A source of reliable advice for people with Crohn's and Colitis.
Content design for Crohn's and Colitis UK on behalf of Lark in 2016.
The brief
More than 300,000 people in the UK have some form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, including Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. There is no cure, so people have to manage their condition carefully, often following advice they find online.
​
The charity Crohn's and Colitis UK wanted to launch an online resource to help people find trustworthy information and take control of their health.
The challenge
Through a series of discovery workshops, research activities and mapping exercises, the project team defined the challenge.
The resource needed to work for several types of user:
-
people who have been recently diagnosed
-
people who have been living with it for a while
-
parents, families and carers of people who have the condition
It also needed to:
-
be mobile-friendly
-
be easy to understand and navigate
-
use open and positive language about sensitive topics
-
reassure people who are in pain or distress
-
tell users what to expect from each piece of advice content
-
include advice from many different sources, in a variety of formats
What we did
-
The subject matter experts at Crohn's and Colitis UK compiled a directory of reliable advice and online content – including their own materials as well as external sources.
-
We sorted the content into intuitive groupings based on audience types and user needs.
-
We crafted concise descriptions, or 'digital signposts', for each piece of advice content.
-
Partner agency Electric Putty designed and built the interface – a responsive, mobile-first website.
-
After launch, we reviewed the website and refined it even further.
​
Image shows the responsive site in action: on the 'I need help managing my symptoms' page.
What I did
One of my main tasks was to write the digital signposts. This often meant distilling a whole web page or PDF of complicated health information into a summary of a few plain English sentences.
To get this right, I made sure that each signpost:
-
told people the most vital piece of information they needed upfront
-
used sensitive language that reassured people as much as possible
-
had a heading that was helpful for people who scan web pages, instead of read them
-
contained a clear call to action so people knew where the link would take them
-
adhered to the style guide and brand language principles (which we also created)
-
was refined and signed off by clinicians and other knowledgeable stakeholders
The result gave users a helpful preview of what to expect when they clicked through – making it easier to navigate to the right information.​
Image shows the responsive site in action: on the 'I need advice for travelling with IBD' page.
A few months after launch, I audited the site to identify any UX issues that occurred. After further research, we also identified another important audience: young people transitioning from children's care to adult care.
​
My improvements included:
-
writing a new section called 'I'm a young person with Crohn's or Colitis'
-
restructuring an entire section about lifestyle and travel
-
small UX changes such as subheadings and descriptive text on download buttons
-
amending metadata to ensure social media sharing was seamless
​
The result
The site, the Crohn's and Colitis Companion, was nominated for a User Experience UK Award in 2017.
Crohn's and Colitis UK also received much praise on social media.
Here are a few examples:
-
"This is fantastic. I'm newly diagnosed and have loads of questions. This provides quick access to in-depth info on some of the issues I'm experiencing."
-
"Excellent website. Very clear and easy to navigate."
-
"Great site, nice and clear to see everything and find what you're looking for."
​