Duke University School of Medicine manages a complex, multi-site Drupal ecosystem supporting numerous departments and programs. As the School prepared for a design refresh, leadership wanted a thoughtful, data-driven foundation from which to make decisions. They engaged Gowan Communications Group to conduct discovery across their federated web community, gathering stakeholder feedback and assessing current design trends.
Challenge
With dozens of stakeholders operating across a distributed Drupal architecture, perspectives varied widely. Different departments had different priorities, design preferences, and functional needs.
The School needed clarity. Leadership wanted to ensure that the redesign reflected shared goals—and that decisions were informed by both internal feedback and external best practices.
Services
Web strategy, survey, focus groups, competitive analysis, report, presentation
Solution
We led a discovery process to clarify priorities and guide the redesign.
Our team developed a comprehensive survey to gather input from the School of Medicine web community. We also facilitated five focus groups to explore themes in greater depth and understand the nuances behind stakeholder perspectives.
To benchmark against peer institutions, we analyzed five comparable academic medical websites to identify design patterns and emerging trends.
We then synthesized all findings into a clear, actionable report. Rather than presenting raw feedback, we prioritized the issues that mattered most and translated diverse viewpoints into focused recommendations. We presented our findings to the Web Advisory Committee and other key stakeholders.
The discovery process clarified stakeholder priorities and helped leadership move forward with confidence. The School launched its redesigned website five months after our project concluded.
What Our Client Said
“Gowan Communications operates like an extension of your internal team, with as much focus on relationship-building as creation and delivery of the end product. The result is a seamless, trust-based partnership that elevates both the process and the outcome.”
—Andrea Martin, Assistant Dean for Digital and Brand Communications at Duke University School of Medicine