Overhauling a Mental Health Services Website
Grappling with mental health issues is an isolating experience. It’s a difficult subject to broach with others and it’s challenging to find help. Mike Stroh knows this from personal experience, and after almost 30 years of struggling to find the services he needed, he decided to create them himself.
Mike founded Starts With Me, a company dedicated to raising awareness and improving mental health among students and employees of all ages.
Pain Points
We interviewed four individuals and analyzed 48 responses to an online survey on mental health services. All respondents were HR professionals who had hired or considered hiring a mental health speaker for their employees. Two major pain points emerged:
- Users wanted to find someone credible to discuss mental health.
- They wanted effective services — ones that improve employee outcomes, like increasing productivity and reducing burn out.
Visual Design
For the visual design, we wanted to evoke a mood in users that reflected Mike’s business proposition — that mental health doesn’t have to be academic, boring, and riddled with statistics.
Instead, it can be about positivity and liveliness. Since scientific studies have shown that blue is associated with competency and trust, I created a mood board showcasing blue with orange accents.
The goal from a visual perspective was to create a feeling of calmness, balanced by energy and inspiration. I opted for images that were lively (orange drink, bright yarn) but showcased the daunting task of overcoming one’s mental demons (the mountain).
Design Solutions
Users wanted to know that Mike was credible. To tackle this, I showcased Mike’s biggest clients (e.g., Amazon, Hyundai, Hootsuite) immediately under the hero. To emphasize his academic credentials, I cut excess verbiage in his personal biography and added his Masters degree in Counselling Psychology (which he divulged in an interview, but was missing from his site!).
It was also important to users that Mike was effective — that his work increased productivity and reduced burnout. To demonstrate this, we put testimonials on the landing page, along with the name and company of the individual leaving the testimony. We also organized Mike’s content to show he was up-to-date on mental health research and issues. We made one cohesive “Resources” section, with a sub-navigation bar that would link directly to each media type.
A Worthwhile Experience
Mike acknowledged that his main goal in improving the website was to win more corporate clients, which could fund his work in schools (i.e., schools have less money for these services). However, he was hesitant to advertise his website because he knew it needed work. It was a challenge that involved wading through pages and pages of content, while trying to walk the line between “corporate/professional” and “energetic/lively” in design and tone. The outcome was a polished, clean, and fresh looking experience.
Mike is working incredibly hard to spread his message and serve others, and we believe the new website (now in development) will help him get there.
I am excited to be individually working with Mike to make his site responsive by designing for mobile and tablet screens.
Working with him on on such an important cause has been a pleasure!
