Everymind has long recognised the importance of promoting safe and responsible media reporting on mental health and suicide. However, they noticed a persistent problem with the use of general stock images for communicating these critical issues. Stock images often reinforce harmful stereotypes and perpetuate the stigma associated with mental health and suicide, making it difficult for people to access accurate and helpful information.
Recognising the need for a solution, Everymind reached out to HyperWeb to consult on a website that would address this problem. After careful consideration and research, Everymind decided to engage HyperWeb to build a resource that would promote safe and accurate media reporting on mental health and suicide.
HyperWeb worked closely with the Everymind project team to understand their needs and develop a comprehensive solution that would meet their goals. The result of their collaboration was the website: Images matter: Mindframe guidelines for image use. A practical, research-informed, and user-friendly resource that is designed for media and other communicators. A resource that seeks to inform, support and empower people to select and use images in ways that minimise stigma and harm and maximise the diversity of representation. The resource was funded by the National Mental Health Commission and developed in consultation with a diverse range of stakeholders in Australia.
Everymind developed a photographic brief and commissioned a number of photographers to take unique and research-based photo shoots. Part of our proposal was to use WordPress with WooCommerce as the base content management system. This was attractive to Everymind as they were interested in expanding their stack of CMS and exploring the increase in content management access, ease of use, and reporting offered by WordPress and WooCommerce.
The design brief was to follow existing brand guidelines specific to the website of the parent program which was built on a different CMS. We developed a complimentary custom WordPress design.
Informing the User Experience was the need to ensure the Mindframe Guidelines were prominent early in the user journey. Users need to register for the site acknowledging they have read the guidelines, and each download requires an acknowledgement along with the option to provide information about the intended use of the image.
We used WooCommerce as the basis for delivering the images as “products” while engineering out the “add-to-cart”, “cart” and “checkout” steps that is the default in WooCommerce. We replaced this with a method where clicking the “download” button creates a WooCommerce “order”. This allows for each download to be tracked and recorded as orders and maintained in the user’s account history. It also allows for downloads to be tracked as “purchases” in Google Analytics eCommerce reporting to show the quantity of images downloaded, downloads per unique image, and downloads per account holder.
The final result is a website containing a comprehensive database of images that are research-informed, diverse, and depict mental health and suicide in a responsible and accurate manner. The website also includes a user-friendly reporting interface that provides valuable insights into the adoption of the resource and its impact on the media and communications industries.
Everymind launched the Images matter: Mindframe guidelines for image use website to the Australian media and reporting community with great success. The website has been widely embraced by journalists, editors, and communicators who are seeking safe and accurate images to use in their reporting on mental health and suicide. With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive database of images, Images matter: Mindframe guidelines for image use has become an indispensable resource for the media and communications industries. Since its launch in October 2022, over 600 images have been downloaded by nearly 100 users.
Everymind’s partnership with HyperWeb has resulted in a critical resource for the media and communications industries. The Images matter: Mindframe guidelines for image use website is a testament to Everymind’s commitment to promoting safe and responsible media reporting on mental health and suicide, and HyperWeb’s expertise in developing user-friendly and impactful websites using making innovative use of WordPress and WooCommerce.
Take a look at their new website: https://mindframeimages.org.au
