Creating a digital safe space for young people and their caregivers
Sector(s):
Service(s):
The Change
321.9%
increase in web traffic compared to last year (48,000 vs 202,551)
1 million+
impressions and 185,661 interactions across social media platforms
119
youth and caregivers engaged
40
pieces of media coverage
A new website to help youth access vital health services
Foundry is a province-wide network of integrated health and wellness services for youth ages 12-24 and their families. Foundry is marking 10 years of transforming how young people across British Columbia access health and wellness services.
We partnered with Foundry to redevelop its website and create an integrated campaign to mark its anniversary. The goal was to create a more accessible and youth-friendly digital experience while celebrating Foundry’s impact.
The challenge
During early discovery, we heard that the existing website had become a barrier to access. Youth described it as confusing and not designed with their needs in mind. The redesign needed to remove these barriers, be mobile forward, and reflect the realities of how young people seek support and information online.
The approach – putting user voices at the forefront
Community Engagement & Discovery
The redesign was informed by research and engagement with 119 youth and caregivers. Through workshops, surveys, focus groups, and user research activities, we gained valuable insights into user needs and priorities.
User-Centred Design
Research revealed that youth, caregivers, and health professionals each require different experiences. The site was designed with tailored pathways, intuitive navigation, and mobile-first layouts to help users quickly find the support they need.
Accessibility & Testing
Accessibility and emotional safety guided every design decision. Through testing and refinement, we created an experience that is welcoming, easy to navigate, and accessible across devices.
Campaign development
We were also tasked with creating a campaign to launch the new website. Our cross-jurisdictional review for the campaign showed that authenticity and real lived experiences were the strongest drivers of connection for youth, caregivers, and professionals. This insight was the foundation of the campaign: “10 Years, 10 Stories, 10 Voices”, highlighting personal stories from across the Foundry community.
Campaign execution
The anniversary campaign shares weekly self-filmed stories from youth, caregivers, and professionals, each edited into a 45-second, social-ready video. Every story was optimized for paid and earned posts on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, Facebook, and BlueSky. To reach local communities where Foundry centres operate, we created a province-wide press release featuring new data on youth service use.
All content drives to a dedicated landing page that houses the full 10 stories, grouped by audience, along with a visual timeline of Foundry’s evolution.
Discovery and community engagement
Our website redesign began with a single, non-negotiable goal: create a digital space where young people feel safe, seen, and supported from the moment they land on the homepage.
To achieve this, we built the entire experience around research and genuine engagement with the people who would use it most. Our UX process brought together discovery sessions, youth and caregiver engagement groups, staff focus groups, surveys, Instagram snap polls, competitor reviews, card sorting, and detailed persona development.
In total, we engaged 119 youth and caregivers.
Designing for distinct audiences
What we heard consistently was that we couldn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. A young person seeking mental health support brings a different level of urgency, emotional vulnerability, and digital literacy than a caregiver, a health professional, or someone looking to donate.
Our design solution was to allow visitors to identify themselves as either a youth, caregiver, or health professional as soon as they arrive at the homepage. After this selection, user pathways are tailored differently, allowing each audience to find what they need as quickly and calmly as possible.
Designing for emotional safety
Feedback during our engagements also showed that audiences gravitated towards youth-friendly colours and Foundry’s animal illustrations. We transformed these illustrations into small moments of delight and reassurance throughout the site.
A hummingbird travels with you as you scroll, an orca playfully animates during page loads, and if something goes wrong, a raccoon with a boba tea appears, turning what could be a point of frustration into a gentle cue to try again. These micro-interactions were intentionally designed to reduce anxiety, create a sense of companionship, and reinforce that youth are not navigating their challenges alone.
Designing for accessibility
Accessibility and emotional safety guided every technical and visual decision. With most young users accessing the site on their phones, mobile-first layouts were essential.
We ensured content was easy to read, navigation was intuitive, and critical support resources were never more than a tap away. We ensured that the website featured clear contrast ratios, plain-language content, screen-reader compatibility, and trauma-informed design principles, so the experience could meet youth where they are.
A website and campaign that create safe spaces for young people and their caregivers
The new site and the 10-story campaign are helping reconnect youth, caregivers, and professionals to Foundry’s expanding services.
The website launched at the end of 2025, and we saw a significant improvement in web traffic compared to the previous year. A big driver of this traffic was the campaign, which saw widespread media coverage across BC and strong traction across social platforms. With 48.7% of website visitors coming to the campaign landing page, we knew that the campaign was a successful took to drive people to the new website.
Campaign outcome
321.9% increase
in web traffic compared to the same period last year (48,000 in 2024 vs 202,551 in 2025)
40 pieces
of media coverage secured, and 4 interviews with local news outlets across BC
1 million+ impressions
and 185,661 interactions across social media platforms
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