The Love Better website: A big heart & a bigger impact

Imagine a world where we all ‘loved better’. If we were to inspire such change, the best place to start is when we’re young. This is the crux of the Ministry of Development’s (MSDs) Love Better campaign, focusing on encouraging New Zealand’s youth to have healthier and happier relationships for a stronger society overall.

We were proud to be brought onboard for a full website build, marking an important phase of the campaign and offering a central repository of information and inspiration of Love Better’s central themes. This project also got us thinking about how the best websites utilise every tool in the toolbox to speak directly to the target audience, and can have a positive influence far beyond the digital sphere.

Supporting the next generation

The Love Better platform is an excellent example of how a website can have an impact on society at large. The ultimate goal of MSDs campaign is to support our young people to navigate the rocky waters of relationships. Our first attempts at love, which we all so often stumble through, have a big impact on the trajectory of how we think and feel about ourselves and our partnerships.

Understanding this, with the Love Better campaign MSD hopes to accentuate support, encouragement, inner empowerment and a sense of belonging for our young people. Already, the MSD team has received ample feedback that shows how speaking directly to the next generation can make them feel inspired and connected. It follows that healthier youthful relationships leads to happier families and a stronger population as a whole.

The power of relatable content

So how did we achieve this? At the heart of the Love Better website is its relatability. During the discovery phase of the project we were able to leverage extensive research to understand the needs and concerns of New Zealand’s youth - the demographic the website had to directly speak to.

We knew one core component was the content - we had to share real-life stories, relatable scenarios and practical advice - but we also had to go beyond that. We wanted to use the medium of the website itself to invite visitors in, make them feel safe and understood, and that they were a part of the story.

With our design compatriots over at Not Another, we made this a reality. The final website plays with colour, graphics, animation, imagery and more to not only deliver information but create an experience that is playful, bold, interactive and memorable. Quizzes and videos engage visitors and encourage self-reflection, while the ability to personalise the site with colours and context offer a much needed sense of empowerment.

The ripple effect of impactful impressions

The way we share and relay information through a website can have an undeniable ripple effect. While this is particularly palpable for the Love Better site, it’s true for our other work too.

If someone is looking to buy their first home and they go to the Mike Greer Homes website, what they see and save will inform conversations with their realtor, and can greatly influence their final home purchase. For someone interested in a career with New Zealand’s Defence Force (NZDF), it’s highly likely their first port of call will be to check out the dedicated website. From here, the roles they find, the information about each one and the broader stories about life with NZDF can send them on a trajectory that will shape and inform their life.

When it comes to Love Better, this website serves as a light-hearted experience that delivers a deeper message and a broader impact. To inspire conversations around what makes an uplifting relationship and what constitutes an unhealthy one, to provoke visitors to input their own interests, questions and feelings, is a way of broaching the lifelong process of self-empowerment - something that’s crucial when navigating our forays into love and relationships.

This can inspire visitors to think of themselves and their relationships more broadly, instigate conversations that are more real or vulnerable, and encourage people to foster connections that genuinely work for them. It’s not too grand to say when these seeds are sown this leads to stronger communities as a whole.

The place and impact of websites

Our Love Better project is exciting not only because it’s a very cool website (in all ways, from how it functions in the backend to the funky visuals all visitors encounter) it reminds us of the place and impact of websites as a whole. It excites us that our interactions in the digital sphere can lead to inspiration and connection offline, and help to guide us in our lives over time.

We hope the Love Better website will continue to have a positive ripple effect for all of New Zealand’s youth as they chart the sometimes unpredictable waters of love.