The government's Better to Know website is all about empowering youth with sexual health information. This website has been live for close to 10 years and the team have just relaunched the latest iteration.
Read about user research conducted to inform design decisions on the new website.
The user research conducted in Discovery laid the foundation for improvements users will see on the new website.
Rethinking how content is presented
The main user group for this website are Yukon youth so the team invested time to make sure the website meets their needs. They grouped content into categories that made sense to youth and they also identified gaps in content they were able to fill. Content for their other user groups is also available on the website through the Support Services menu and search.
While much of the content is presented as text, they have also added illustrations and video to support the text and present information in a variety of ways to meet different user needs.
The content is also presented in French and English.
Informing the website's visual design
The Better to Know website has always been good at presenting factual information to youth. In this iteration, it was also important to create and implement a visual design that:
- makes it fun and easy to explore and navigate on a desktop or mobile device;
- gives visual prominance to the most requested content; and
- encourages youth to explore and learn more about a topic of interest.
Meeting business needs to better meet user needs
If users sense content is out of date, they don't trust the information and they likely won't come back to the website. One of the biggest unmet business needs was the team's ability to easily create new pages and update existing content. The team now have access and training to do this. This means the content will be accurate and up-to-date which will ensure the website remains a trusted online resource for sexual health information.
Linking users to local supports and resources
Another improvement on this website is how the team took the extra step to link Yukon youth to local supports and resources available in their communities. And of course they still have links to excellent with online resources available to anyone.
When we launch websites to the public it's important we never stop in our aim to improve the user experience with each iteration and the Better to Know website is right on track.
Let us know what you think about the new site
You can comment on this post, email [email protected] or you can submit your feedback directly on the Better to Know website.