Repositioning a Flagship Program Through Structure and Conversion Design
Capability: UX Writing & Clinical Information Architecture
Context: Academic Medical Center / Graduate Medical Education
Role: Lead writer and information architect
Overview
Orthopaedic surgery residency programs must communicate complex clinical training pathways to multiple audiences simultaneously — prospective applicants, current residents, faculty, and referring clinicians.
The existing landing page presented dense, fragmented information with limited hierarchy. Key details about rotations, application requirements, and program structure were difficult to locate, creating friction for high-intent users evaluating competitive programs.
The project focused on restructuring the page into a clear, navigable experience that aligned institutional priorities with user needs — improving clarity, accessibility, and decision-making confidence.
Challenge
Clinical education content carries both informational and reputational weight. The page needed to:
- Serve multiple audiences with different goals and levels of expertise
- Maintain clinical accuracy while improving accessibility
- Reduce cognitive load without oversimplifying complex training structures
- Support recruitment in a highly competitive residency landscape
The core issue was not lack of information — it was lack of structure.
Approach
I approached the page as a system of user decisions, not a block of content:
- User intent mapping
→ Identified what applicants, faculty, and clinicians needed at different stages of evaluation - Information hierarchy redesign
→ Structured content around priority questions: program structure, rotations, application requirements, outcomes - Progressive disclosure
→ Introduced layered content to balance depth with scanability - Clinical language calibration
→ Preserved essential terminology while translating where clarity improved usability
Execution
The final page was rebuilt around clarity, hierarchy, and flow:
- Reorganized content into clearly defined sections aligned with user priorities
- Introduced scannable headings and modular content blocks
- Reduced redundancy and eliminated competing information pathways
- Clarified application steps and program structure to support decision-making
The result was a page that functions as both an informational resource and a recruitment tool.
Outcome
- Improved content navigation and usability for prospective applicants
- Stronger alignment between institutional messaging and user intent
- Clearer articulation of program structure and training pathways
- Reduced friction in high-stakes decision-making moments
Strategic Takeaways
- In complex environments, structure drives clarity more than language alone
- Multi-audience communication requires intentional hierarchy, not compromise
- UX writing is not simplification — it is decision support
Clarity, in clinical contexts, is a function of structure — not reduction.
Todd B. Gruel 