Dementia Australia’s new website wins design award

Dementia Australia’s new website has received been recognised for exceptional design and innovation at the 2024 Australian Good Design Awards.

This year’s theme, ‘The Design Effect’ underscored the crucial role design plays in shaping better products, services, spaces, and experiences while driving the transition to a more sustainable, less carbon-intensive future.

Judges of the Good Design Awards praised the redesign of the Dementia Australia website ecosystem, which plays a critical role for more than 421,000 Australians living with dementia and more than 1.6 million people involved in their care. However, previously their digital ecosystem was fragmented and didn’t offer an intuitive or supportive pathway, making it difficult for people to find information on diagnosis and support options.

In 2022, Dementia Australia engaged health strategic design specialists, Liquid, to create a dementia-friendly website experience that would break down barriers relating to accessibility and literacy.

Informed by research with people living with dementia, families, friends and carers, health workers and supporters, the new website provides people living with dementia with a viable option to access dementia support.

Key to Liquid’s approach was the usability of the new website addressing the potential declining cognition of the audience, considering issues like memory loss, difficulty performing familiar tasks, abstract thinking and language problems.

Judges said: “This project touched the entire Jury and was a standout example of how sensitive information can meet design in a beautifully considered and empowering manner, built around education on a key health topic. You have really set a benchmark for how to approach site build of this manner, without compromising on user needs and experience.”

The new website includes a heavy use of colour and affordances to help people interact with components of the website. To reduce the need for abstract thinking and to avoid subtlety that can cause confusion for users, the design uses large, clear navigation, buttons, cards and spotlights, and responsive type size with distinct heading levels.

Dementia Australia CEO Professor Tanya Buchanan said it was fantastic for the Dementia Australia website to be recognised for its dementia-friendly design.

“Congratulations to everyone involved in the project. Dementia Australia is committed to dementia-friendly and accessible design in everything that we do. It is vital that the Dementia Australia website is accessible and meets the needs of people impacted by dementia so they can access trusted information, education and life-changing services and support. It serves as the gateway for people to get information about contacting the National Dementia Helpline by phone on 1800 100 500 or by email or chat.”

Liquid CEO, Fiona Armstrong, expressed her pride of the dementia-friendly experience that her team created in collaboration with Dementia Australia.

“The new website supports and empowers people through their diagnosis, as well as their families, carers and health professionals, achieving real and sustainable benefits for people living with dementia.”

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