Product Design, UI/UX Design
Alzheimer's New Zealand are an amazing organisation that exist to help Kiwis living – or supporting someone – with dementia. Their old site had so much valuable content that was almost impossible to find, resulting in a stressful user experience when people are already under tremendous distress.
UX research, information architecture, user flow design, prototyping, visual design, and collaboration with accessibility-focused development.
A complete redesign of the Alzheimers NZ website to create a more accessible, supportive, and user-friendly experience—especially for families and carers under significant emotional stress.
Empathise & Research
I immersed myself in the world of those affected by dementia through qualitative research—first-person accounts, podcasts, and global competitor analysis. The goal was to deeply understand user pain points and identify best-practice patterns in similar organisations.
Define & Prioritise
We scoped a large-scale content migration and identified clear needs: simple navigation, improved content hierarchy, and adherence to WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards. I worked closely with a specialist developer to ensure accessibility was embedded in the design from the start.
Collaborative Workshops
Facilitated a content and user flow workshop with key stakeholders—including users with dementia, caregivers, and internal staff—to co-create a structure that made sense for everyone.
Ideate & Prototype
Created wireframes and a clickable prototype to test key journeys (e.g. for carers, community members). We iterated based on user feedback, focusing on clarity, readability, and emotional support.
Design & Refine
Designed a clean, calm interface that stayed true to the existing brand while softening the palette to evoke warmth and trust. Functionality led the way, but aesthetics were carefully considered to make the experience feel reassuring.
The old branding was dated and needed a refresh while still retaining some of its well known assets.
I shifted the brand to be more modern and friendly, while still being sensitive and informative.
Made while at Scratch DesignCreative director and producer: Ross Cameron
Lead designer: Sandi MacKechnie (me!)
Web Development: Jack Marsh