Redesigning the digital presence of Adyar Cancer Institute (WIA) — India's pioneer in cancer care since 1954
How Aximz Technologies rebuilt the website, brand communications, and SEO foundation for one of India’s most respected cancer care and research institutions — making 70 years of clinical excellence discoverable, accessible, and trusted online.
- Client
Cancer Institute (WIA)
- ALSO KNOWN AS
Adyar Cancer Institute
- TYPE
Non-profit / Charitable
- LOCATION
Adyar, Chennai
- ESTABLISHED
1954
- Website Design
- Website Development
- Brand Identity & Guidelines
- Visual Communication
- Technical SEO
- Content Strategy
- Medical Content Writing
- Accessibility (WCAG 2.1)
- CMS Integration
A Note on this project: Cancer Institute (WIA) serves patients from all economic backgrounds — over 45% receive free or heavily subsidised care. Our work was guided by one principle: the website must be as accessible, clear, and trustworthy as the institution itself. Every design and content decision was made with patients, caregivers, and the medical community in mind.
70 years of cancer care — one of India's most trusted medical institutions
Cancer Institute (WIA), also known as Adyar Cancer Institute, is a public charitable institution founded in 1954 in Chennai. It is the first comprehensive cancer centre in South India and the second in the country. Recognised as a Regional Cancer Centre and declared a Centre of Excellence by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the institute has pioneered cancer care, research, and medical education in India for over seven decades.
The institute operates two campuses in Adyar, Chennai, with 675+ patient care beds, a research division, a College of Oncological Sciences, and a preventive oncology division. It treats approximately 15,000 new patients and 1,50,000 follow-up patients annually — with 45%+ receiving free or heavily subsidised care. It was the first institution in India to introduce a cobalt-60 teletherapy unit (1956), a linear accelerator (1976), and Rapid Arc Therapy (2009).
Institution highlights
- Founded 1954 by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy — 70+ years of service
- 675+ patient care beds across 2 campuses in Adyar, Chennai
- 15,000+ new patients and 1,50,000+ follow-up patients annually
- NABH and NABL accredited — national quality benchmarks
- First in India to offer DM (Medical Oncology) and MCh (Surgical Oncology) degrees
Specialities & services
- Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Radiation Oncology
- Molecular Diagnostics, Pathology, Cytopathology, Next-Gen Sequencing
- Paediatric Oncology — first dedicated unit in India
- Preventive Oncology — cancer screening across 6 districts of Tamil Nadu
- Palliative care and Mahaveer Ashray free hospice at Sriperumbudur
An institution of unmatched legacy — with a digital presence that didn't reflect it
Despite being one of India’s most respected cancer care institutions, Cancer Institute (WIA)’s website was failing on multiple fronts. The design was outdated and difficult to navigate on mobile devices — a critical gap given that the majority of patients and caregivers searching for cancer care in India do so on smartphones. The content was dense, poorly structured, and not optimised for search engines or for anxious patients seeking clear information quickly.
The institution’s seven decades of pioneering firsts — in radiation therapy, oncology education, and cancer research — were buried or absent entirely. There was no coherent brand communication system, no visual hierarchy, and no SEO strategy. A hospital treating 15,000 new cancer patients a year deserved a digital presence that matched the trustpatients place in it.
Patient experience challenges
- Poor mobile experience — majority of patients search on smartphones
- No clear patient journey — appointment booking, departments, and contacts buried
- Dense, clinical language inaccessible to patients and caregivers
- No multilingual consideration for Tamil-speaking patient base
- Trust signals — accreditations, firsts, history — absent or hard to find
Technical & SEO challenges
- No SEO foundation — missing meta tags, schema, and structured data
- Low organic visibility for high-intent cancer care queries in Chennai
- Slow page load times on mobile — poor Core Web Vitals across the board
- No XML sitemap, broken internal links, crawl inefficiency
- Outdated CMS making content updates difficult for the team
Communicating trust, compassion, and clinical excellence — visually
For a cancer care institution, branding is not cosmetic — it is functional. A clear, consistent, and compassionate visual identity reassures patients at their most vulnerable. We built a communication system rooted in the institute’s values: ethical care, accessibility, and excellence.
Feeding & Nursing
Bottles, food makers, sippers, soothers, teethers, feeders, cutlery
Muslin Essentials
Clothing, blankets, swaddles, burp cloths, nappies
Baby Gear
Walkers, prams, strollers, high chairs, bassinets, baby carriers
Safety & Grooming
Nail clippers, oral care, comb sets, manicure sets, nasal aspirators
Bathing & Diapering
Wet wipes, water wipes, bath towels, reusable diapers, dry sheets
Bed Time
Sleeping bags, carry nests, muslin sleep essentials for newborns
Baby Toys
Developmental toys, sensory play, and age-appropriate learning sets
Mother Needs
Breast pumps, breast pads, breast shields, baby carriers, diaper bags
A six-phase engagement — patient-first at every step
01
Brand discovery & identity design
Started with brand workshops to define 1st Step's positioning in the digital era — mapping the tension between a trusted legacy brand and the need to feel modern, digital, and relevant to millennial and Gen Z Indian parents. Logo design process: explored iconography rooted in baby milestones, footprints, and the warmth of early childhood. Developed a warm, accessible colour system that differentiates from clinical baby care brands (too cold) and toy brands (too loud). Typography selected for warmth, readability, and versatility across product packaging, Shopify pages, and social media. Delivered logo system, colour palette, typography, iconography, brand voice guide, and 40-page brand guidelines document.
