Practice page
Because there was no clear definition of who is going to take on the role of a dental clinic TV app manager, we designed it in a way that allows multiple-user access, with no AV experience, or special knowledge required.
Video library
The video library is quite intuitive, takes a page out of every major video hosting’s book. Again, contingent of the fact that any employee of the clinic could operate it.
Playlists
Initially, the playlist studio is where we wanted to throw some vernacular in, like instead of “Now playing”, we’d use “On Air”, but that idea did not stick. Overall, it’s quite clear how the playlists functions, allowing practices to create multiple topic-based daily protions of content.
Settings and help center
Since clinics and dental offices operate on specific standards, and due to the industry insights from the Channel :D team, we designed the supporting pages to align with generic medical practice UI standards.;OP
Producer comment
It was a great experience, the client side engaged eagerly, ideas were flowing. We’ve also learned a lot about dentistry from the videos!Moses KimCreative Producer
