Developing Amaze’s website for young people: how your feedback has shaped our plans so far
Over the past few weeks we have been reaching out to young people with SEND to ask about their needs and ideas for the new Amaze website for young people. We’ve held focus groups in Brighton and Eastbourne, and shared a survey online which we received a fabulous 98 responses to.
We held four group sessions in total, two in Brighton and two in Eastbourne, where we sought feedback through a mix of approaches, including group discussions, smaller discussions in pairs or small groups, contributing ideas with post-it notes onto a shared sheet, and voting on preferences using pebbles and stickers. One-to-one support was provided where appropriate so all attendees could understand the options and communicate their preferences.
We created the survey using software that many of our young people are already used to using – it is used regularly in our East Sussex groups to consult with young people there. It’s easy to use on phones as well as computers, and has features that enabled us to make it more accessible than would have been possible with many other survey websites.
We’ve learned a huge amount from this feedback, which will help us plan a fantastic new website designed to meet the needs of young people. There will also be an opportunity for young people to provide feedback on the website design once it’s ready.
What we learned (click to expand)
The current Amaze website:
around 60% of young people use the current Amaze website- young people who do use the current Amaze website mostly think it’s okay (scoring around 7/10), but there is definitely room for improvement
- we could promote our website better to young people
How they like to use the internet:
- most young people mainly use their phone to access websites
- some young people prefer to use apps to websites
- most young people said they would use an Amazing Futures app if we created one, but further research is needed around what the purpose of such an app might be
What they want to see on the new website:
fun things like quizzes, recipes, and reviews as well as advice and information on SEND topics- mental health advice and information
- lots of photos and images, and lots of art by young people
- information about the staff and volunteer team, and the group venues
What they want the new website to look like:
- very easy to read and understand, without too much text
- simple, bold and colourful, but with muted/pastel colours
- diverse images
- fewer stock images, and they want to be involved in the process of choosing stock images to use
- lots more videos, but the videos we have made so far do not meet their needs
How to make the website accessible to them:
Easy Read- videos
- infographics
- buttons to read out text
- large text
- text size controls
- toggle for vivid or relaxed colour schemes
[box title=”Full findings in Easy Read” box_color=”#4dac40″ title_color=”#f6f3f0″]
These are just the highlights – read the full results in Easy Read here:
Session one: what do you like from a website? Easy Read [pdf 2mb]
Session two: what do you think should be on the Amazing Futures website? Easy Read [pdf 2mb]
Survey: young people’s needs and ideas for the new website Easy Read [pdf 3mb] [/box]
Want to get involved?
If you’re a young person with SEND aged 14 to 25 and you’d like to help provide feedback on the new website design when it’s ready, please email [email protected]. Or if you attend an Amazing Futures group, speak to Claire or Sue.
