Meningitis Foundation Canada

Digital storytelling for Canadian health organization

Meningitis Foundation Canada (MFC) is the first national charitable foundation in Canada that is dedicated to the prevention of meningitis. MFC is committed to increasing public awareness, supporting those whose lives have been affected by meningitis, and raising funds/donations for medical research. 

MFC’s website, meningitis.ca, serves as an important educational tool to inform users of the signs and symptoms of various strains of meningitis, and the vaccines available. To continuously support people affected and educate the public, it was crucial for MFC to have a more responsive, user-friendly, and engaging website to serve a wide range of audiences with varied technical abilities.

Visit meningitis.ca

Services Provided

  • Accessible Design
  • User-focused Design
  • User-friendly CMS
  • Communications
  • Custom Solutions

The Challenge

MFC was looking into refreshing and upgrading its website to provide users with a more engaging experience as well as help educate users and increase public awareness through powerful stories. The old site had pain points that included:

  • A lack of engaging content and design.
  • Difficult for users to find the information provided in the way it was laid out.
  • Site architecture that was not optimized and did not follow the three-click rule (i.e., users should be able to find important information in three clicks or less), which led to users becoming frustrated and abandoning their tasks.

Additionally, memoriam stories and survivor stories are an important aspect of MFC's website and had to be incorporated in a way that is visually appealing and accessible while conveying a personal sentiment. The stories were to be a place where families affected by meningitis could come and find a community to help them in their time of grief.

See the old website design below on the left and the new, recently launched website on the right. 

Screenshot of old website homepage.
Screenshot of new Meningitis website.

The Solution

To ensure that key information is prominently displayed in an engaging manner across all devices, Upanup collaborated with MFC to design and develop a clean, calming, and streamlined website. The new website has clear and uncluttered navigation, driving users to take action and explore more content.

The World Advertising Research Center believes that due to the growth of smartphone adoption, 72.6% of all internet users will be accessing the web via smartphone in 2025. Understanding that a significant amount of the website traffic comes from mobile users and the importance of accessibility, our team of content strategists, designers, and developers carefully considered and crafted how the website content will display on various screen sizes, considering text sizes, colours, images, etc., to enhance optimal mobile responsive performance.

We also conducted quality control testing on common browsers and mobile, tablet, and desktop devices to ensure compatibility and fast loading speeds. The project team took a mobile-first approach to ensure users are leaving the site satisfied with a cohesive user experience regardless of what devices they use.

Our content strategists created a content strategy to ensure consistency throughout the project and website. We also worked with the MFC team to edit existing content and write new content to meet the needs and expectations of their audience. This content incorporates different visualizations of statistics and meaningful messages and quotes throughout the stories to engage users.

Desktop and mobile screenshot of webpage.
Desktop and mobile screenshot of webpage.

The Results

MFC’s new website offers a smooth, consistent user experience with fast loading speeds on desktop, tablet, and mobile. The site's bounce rate dropped 20% in the months after launch which indicates users are spending more time on pages and are clicking on available links. With well-defined navigation and an intuitive interface, the new website makes it easier to access information and acts as a trusted resource for families, survivors, people affected by meningitis, and government bodies. With improved user engagement and mobile responsiveness, MFC's website continues to convey powerful stories, educate users on the continuing struggle against meningitis, and generate donations to support those affected and spread awareness. Donations can easily be made online through Zeffy, a fundraising platform for non-profits. Visit meningitis.ca to learn more and explore MFC's new website.