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The Dementia Dog website we designed in 2016 was a major improvement since the previous one, but by 2020, the project’s services changed completely, partly because of Covid 19 restrictions. The existing website was obsolete and it needed a complete redesign, both in content and layout.
In order to set the brief, we highlighted what worked, what didn’t and what had potential of the existing website consulting the DD team, people with a diagnosis of dementia and some canine and health professionals. It became apparent that the identity of the project and its aims lost their primary focus since launch in 2013, so we spent considerable time distilling what Dementia Dog is, what it does, why and how.
A significant amount of time was spent condensing the essence of the project, using carefully selected words from the conversations we had with all the stakeholders, users and staff. These words were used strategically throughout the website and in the headers. The language used is purposely convivial, to reflect the spirit of the project. All the jargon previously used was dropped and replaced with a more accessible and friendly language, although retaining the specialised elements of such a pioneering project.
To address the problem of large volume of enquiries, a prominent section of the website was designed to address common queries from health care and canine professionals, families and volunteers, both in the UK and abroad. Both the Service Finder and FAQ pages are interactive, user driven tools designed to reduce staff support calls and tailored responses. Detailed user journeys dictated the integration with different backend tools (Mailchimp, Dynamics 365) to automate the onboarding of different users.
