Myeloma UK has launched a new, accessible, inclusive website designed for and by the myeloma community.

In early 2022 the charity embarked on a major project to overhaul the current website and make sure it suited the needs and wants of all users.

The team conducted initial user research consisting of 19 hours of interviews, which included feedback from several healthcare professionals. Two mass surveys also collected insight from diverse members of the myeloma community.

The response was clear: the website needed to be more accessible, more inclusive, and easier to navigate.

So the Myeloma UK team set to work to deliver a website that ticked all these boxes and more.

Here Emma Pellegrini, Head of Digital at Myeloma UK, who led the development of the website, breaks down the new features and explains why the community’s feedback proved invaluable.

“The input from our website users helped us to understand what was most important to the myeloma community.

They particularly highlighted the need for better accessibility, inclusivity, and easier navigation functionality. We’ve made sure that these insights underpinned the decision-making process throughout designing and building of the new website.”

Improved accessibility

Myeloma UK wanted its information and support to be accessible across the myeloma community, so it introduced an accessibility toolbar to ensure its content could reach more people.

The toolbar can be accessed at the top of the Myeloma UK web pages and includes the following:

  • Translation into over 100 written languages, 65 of them with text-to-speech functionality – helping the charity, and you, provide reliable information to myeloma patients for whom English is not a first language
  • A customisable screen reader to support people with visual impairments
  • Reading aids, such as screen masking to reduce distractions and help focus, and a magnifier
  • Webpage styling and customisation options to adjust the way the website looks, improving access for the neurodivergent user

They have also worked to keep accessibility best practice in mind across the website and have used a font developed by the Braille Institute to increase legibility.

Helping patients find the information and support they need

In updating the website navigation and search functions, Myeloma UK listened to feedback and created different hub pages for users.

These include ‘I am newly diagnosed’, ‘I am in remission’, ‘My myeloma has returned’ and ‘For family and carers’ and can be found under a dedicated section of the website called ‘Me and myeloma’.

When you signpost your patients to Myeloma UK, they can easily find the information and support most relevant to them. All the wider content is still there, too – you can find it from the Information Hub (now with better search functionality).

There’s still a space for HCPs too. ‘I am a healthcare professional’ offers suggestions for helpful patient information, directs you to a new order form for booklets, and signposts to the Myeloma Trial Finder and Myeloma Drug Tracker. The hub page also details educational resources for HCPs, which can be found on the Academy website.

The Myeloma Trial Finder, Myeloma Drug Tracker and Academy website have updates in the pipeline too. If you are interested in helping to inform these updates or in user testing the new sites, please help ensure Myeloma UK meet your needs by completing this survey.

Improved inclusivity and warmth

Myeloma impacts a wide range of people, but the previous website did not reflect this. User interviews with black patients, younger patients, and patients from the LGBTQIA+ community particularly emphasised this.

By using more inclusive imagery and including patient stories which better represent the diverse myeloma community, the charity has tried to make sure everybody can connect with the new website and its content.

They have also introduced some new, lighter colours to the palette to reflect the warmth supporters associate with the charity. The Myeloma UK trademark orange is still there but is now less dominant and only used to highlight key information or calls to action.

Myeloma UK wanted to create a website that worked for every person affected by myeloma, to make sure that nobody faces myeloma alone.

 

If you have any feedback or spot any issues on the site, please get in touch with webteam@myeloma.org.uk.