Just the facts
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF) is a leading advocate for drug and alcohol education in Australia. They work in partnership with a range of individuals, local communities and organisations to support and create evidence-based policies and practice that prevent and minimise the harm caused by alcohol and other drugs.
Their research has also culminated in a comprehensive database of drug information and support services. The Drug Facts are the most visited part of the site, giving impartial, up-to-date information people can rely on.
Although they boast a widely trusted and highly-respected website, the drugs landscape is always changing and becoming more complex, and the ADF never stop looking for new ways to educate and raise awareness.
When they found the Drug Wheel, an educational device originally developed in the UK, they immediately knew it would be a useful addition to their suite of digital offerings.
The Drug Wheel is a colourful and approachable sunburst chart that classifies drugs by name, effect and category, and is a new model for discussing drugs in the context of how they relate to one another.
Having previously engaged Liquorice to design and build their new website, the ADF knew we'd be up for a fresh challenge.
Reinventing the wheel
The project began with a research period, looking at similar sunburst charts and how they were implemented online. Though there was no one perfect solution, elements of several successful examples served as inspiration for our own design.
Together with the ADF, we looked at how we could incorporate this new, singular element into a number of separate pages, and how we might translate such a visually complex artwork (one that was designed to be discussed face-to-face) into a digital space.
We realised early on that a static image wouldn't work: to be useful and meaningful, it needed to be dynamic.
We reimagined the wheel as an interactive chart: one that wasn't independent to the drug facts, but simply another way of viewing them. By integrating the wheel with the current, grid-like Drug Facts section in a way that made sense to users, we could encourage interaction and discovery.
The launch of the drug wheel has been a huge success. The intuitive and enticing design has led to a deepening of engagement with the drug facts content. Our visitors are exploring more information and for longer as the drug wheel allows them to understand the relationship between drugs and to understand the drug landscape as a whole. Liquorice's work on the design and UX of the wheel was tied to a deep understanding of what we were trying to achieve. This level of care shows in the finished project, it makes understanding the complex drug landscape accessible for everyone. There has been a great response from the health professional, community and education sectors. On launch at our national conference, we had numerous people excited to use the drug wheel to educate and inform the people that they work with.
A fresh perspective
The updated site now features an interactive drug wheel which takes some of the more complex, in-depth information and makes it accessible. Individuals are empowered with more knowledge and professionals are given a new tool with which to teach.
By introducing tabs to the Drug Facts pages, we have enabled users to toggle between text view and drug wheel view. We also integrated the wheel's colour scheme and approach to categorisation to create a seamless transition between those views. This method of nesting drug facts within categories allowed users to easily navigate the wheel and maintain visibility of the bigger picture.
Users reading about any drug can now see what type of drug it is, and which drugs are related, adding a new dimension to their understanding of drugs and their relationship to each other.