Research that improves men’s health

Improving the digital accessibility of research findings for a leading program in men’s health promotion interventions.

Background

The Men's Health Research Program at UBC, under the School of Nursing, focuses on understanding the impact of men's health behaviors and illness management on partners, families, and overall quality of life. The program's research findings support various men's health interventions and provide guidance to clinicians and researchers to promote men's health in areas such as psychosocial prostate cancer care, smoking cessation, and male suicide prevention.

The challenge

Although the program offers a wealth of resources and publications, their online presence appeared outdated and finding relevant information was a challenge for users due to poor information architecture and navigation.

Project objectives

• Improve information architecture for intuitive content discovery for various audience types
• Improve site architecture and navigation for easier browsing
• Implement a responsive solution on a page builder (Divi) that can be supported on WordPress
• Modernize the overall aesthetic and user experience for better engagement

Design process

• Conducted a brand and website audit to identify key recommendations
• Reconstructed the site structure to improve user experience and create a logical information architecture
• Improved information architecture by considering hierarchy of information and additional information needed across the pages
• Designed directly on the Divi page builder after wireframes of the pages were approved
• Utilized tools such as Whimsical, Figma, Illustrator, InDesign, and Divi
• Targeted audience included researchers, health professionals, program administrators, students, and the general public
• The project was completed in a duration of 6 months

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Tools

Whimsical, Divi, Figma, Illustrator, InDesign, Divi

Target audience

Researchers, Health professionals (e.g., clinicians, nurses, psychiatrists), Program administrators, Students, General public

Duration

6 months

Discovery

Site structure reconstruction

MHR has a broad audience range and a wealth of information and resources, though finding information for different audience types was not intuitive. The focus of the project was largely on improving user experience and creating a logical information architecture that makes content easier to find. Opportunities to help showcase various research studies and partner organization was also considered in this phase.

Improving information architecture

Consideration for hierarchy of information and what additional information was needed across the pages were wire-framed out. Design was directly done on the Divi page builder after wireframe of the pages were approved.

Discovery process

The discovery phase of the project involved identifying key challenges with the existing Men's Health Research Program (MHR) website, including difficulties for diverse audiences in finding the information they needed. Through a process of site structure reconstruction and user experience analysis, the team identified opportunities to improve information architecture and navigation, making it easier for users to find the resources they were looking for. Additionally, the team identified key brand attributes of MHR as approachable, resourceful, innovative, trustworthy, and competent, and used this understanding to shape their communications plan and brand.

Conceptual design

Additional work was done to explore how the design directions for the website and the brand could be expressed. This included mocking up a single home page for desktop, with a focus on sensitive topics such as men's suicide prevention and mental health. The goal was to convey the brand personality of MHR, complement the UBC brand, appeal to a primarily lay male audience, and distinguish itself from other organizations working in men's health.

Insights

Key findings and insights emerged upon conducting a website audit and discovery session to understand the challenges with the current website. Key findings from the audit and session led to recommendations for improving the brand and website, including:

• Making the website responsive for better accessibility on different devices
• Updating the website's design to reflect the organization's brand personality
• Streamlining the menu navigation and site structure to make content easier to find.

These insights shaped the direction of the re-design project and ensured that the new website would meet the needs of diverse audiences and provide a better user experience