OSCAR
When I started at Oscar, the entire company could fit into one conference room. Two years later, it was a highly celebrated innovator (and unicorn) in the health insurance space.
As the first designer hired, I helped build the both the member-facing and internal platforms from the ground up. Later, I shifted my focus to our extensive brand and marketing efforts, helping launch the company in multiple markets.
HIGHLIGHTS
UX and UI design for initial website, member apps, and internal tools.
Art direction for multiple cross-platform launch campaigns.
Helped hire dozens of key creative and marketing roles.
Started Out @ Oscar group for LGBT employees.
The start of something big
My time at Oscar started simply enough. We needed a website. All that existed on HiOscar.com was a list of jobs over a stock photo of the New York skyline at sunset. The end result now feels a little silly; it was a mission statement on our brand color. Nothing revolutionary. But at the time, every decision took on added significance. What did we want this company to be? How did we want to present ourselves?
I’m more proud of the thinking behind these early projects than the “design” per se, but I’ll present them to show how the brand, and my confidence as a designer, grew from these humble beginnings.
All images are for illustrative purposes only.
One early product feature that would evolve into one of our major sales differentiators was the “Get a Quote” feature. After much exploration, we landed on a “madlib” style UI that has since become quite popular.
There are hundreds of factors that go into how much your health insurance will cost, but we challenged ourselves to keep the user experience simple and straightforward for everything we built.
Covering our basics.
Once the marketing site was live, we turned our attention to the member platform. At that point, we were only a few months away from actually having members, so the focus was on quick execution.
All the expected functionality of a member app needed to be built from scratch, from log-in and registration to payments and claims. Oh and don’t forget about that first-of-its-kind global search we promised. In short, it was a tall order, but it was also one of the most exciting and productive periods of my career.
Below are early desktop and mobile designs for the “Carerouter” feature at the core of our member offering. Our mission was to become the entry point to a convoluted healthcare system by “routing” people to care simply and effectively. As a health plan, we had the integrated data necessary to bring provider networks, plan design, and care delivery together in one unified destination.
I also led design on the first version of our native iOS app, which had much of the same functionality as our desktop portal. Anchored around our powerful search feature, our mobile app also served as the home for our innovative telehealth solution, “Doctor on Call”.
From day one, we offered free calls with doctors who could diagnose issues, prescribe medications, and authorize referrals. After the initial success, we also added video conferencing capabilities.
My product work extended beyond digital design to include aspects of packaging design. For example, I worked on the welcome kit that we mailed to all new members. This is a highly regulated and highly personalized piece of collateral, but we rightly saw it as a great opportunity to make a strong first impression of the brand.
I also designed the first version of our Member ID card. We fought hard to keep this clean and beautiful. Something our members would proudly share instead of the tiny text and logo soup you see with other health insurance companies.
Brand & Expand
As the “blocking and tackling” was wrapping up, I chose to shift my focus to the brand and marketing of Oscar. I’ve always worked at the intersection of product and marketing, and I saw an opportunity to improve our creative and help tell the story of Oscar to a rapidly growing audience.
I worked closely with our VP of Marketing to lead an agency search and pitch process. We decided to work with Mother, and quickly got to work producing our 2015 open enrollment campaign. We decided to continue with our popular animated style, and contracted with illustrator Robin Davey to create a new cast of characters. I worked closely with the Mother team to ensure creative consistency and excellence across the campaign.
100,000+
Out of Home pieces
5
TV Spots
7
Station dominations
500,000+
Pieces of collateral
We also decided to create a suite of short TV spots in the animated style, each focused around one product feature. The idea that “Health insurance should be a simple as getting sick/hurt” tied everything together.
Being on the founding team of Oscar was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
It ignited my passion for healthcare and taught me so much about the designer I wanted to be and the companies I wanted to work with.