Web Strategy & UX
Mental Health First Aid
A streamlined site for advancing mental health
Mental Health First Aid, a program from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, set an ambitious goal of training 1 in 15 Americans in first aid designed to address mental health. To continue pushing toward that goal, the organization needed a website designed to convert. They came to Grafik for a new site built on a strong strategic foundation.
User Testing for Refined, Clear Journeys
Two major goals for the new site were 1) to create a clearer hierarchy of content and action, rather than presenting multiple calls-to-action with the same level of visual weight, and 2) to make it abundantly clear to the user which of MHFA’s training options they should pursue. To solve for these, Grafik focused intently on developing a sitemap and IA with clear pathways, and conducted user testing to assess and refine that sitemap before moving into the wireframe phase.
We also worked to refine MHFA’s personas, to ensure the site structure we created would be able to drive them to the correct areas. Although the organization had previously established user profiles, we realized as our strategy developed that we needed to organize them in three major groups based on the call-to-action that applied to them. This led us to structure the site for the two primary user groups of B2B and B2C, as well as a secondary Advocate user.
Focused on the Journey
With this approach, we were able to create two major hubs for the site, Training for Individuals and Training for Organizations. Based on the feedback from user testing, we also utilized longer phrases for many of the CTAs within these two overarching journeys, all to help drive users to their destination with clarity and ease.
Addressing Questions Before They’re Asked
Guiding Users
It was vital to the MHFA team that the site be helpful to users, so we created sections throughout key pages with multiple guiding CTAs as well as a button to launch the chatbot, which uses information directly fed into it as well as AI to aid site visitors.
Trainers and Trainees
MHFA offers both direct training in mental health first aid as well as courses to become a trainer, after which an instructor can work with teens and students or adults. We used action-based verbiage and headlines to distinguish sections and help the user understand the differences.
An Updated Look and Feel
Evoking Wellbeing
MHFA needed a site that reflected the feeling of calm, capable, and friendly. And the design needed to work within the existing brand as well as complement the parent brand, the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. We stripped back some of the extraneous colors from the previous site, replacing them with a warm, comforting background and a more cohesive color scheme. Imagery evoking helpfulness, kindness, and steady guidance further reinforced the feeling throughout the site.
“I am already so excited for this design. Option one, you guys nailed our brand. I’m super pleased with everything that I’m seeing. The petals look great, the colors look great. Everything feels a lot more elevated and a little bit more professional feeling. So I’m super happy with what I’m seeing.”
Rachel – Art Director, MHFA National Council
Assistance From AI
Grafik worked closely to source, test, and ultimately choose and implement an AI chatbot feature for the MHFA site. The chatbot can be launched from anywhere on the site via an icon, and we also incorporated CTAs on key pages that open the chat. The AI Agent can respond to user queries and suggest pages on the site where the user can get more information, acting as another method of guidance.
Outcome
All the iteration, testing, and tweaking resulted in a site for Mental Health First Aid that is calm, friendly, and above all, helpful. Focused on getting users to the courses and information that fits their needs, the site structure and CTAs throughout help guide the user to explore and, ultimately, convert.