Project: Jigsaw by Matrix Internet

The Brief

Jigsaw is Ireland’s most prominent support network for young people’s mental health. From early intervention, to providing ongoing support to young people and their families and friends, clear and sensitive communication is crucial. Jigsaw needed a new website that spoke to young people and their communities with empathy, while highlighting all of their essential services.

Jigsaw’s main aim is to make sure no young person in Ireland feels alone or disconnected. And like Jigsaw, we prioritised their needs before embarking on design and development. As with all projects, we opened with a collaborative discovery workshop, but took a different approach. Our UX designers created an open forum and listened to the voices of frontline workers and regional officers. These frontline staff embraced the chance to speak emotionally about Jigsaw’s powerful role in the community, and this in turn helped us to empathise with young people’s feelings before, during and after their engagement with Jigsaw.
Through this insightful process both parties laid a foundation built on trust, and we understood the need for an inclusive message that appealed to the groups we identified:

Young people in need of support;
Parents or guardians;
Professionals and volunteers who work with young people (teachers, sports coaches etc).
Jobseekers;
Donors.

We’ve made sure Jigsaw makes an engaging and inviting first impression to users, with a bold colour palette, images of real young people throughout the site, and prominent functionality for chat services, urgent help and donate buttons. We also empowered Jigsaw by offering them enhanced control over their content — we designed bespoke templates and provided training so they can create and edit pages quickly, without the need for external help.

We’re proud to have helped Jigsaw achieve their vision of an essential hub for young people, and communities all over Ireland.

Wesbite Link

Key Features

01
Custom graphic design with custom icons and an inviting colour scheme — and mobile-first, to appeal to younger users;
02
Prominent photos of real people;
03
Prominent and sensitive calls to action — ‘talk online’ function embedded in the mission statement on landing page; buttons for ‘Need urgent help’, ‘Donate’, and easy breakdown of relevant services;
04
Focus on Jigsaw’s story, vision, goals, and community-driven approach;
05
Streamlined UX, for simple and logical navigation to services and information;
06
Page templates and relevant training so Jigsaw can update the site without external assistance.

Goals

To create a friendly and informative hub for young people and the wider community that aligns with Jigsaw’s vision of inclusivity and essential support.

Raise the digital presence of Jigsaw as an essential mental health service for young people;
Implement multiple support and chat functionality, so users can talk to others quickly and easily from their home;
Become an essential site for information on mental health issues, and to highlight Jigsaw’s nationwide community work.

Process

A heavy focus on inviting design, clear information to users and a seamless UX — from workshops and collaboration to live deployment and beyond.

Discovery workshops with frontline staff on UX, sitemap and a diverse range of personas;
Gather feedback from the client from focus groups, to implement functionality;
Custom graphic design with an emphasis on bold visuals, bespoke icons and photos;
Deploy bespoke website.

Results

A sensitive, informative website that’s easy to navigate, and speaks openly to young people with mental health issues.

A clearly laid-out presentation of Jigsaw’s essential services and early intervention support;
In first three months since launch, traffic increased by 22% and the number of sessions was up by 26% on same period last year;
In first three months, 45% increase in monthly direct debit donors, and a 76% increase in once-off credit card donations over the same period last year;
Site adaptability through the design of new custom templates, and training so that staff can update content in the future.

Testimonial

Working closely with Matrix, we were able to bring a platform tailored to support, inform and educate the many different audiences we have at Jigsaw. Continuously looking at the most effective ways to develop strong user journeys, we found Matrix to be extremely responsive during the duration of the project and beyond.