Client Profiles: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Headquartered in Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins Medicine unites the scientists and clinicians of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the vast Johns Hopkins Health System. This includes The Johns Hopkins Hospital, ranked for 18 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report as the #1 hospital in the country. The name is synonymous with healthcare for most Americans, and Johns Hopkins Medicine has become the world's benchmark for clinical care, research and medical education.

Challenge
While Johns Hopkins Medicine is indeed world-class, its web presence did not correlate with that reputation. A dated visual design, inconsistent branding across its various and numerous entities and lack of site organization were confusing and lacked appeal. In addition, despite large volumes of traffic, a significant number of visitors were exiting after arriving at the www.hopkinsmedicine.org homepage, and time-on-site numbers were extremely low. With branding issues, and more than 1,000 pages and dozens more potential individual web sites to tackle, Johns Hopkins was looking for both a strategic and a tactical web partner who could help guide them through what promised to be a complex and long-term project.

Engagement

• Strategic planning and project management
• Design
• Information architecture
• Content audit and migration
• Javascript, Cold Fusion and Flash development
• CSS support
• Execution of Section 508 compliance for content and applications

Results
Working with the Johns Hopkins internal web team, CentreTEK consulted with key stakeholders across the Johns Hopkins universe to determine goals and objectives for its web presence. CentreTEK then developed a plan that focused its efforts on three key areas:

• Design
• Navigation
• Information architecture

The first phase created four distinct homepages that focused on major service lines or programs within Johns Hopkins Medicine, with content organized around a unique vertical. Flash files with integrated video were created to define and brand each section.

Designs were created via web standards-based templates, and proprietary templates were developed for integration within the existing content management system (CMS). CentreTEK also developed a style guide to control look and feel, navigation, and even printing of web pages. To ensure visitor access to all major navigation points within the Johns Hopkins Medicine sites - and to function as a global communication and alert system - CentreTEK created a javascript-based "thin crust" panel. The panel, easily integrated into any Hopkins web site, can also be controlled and updated by Johns Hopkins staff.