Re-Designing the Dementia Australia Website Ecosystem

The Dementia Australia digital ecosystem was fragmented and couldn’t keep pace with the needs of its audience. People living with dementia are vulnerable and experiencing complex, overwhelming life change. The website didn’t offer an intuitive or supportive pathway and made it difficult to find information on diagnosis and support options. The new solution needed to help people access resources and information, support better standards of care and reduce stigma, discrimination and isolation. Through user research and a human-centred design approach, we worked with Dementia Australia to create a digital experience that would change life outcomes.

Throughout this project we adopted a human-centred design approach to support and empower Australians living with dementia, their families and carers, health professionals and people searching for information. The solution needed to incorporate best-in-class design, improved navigation and user experience backed by modern content publishing protocols, to deliver a robust and scalable website for the future. The goals of the project were divided into four areas: •ensure information was discoverable •ensure website content was accessible and inclusive •create a needs-driven experience •develop fit-for-purpose backend tools.

The new Dementia Australia website ecosystem delivers a robust and scalable national dementia resource by integrating six standalone sites and utilising headless architecture to allow for future innovation and integration, including rich new functionality the team is currently developing to further improve services. It provides people living with dementia, their families and carers as well as health professionals, with a viable option to access dementia support, including those living in regional, rural or remote locations. Improving access to dementia information and resources empowers and supports the dementia experience, leading to better health outcomes.