Over 65,000 Australians attempt suicide every year. 8 people die every day. We needed to design a digital experience for a high-suicide risk audience, directed to the site by highly targeted digital activity. Based on the Lifeline Safety Planning Guide and developed with a clinical psychologist, our goal was to create a frictionless experience that reduced cognitive load on users, providing clear access to support services as a priority.
Every part of the site was engineered with clinical consideration. A minimalist design fostered calm, loading content word by word and using simple card-based navigation to reduce cognitive load. Large sans-serif fonts and increased line spacing enhanced readability under stress, and calming colour palettes helped lower heart rates and reduce anxiety.
The site featured crowd-sourced support messages from the public, as well as bespoke animations with behavioural calming exercises to distract users from their thoughts and encourage the moment to pass.
