an online platform seeking to redefine sex education for youth in New Zealand.
Laid is an online platform seeking to redefine sex education through an individualised and honest experience. In response to the often generic and clinical approach experienced in high school, Laid brings together a wide range of local voices and perspectives to normalise and diversify conversations around sexuality. Through this, Laid provides a supportive space that equips youth with the skills to navigate adolescent sexuality with confidence and sensitivity.
Project
Laid
Institution
Massey University
Wellington, New Zealand
Duration
14 weeks
An example of a user journey through Laid.
project brief
Laid was developed in response to a prior research proposal, with the central proposition being: human-centred design can equip youth entering adolescent sexuality with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate and negotiate sexual development and encounters.
background
New Zealand’s sexual education programmes are inadequate and inconsistent. Sex is taught in a way which is either overly clinical or too juvenile, censoring true sexual experience. Critical areas around identity, pleasure, and communication are often glossed over, and the classroom’s generic approach assumes a ‘one size fits all’ rhetoric failing to serve every individual’s needs. Furthermore, sex education is only compulsory until year 10 leaving many with no support later on. Outside of schools, most romantic encounters in film are non-consensual and pornography normalises aggressive behaviour and creates narrow gender roles.
The Overton window in terms of sexual discourse is slowly shifting towards a more inclusive and honest conversation. In response to student-led protests against rape culture, ‘Mates and Dates’ has begun to be implemented in some schools, expanding the standard curriculum and evidencing students’ desire for a more comprehensive sex education. In the media, controversial shows such as ‘Big Mouth’ and ’Euphoria’ demonstrate a shift towards a more diverse and frank discourse about the modern youth experience.
strategy
Laid is an online platform that normalises and diversifies the conversations had around sex and sexuality by bringing together a myriad of perspectives and using these to frame educational content. This culmination highlights that everyone experiences adolescent sexuality differently, but everyone is still on the same journey together, he waka eke noa. Acknowledging the diversity in needs and expertise, Laid also personalises each user’s experience. A key emphasis was placed on developing the right tone of voice. It needed to be a tone that cuts through taboo with honesty and authenticity. The digital medium was chosen as a space that is private, consistently accessible, and navigable at the user’s pace.
process
A significant part of the process was speaking to as many people as I could about their experiences, and what I found during this process was how willing people were to share when given permission. This allowed me to overcome self bias and was also my primary means of content collection.
Jason O’Hara’s ‘human-centric persuasive framework’ was instrumental in visualising the overall context and developing a considered communication strategy in response. It highlighted the importance of the right tone of voice. I wanted to adopt the tone of an older sibling or friend, someone whose been there before and understands. I also considered things like expansive language, using phrases like “your partner” or “your relationship” to be more inclusive.
Visual exploration trying to refine the tone of voice.
User testing both paper and responsive prototypes was critical in refining the tone, ensuring the content was relevant and engaging, and improving the interface’s usability. These tests were conducted with high schoolers, high school staff and peers.
Mapping out the user journey of Laid’s system
The final user journey map showing how Laid would fit into a student’s life.
design solutions
Laid provides an individualised and searingly honest experience which normalises and diversifies conversations around sex and sexuality. It offers a supportive space for New Zealand youth that will equip them with skills and understanding to navigate adolescent sexuality with confidence and sensitivity. Moving forward, Laid would expand its content so that it becomes a complete ‘one-stop-shop’ for all things related to sex. This system could also be transferred to other sensitive areas such as mental health to reduce taboo, open conversation and equip youth with tangible skills.
challenges
Collaboration and communication were critical to my process so overcoming my own discomfort around discussing sex was a challenge I had to quickly overcome. This led to some interesting conversations and it was inspirational to see how honest people were when given permission to speak openly. Setting the tone of voice was also more challenging than anticipated. Achieving a balance between sophisticated and youthful required continuous iterations and user tests to stay on track. I also had to embrace an aesthetic quite different from my preferred visual style.
software used
Procreate
Adobe Premier Pro
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe XD