(2024)

Planet Puberty

Designing an Accessible, Supportive Guide for Parents Navigating Puberty with Disability

Awards & Recognition

Best Use of UX, Mumbrella Awards 2022
‍Web Design and Development, Good Design Awards 2022

Context

Planet Puberty is a digital resource suite by Family Planning NSW, created to support parents and carers of children with intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder through the challenging puberty years. The existing resource was fragmented, dry, and difficult to navigate, limiting its accessibility and impact.

Background

Family Planning NSW wanted a fresh website identity separate from their main brand, designed specifically to engage this unique audience and reduce stigma around puberty and sex education. The project was grounded in co-design, working alongside adults with disabilities and carers to ensure relevance and usability at every step.

Discovery

I began by thoroughly reviewing the existing content and understanding the needs of parents and carers through stakeholder conversations. A key insight was the vast amount of information structured in recurring patterns. Parents expressed a need for easily navigable, bite-sized content with clear pathways for learning.

To support this, I developed modular design components for topic pages, allowing content to be delivered consistently and flexibly. We also identified the importance of powerful site-wide search, highlighting popular queries, alongside curated “lesson plans” and bookmark features to personalise learning journeys.

Solution

The design approach focused on accessibility, clarity, and warmth — breaking down complex topics into digestible modules with intuitive navigation. I created collections bundling related topics, enabling parents to engage with content as manageable playlists rather than overwhelming information dumps.

Three distinct visual directions were presented to the client, each balancing professionalism with approachability, empowering parents to feel confident in supporting their child. The final design is a unique identity separate from Family Planning NSW, tailored specifically for this sensitive and vital subject.

Impact

The new Planet Puberty website transforms a previously unengaging resource into an accessible, supportive tool that parents and carers can rely on. It makes puberty a positive, manageable phase by arming families with relevant information and reducing barriers to learning.

The co-design process ensured the site truly reflected the needs and voices of its users, fostering trust and relevance across Australia’s disability community.

Awards

Best Use of UX, Mumbrella Awards 2022 — Planet Puberty
‍Web Design and Development, Good Design Awards 2022 — Planet Puberty