How environmental design elevates the healthcare brand and patient experience - News Block

The healthcare market is crowded.

As patient expectations continue to evolve, the need for thoughtful environmental designs that prioritize peace, tranquility, and healing cannot be overstated: they play a vital role in patient experiences and perceptions of health. overall quality of care.

Studies have shown many positive effects of environmental health care design on medical outcomes. In addition to improving the patient experience, well-designed healthcare environments help reduce patient anxiety, speed recovery, provide an overall sense of well-being, and improve health outcomes.

In this post, I explore how environmental design for healthcare companies can elevate their brand perception and patient experience.

Read on to learn:

What is sanitary environmental design?
How it helps build and support your brand
How it improves the patient experience
And how to work with your marketing agency

What is environmental design?

Ambient architecture and design is a thoughtful augmentation of existing design, lighting and interior design elements that impact how a space feels and how people move through it.

When done right, healthcare environments affect how consumers perceive your brand and the quality of your products and services. Environmental design helps reinforce healthcare businesses as places of care, comfort, and compassion. It also involves improving patient safety, accessibility and patient well-being.

Environmental design for healthcare focuses on the following areas

Outdoor signage and branding
Exterior signage (eg, directional and informational)
Interior branding, signage and graphics.
Indoor signage (eg, interactive, directional, informational, and regulatory)

“When designing a brand experience for healthcare companies, it’s important to identify creative opportunities that align with the customer’s vision and values and consider patient needs. You can achieve this by answering questions like

What are the brand opportunities and where can they be implemented?
Where and how can the logo be applied for immediate recognition and visibility?
Can the brand’s color palette be used on particular walls to reinforce the brand’s identity?
Are there opportunities for attractive wall graphics that enhance the mood, tone, and intended use of the space?
How can we help patients more easily navigate space?

How can we work within the space to make the biggest impression and enhance the patient experience?

Environmental and experiential design goes far beyond simple aesthetics and decorative elements. It must improve the functionality, accessibility, comprehension and comfort of the space”.

– Brett Maurer, Senior Art Director at Healthcare Success

How can you help build and support your healthcare brand?

Environmental branding can shape perception and build connection, trust and credibility in four ways

Create a memorable first impression
Visually appealing room design that offers a clear, functional and intuitive pathway for patients, visitors and staff creates a warm, welcoming and non-intimidating environment. It fosters a sense of calm, builds trust, and sets the tone for your overall experience.

Reinforce brand identity
Designing and implementing consistent and intuitive design elements at every touch point creates synergy and allows people to interact independently and navigate their space seamlessly, frictionlessly and intuitively.

Support for brand differentiation
Strategic healthcare environmental design that is clear, intuitive and elegant sets you apart from the competition, especially those with bland and sterile office spaces. Consider your unique brand positioning, target audience, and brand values to create engaging, memorable, and useful experiences throughout your space.

Raise brand reputation
Environmental design creates immersive and pleasurable experiences for patients, visitors, stakeholders, and staff. This attention to detail shows that you care about your patients, which increases trust, satisfaction, and word-of-mouth recommendations.

How does it help support the patient experience?

Intentional environmental design is purposeful and considers the needs and desires of the patient. It helps support the perception and experience of the patient in several ways.

Facilitates navigation and flow

Improve security

Reduce waiting times

Positively impacts psychological well-being from pre-visit interactions to post-visit care and every step in between

Healthcare brands that prioritize patient-centered care and elegant, peaceful, thoughtful, and healing spaces that are easy to navigate exponentially improve comfort, privacy, and functionality while leading to greater patient satisfaction and better health outcomes.

Support patient well-being

There is a clear link between the well-being of the patient and the creative design of healthcare spaces. Environmental design firms and qualified healthcare creative agencies understand that thoughtful environments can influence a patient’s healing process and directly impact their health outcome.

A well-designed interior that intentionally creates a soothing and relaxing atmosphere can reduce stress, improve patient comfort, influence their healing process, and directly impact their psychological well-being and health outcomes.

In a research report prepared for Johns Hopkins, an impressively high percentage (80%) of published studies found positive links between environmental design and patient health outcomes.

Here are three ways you can quickly modify your space to support patient well-being.

Host a warm welcome with comfortable, conversational seating.

Provide as much natural or warm lighting as possible

Create a warm and immersive experience with engaging graphics, stylish logos, calming tones, and a bit of nature (eg, potted plants like ferns, pothos, or succulents).

Improve orientation and accessibility

Navigating a large healthcare facility can be challenging and stressful for patients, visitors, and even staff, especially if they have a disability. Wayfinding is the strategic use of signage, visual cues, color, and other design systems to help people navigate a large or unfamiliar space.

It also helps reduce confusion, relieve stress, and reduce no-show rates. Incorporating accessibility features such as braille signage, ramps, handrails, and adequate lighting enhances inclusion and allows people of all abilities to get where they need to be without assistance.

How to bridge the gap between branding and environmental design

While healthcare design and environmental branding are very different marketing concepts, they can complement each other to elevate your healthcare business and patient experience. Together, they can

Deliver a branded patient experience that is cohesive, elegant, intuitive and fun

Create emotional connections and attract more patients

Improve the perception and reputation of your brand

Help your business stand out in a crowded market

Enhance brand awareness and tell your brand story through thoughtfully designed spaces and elements