Design, Layout and UX (User Experience)

I think having an app would be good. Also, a Chrome extension on laptops would be nice. I use the RO PeerChat, and it looks like this. I'm unsure how you do an extension like this, but that would be a nice feature if possible. Another thing would be how RO forums work. There is a space for a quick reply, but you can tag members or go into an advanced editor.

It would be nice to put spoiler tags on a phone.

I also don't think a badge or award system would be good. Members might get competitive with each other and take away the forums' ethos.

It would be good if the notification when you go to new would stay unless you've clicked on the specific message; otherwise, they all have cleared, and you might miss one.

It would be nice to see what members post so you can see how many you have created and be able to access them easily.

It would also be nice for a better layout to see posts. You have the main feed in the centre and the different areas on the side.

One other thing I would say is the time it takes for photos to be available can take a long time.

I really dislike the idea of an 'awards' system @RachSANECEO As others have said @Captain24 @Former-Member @chibam - a reward system would 'cheapen' the site. It would also be difficult to implement, eg. a member could post 20 times in a social thread having a conversation with another member(s). Whilst this is being supportive, it is not the same as another member who replies 3 times (as an example) to 3 new members. What would the parameters be? As it stands, the present 'labelling' of members (ie. Contributor 10 posts, Senior Contributor 30 posts) is done by numbers - not by the support they give nor the 'helpfulness' (for want of a better word) of the content posted by that member. We have also had, in the past, a newer member quickly become a Community Guide then leave the forums soon after. They are now 'tagged' as a Community Elder. This does not sit well with me as their contribution within the forums for such a small amount of time was minimal. We have members here who have been a part of the forums for many, many years, and have provided so much support for others, yet they are still simply a 'Senior Contributor". I would see the 'Community Elder' tag as being much more suitable to these members.

Design of the forum - this was indeed done quickly and with no consultation. I, too, liked the older versions (the softer blues) as @chibam also mentioned. The black and white, in my opinion, makes the site look 'cheap' and uninviting. The black and white is also problematic because it shows there are two sides and no grey in between - which, as we know, with MH this is often a challenge. The research also shows that for many who are neurodivergent, bright colours are not calming.

I can’t comment on previous colours of the forums as haven’t been part of the forums very long. I do remember from business I was employed by decades ago that research showed blue and cream were calming colours whereas green and red were energising colours. When I worked as employment consultant colour scheme of the office was red and green whereas businesses involving money were quite often blue and white (or cream) due to the known calming effect of the colours

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@Zoe7 wrote:

Design of the forum - this was indeed done quickly and with no consultation. I, too, liked the older versions (the softer blues) as @chibam also mentioned. The black and white, in my opinion, makes the site look 'cheap' and uninviting. The black and white is also problematic because it shows there are two sides and no grey in between - which, as we know, with MH this is often a challenge.

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While we're talking about the potential hidden messages that visitors might (rightly or wrongly) read in to the design choices, I'd just like to add that I've never cared for that new logo with the stretched-out "N". To me, that distorted logo could imply that these forums are a place for "distorted" people (which many members of this community are already regarded as anyway, by many of the people they deal with in real life.)

Or, alternatively, because it is the word "sane" distorted, it might imply that this community is distorting the concept of sanity, itself. That's a perception that needs to be taken seriously, as there is a lot of talk going on these days about how the concepts of sanity and mental illness are being twisted around by ideological movements within the health system and governments.

I've often looked at that logo and wondered how other people interpret it's design style. It's so deliberately garish, that the logo is clearly meant to convey a hidden meaning, but that meaning isn't at all clear. My guess is that most visitors would not be inclined to draw an endearing conclusion from it. As a general rule, I believe humans have an innate distaste for visual distortion (I think there's been numerous research projects to that effect? The 'most attractive' people are the ones with the most symmetrical faces? ect.)

@Former-Member You are indeed correct with those colours. I actually wrote my thesis many moons ago on the colour schemes in poster design for children (for a specific sector but I will not write that here). Blues and yellows/creams are the calmest colours and also have the most long lasting impressions on the viewer. The visual effect allows for longevity of message as opposed to the harsher colours that can take away from the actual message intended.

@chibam I totally agree with you about the 'underlying' message that is not only not obvious but also not conveyed. A 'brand' should speak for itself - and if we have to ask for an explanation then that message is certainly not obvious. The visual distortion is a great point - how does that equate to a feeling of support and connection when the logo itself is visually harsh and unappealing.

