With the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago was about to disrupt medical and scientific practices and wanted to reflect that change through a rebrand and a website that matched the level of innovation they are leading. Organizationally, the different websites for the hospital and its many connected businesses were to be collapsed into one centralized hub. Everything from a library of patient educational resources to scientific research projects would need to find a new digital home. Code and Theory partnered with The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to help with the digital transition.
Once the new hospital building was open, Code and Theory was then tasked with designing and developing an internal and public communication platform via a hospital-wide connected screen experience.
The displays are located throughout the building – entrances, hallways, waiting areas, communal spaces, etc – to provide visitors, staff, and patients with important information about the hospital; from way-finding to exercise class times.
The immersive, colorful design and content is engineered from the website’s existing CMS, allowing for easy and consistent programming.
Content and the way it is displayed is context-specific. Because every floor is different: each has a different rehabilitation focus, a different atmosphere, and a different patient population with widely different needs and capabilities.
Our goal is to offer relevant content that can positively impact the viewers’ quality of life – providing utility, fostering community, and facilitating publicity. And this means putting accessibility at the center of our approach.
A vertical display, as opposed to large-format TVs, was adopted to create a more humane and relatable experience for the able-bodied and wheelchair bound alike.
This perspective also serves to further differentiate connected screens from ordinary TVs, allowing displays to be arranged adjacent to one another for a multi-screen experience.
Our team identified key pathways across the building to ensure the right information is displayed at the right time.
My role: research, ideation & concept development, product strategy.
Engagement lead: R. Gorell, Z. Purdy, 2017.
If you’re interested in seeing intermediary deliverables and additional process / approach documentation, feel free to get in touch :)