Wellways K.I.T website

As one of Australia's leading not-for-profit organisations in the mental health and disability support space, Wellways has a long history of supporting people in difficult situations. As COVID-19 drastically changed our way of life, Wellways saw the need for a centralised information resource for those struggling with the effects of the pandemic.

Wellways tasked us with designing and developing a simple to use microsite that would house a variety of resources for people seeking help and support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the site to be effective, it needed to be rolled out quickly. As Wellways were creating content, we were designing and developing the site alongside. Therefore it was essential that we worked closely together throughout the project.

We developed a visual identity for the website that was friendly and approachable, but could clearly display the content on offer, and make resources as easy to locate and digest as possible.

The website was built on Craft CMS, providing Wellways with an easy platform for managing ongoing content updates, given that the goal was for this to be a continued source of support for users.

Getting the foundations right

One of the aspects of this project was that users would likely be unaware of what exactly they were looking for on the site. For this reason, the site needed a clean approach to navigation, journey entry and visual design.

We created interactive wireframes to inform and stress test the core of the site experience. An important factor to establish early was entry paths to content, which needed to be clearly signposted for the user to be able to navigate effectively.

Wireframe design also covered user journeys to external off-platform content, plus given the subject matter, we needed functionality to allow for sharing content easily.

Creating an inclusive design

The visual design for the microsite had to be modern and appealing but above all, approachable. Users of this site would likely be feeling distressed, and the design needed to be welcoming so that users would feel comfortable accessing what they needed.

We utilised an illustrative style accompanied with bright colours to achieve a visually appealing design that expressed positivity and optimism. We also made sure to include some simple animations to give the website a light tone to make the subject matter easier to digest.

We created a visually appealing and simple-to-use website filled with subtle flourishes that took a distressing subject matter and made it approachable for people in need of help.