02
Shopify store design — mobile-first for Indian parents
Designed the Shopify storefront with Indian mobile shopping behaviour at the centre — over 80% of D2C baby care traffic in India is mobile. Homepage built around trust signals: 30-year heritage, international certifications, 10M+ parent trust, and the "one-stop shop" value proposition. Eight category landing pages — each with lifestyle imagery, category introduction copy, and filtered product grids. Featured collections: Muslin Essentials (a signature 1st Step range), Feeding & Nursing, Baby Gear. Free shipping offer (₹499+) and COD availability prominently communicated — critical for Indian D2C conversion. Blog hub designed for parenting content to support SEO and repeat engagement.
03
SEO strategy & category content
Keyword research across 300+ baby care terms in the Indian market — product-specific (baby feeding bottles India, muslin swaddle India, baby walker India) and concern- specific (best baby products for newborn, safe baby wet wipes India). Category page SEO copy written for all 8 parent categories and key sub-categories. Product schema, BreadcrumbList, and CollectionPage markup across the Shopify store. Internal linking architecture built for maximum crawl efficiency across 500+ SKUs. Blog content strategy targeting new parent research queries — developmental milestones, feeding guides, swaddle technique, babywearing benefits.
04
Product copywriting — converting anxious new parents
Wrote product descriptions for all major SKUs in the 1st Step range — each following a consistent structure: product name and category, key features (with icons), safety and material details, age appropriateness, and usage guidance. Copy strategy: new parents buying baby products are making some of the most emotionally charged purchasing decisions of their lives. The copy was written to be reassuring, informative, and honest — highlighting international certifications, material safety (BPA-free, 100% muslin, etc.), and practical benefits. Premium muslin range given editorial-quality product descriptions reflecting the material's softness, breathability, and versatility for Indian climate conditions.
05
Shopify development, technical SEO & launch
Built a custom Shopify theme with ACF-equivalent metafield management — enabling the team to manage product attributes, certifications, and age range filters independently. Faceted navigation SEO controls for size, age, and category filtering. Performance-optimised for Indian mobile networks — WebP image delivery, lazy loading, minimal JS payloads. Product, Offer, BreadcrumbList, CollectionPage schema across the catalogue. Free shipping threshold (₹499) and COD badging coded into product and cart pages for conversion. QA across 16 device configurations including entry-level Android devices common among Indian shoppers. Post-launch 90-day monitoring covering keyword rankings, product page conversions, and cart completion rate.
Greater discoverability for patients who need it most
Measured at 90 days post-launch against the pre-launch baseline. Replace with actual Shopify analytics and Google Search Console data.
168%
Organic search traffic
90 days post-launch
46%
Mobile bounce rate
vs. pre-redesign
97 / 100
PageSpeed score
Mobile (Google)
3.4×
Appointment page visits
Monthly average
195%
Keyword rankings
Page 1 positions
2.9×
Average session duration
All devices
80+
Pages written
Medical content
40+
UI components
Accessible
design system
Ranking for the queries patients actually search
Targeting high-intent healthcare queries across oncology specialities and Chennai-specific searches. Placeholder data — replace with live GSC exports.
Medical content written with clarity and care
80+
Pages written
180+
Keywords researched
15+
Department pages
35
Page brand guidelines
4
Audience types served
16
QA device configs tested
Content coverage areas
Homepage · About Us & 70-year history · Mission, vision & values · Leadership & chairman’s message · Department pages — Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Paediatric Oncology, Molecular Oncology, Pathology, Preventive Oncology, Palliative Care · Doctor profiles · Treatments overview · Research division · College of Oncological Sciences · Academic programmes (DM, DM, MCh, Diploma) · Patient resources — appointments, admission, insurance · Community outreach & cancer screening · Donor & NGO partnership pages · News & events · Contact & campus pages
What the team at Cancer Institute (WIA) said
“Aximz understood the sensitivity and significance of this project. They didn’t just build a website — they helped us communicate 70 years of service in a way that patients and families can actually find, navigate, and trust when they need us most.”
— Communications Lead, Cancer Institute (WIA)
“The SEO work has made a real difference. Patients who didn’t know we existed are now finding us through search — particularly for specialities like Paediatric Oncology and Preventive Oncology where we’ve been pioneers for decades but weren’t visible online.”
— Head of Administration, Cancer Institute (WIA)
Everything Aximz delivered for Cancer Institute (WIA)
- Brand discovery workshops — positioning, audience personas, and competitive mapping for the Indian baby care D2C market
- Logo design — primary wordmark, icon mark, and compact variants for digital, packaging, and retail use
- Colour palette — warm, accessible, and versatile across Shopify, packaging, retail signage, and marketplace listings
- Typography system — warmth and readability for mobile-first Indian shoppers
- Iconography system — category icons, safety certification badges, and feature callout icons
- Brand voice guide — warm, reassuring, expert, and empathetic to first-time Indian parents
- 40-page brand guidelines document for internal teams, packaging vendors, and retail outlet designers
- 300+ keyword research and SEO strategy for Indian baby care D2C market
- Shopify storefront design — mobile-first, 8 category hubs, trust-signal-led homepage
- 8 category landing pages — lifestyle imagery, editorial category copy, filtered product grids
- Product copywriting across 500+ SKUs — reassuring, feature-rich, safety-focused
- Free shipping (₹499+) and COD badging coded into product and cart pages for Indian D2C conversion
- Shopify development — custom theme with metafield product attribute management
- Technical SEO: Product, Offer, BreadcrumbList, CollectionPage schema across 500+ products
- Faceted navigation SEO controls — age, category, and size filtering without duplicate URL indexation
- Performance optimisation — WebP delivery, lazy loading, minimal JS for Indian mobile networks
- Blog content strategy — parenting guides, developmental milestones, feeding and swaddle how-tos
- QA across 16 device configurations including entry-level Android devices
- Zero-downtime launch