Reading thoughts by @chibam I found myself thinking, what’s it like for some one very new to the forums and the website

- its busy, it’s confusing, it’s very hard to follow posts

- it’s not easy to find information about the peer group supports/topic tuesday and differences between log in process for both and where on the site gives information about the topics, especially topic Tuesday

- front page contains lot of information. For a newbie it’s overwhelming. So many possible places to click on to find things

Agree @Former-Member We have a very large section to report technical issues but cannot even click a box to return to the required side of the forum (ie. Lived Experience or Carer's). There is so much additional information that does not directly relate to the forums actually on the forums home page. It needs to be streamlined and accessible.

@Zoe7 thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

I understand your perspective.

The logo and the visual identity has more than one job to do. One of the limitations for SANE is the lack of awareness. In market research prior to rebrand, the general public had little to no awareness of SANE. One of our goals is to become a household name. This is important in three ways: so people know we exist so that when they need help they can find us, so that we can access some of the millions and millions in donations raised by other mental health charities (comparatively the other major mental health orgs are hundreds of millions a year, and have millions in reserve cash - SANE by comparison has 49 regular donors (people who give money regularly via direct debit - and I am one of them), and so that corporate partners will see us as an org worth supporting- you might notice that other well known mental health brands have major retailers, products and orgs as partners. We are hoping to find a company that will want to support us in a major way. Thirdly, we want to cut through what is a very crowded sector with our advocacy.

So the identity was about creating something bold, recognisable and a bit different.

The process involved lots of research and analysis, and some codesign with people with a lived experience, we looked at what mental health orgs typically look like visually - and you’re spot on there’s lots of warm, soft palettes and soft messaging.

We wanted to stand up. Take up space, push the boundaries, breakthrough stigma and discrimination- so the brand and visual identity that was created was intended to push the envelope and there’s an important principle there, SANE had been perceived by many stakeholders with high regard but not as much of a stand out or challenge.

One of the things I wanted to do coming in as CEO was challenge this notion that people with complex mental health issues should sit quietly and wait until it’s their turn to speak metaphorically. We see that all the time in the structural discrimination that occurs. Under funding relative to higher prevalence but lower severity mental health issues, left out of key reform groups, lots and lots of mental health discussions, programs just flat out excludes us anytime it gets a bit complicated.

The concept behind the logo itself was one -to keep the name, because there’s really important history in who named this org SANE and why, it was adopted from a UK campaign in the 90’s “Schizophrenia A National Emergency” and it was chosen by the lived experience leaders who founded us.

We didn’t want to lose that legacy just to pick a new name by committee like “Thrive” or whatever just to make the general audience more comfortable.

When the logo with the big N was first presented something really interesting happened to pretty much everyone in the group. There was a bit of discomfort because one of the letters was a different size to the others. Just shaped differently - pushing the other letters aside to make a bit of room.

It was different but also bold, unapologetic and it prompted the viewers to have to question why a letter that’s a different size/shape would make them feel a little uncomfortable.

So the concept is about making space, taking up space, being ok with difference, pushing boundaries - that sort of thing.

I hope that helps explain a bit about how it came about. We have had lots of very positive feedback from people about it where the bold sort of “woah” of the identity has made them see SANE differently, in line with the big digital “reboot” the organisation has had.

It’s even pushed I think some of our drive for the work we’ve done. Like the digital standards - they are a really big deal in Australia and SANE didn’t just pass them, we were first - something I think that’s a bit surprising, for the little org in the sector to beat all the bigger ones… in a lot of the things we consider since that identity change process we are looking to do more/go further/ push the boundaries- for example we declared this year that my job- the CEO role should be an identified lived experience of mental health issues position, as part of our lived experience framework. And we created the Lived Experience Advisory Committee as a subcommittee reporting directly to the board, and specifically requiring it include not just any lived experience but people who actually directly and currently use our programs and services. Lots of organisations have lived experience policies and framework - but I’m not aware of anyone with a commitment that’s at that same level as SANE. The guided service is the first of its kind, digital psychosocial support and we invested heavily in it - in percentage terms I would guess it’s one of the biggest investments by a board in new program development if you consider it as a % of available resources.

We are seeing the impact of the re-brand too in the type of foundations and brands starting to reach out and want to make donations or start a partnership- lots that wouldn’t have reached out before.

We can look at softening the colours and tones in this community and we have thought at times about whether the community itself needs a name - beyond just Forums, that’s certainly possible - but the logo is here to stay.

Hopefully this explanation of the different jobs it has to do will help at least with understanding the why and maybe seeing it in a little bit of a different light.

I do regret the process and that we didn’t engage forum members well in the process.

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@RachSANECEO wrote:

We can look at softening the colours and tones in this community and we have thought at times about whether the community itself needs a name - beyond just Forums, that’s certainly possible - but the logo is here to stay.

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Well, if it's winning over the masses, who am I to judge?🙂