I recently attended a meetup hosted by IDEO about designing for inclusivity. Amongst the talks was a case study of the “Talk to Frank” website redesign. Talk to Frank is a drugs awareness service that gives honest information.
Background of talk to frank
Talk to Frank is a government-run service that gives the public useful and honest information about drugs, such as what they are, what they look like, and how they affect you. Instead of having people, for example, teenagers, getting false or misleading information or opinions online, talk to Frank is a website with facts from trusted sources. I remember hearing about Talk to Frank when I was a teenager. Back then, they had a big marketing budget and advertised heavily. Emma Howell from CXpartners introduced their brief – redesign the Talk to Frank website. It was great to hear about the research and thought that went into the redesign. They thought about how they could design for their audience and considered things like:
- page load time
- regional variations in the names of drugs and how they are described
- the language used not to make visitors feel judged
Page load time
Many young people are on restrictive data packages. Emma didn’t want to make a website with all bells and whistles that would eat up a visitor’s data allowance. Instead, they wanted to ensure visitors had easy access to trusted information.
Regional variation in the language used.
Emma’s team monitored the search terms people used to arrive at the site. How someone refers to a particular drug may not be the same in London as in Newcastle.
Language
They consulted specialists to ensure they weren’t using language and terms that would make visitors feel judged or talked down to. For example, words such as “addict” were avoided so negative stereotypes were not perpetuated. They wanted their visitors to feel that Talk to Frank was a safe place to answer questions.
Key takeaways
- Know your audience: respect them and their time.
- Do your research upfront, and after the service launches so you can continuously improve.