DDA designs and develops four unique interactive online learning tools to assist ARHP in its mission to increase awareness of the organization's reproductive health educational programs.
The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) provides many programs to educate both men and woman on a variety of healthcare issues. With the rise in concerns and controversies regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV), birth control, and emergency contraception, ARHP was looking for a new way to share information on these subjects that provided patients with the important information they need.
ARHP employed many of DDA’s professional services, including custom website design and development, video production, graphic design, and animation. They were interested in using a different platform to educate users on a variety of topics. The plan consisted of programming a Birth Control Selector to help users find the right form of contraceptive to fit their needs. They also asked DDA to develop a website using animations to illustrate how a woman’s menstrual cycle is effected by birth control. Utilizing DDA’s video production team, ARHP wanted to tell four different stories of how women learned about and used emergency contraception. Video and animation was also involved in the development of an interactive website filled with information on HPV.
After planning and conceptual meetings for all projects, DDA began the design process for each informative platform. DDA programmers also formatted each tool to best fit the interactive platforms, whether it was working with video, animation, or user input. For example, with the Birth Control Selector that was developed in 2004, DDA programmers used Cold Fusion to allow this tool to dynamically display results based upon a user’s answer to a series of questions. Calculations are performed to rank these results and given up to five stars, indicating the most suitable contraception for the user. The tool also describes the reasons behind these results and provides links for users to learn more information, all leading to a better understanding of their birth control options.
For the Menstrual Suppression tool, Flash animation was used to illustrate what happens before, during, and after a woman’s menstrual cycle and how this process is affected by birth control. Woman may choose to shorten or stop their menstrual cycle for many reasons by using hormonal birth control, and through charts, text, and animation, this interactive web-based tool shows them what to expect if they do. DDA Medical designed the website and cycle animations, while also illustrating women of different ethnicities that each represent a section of the tool.
DDA also designed an emergency contraception website (www.not-2-late.com) for ARHP and the Office of Population Research at Princeton University in 2006. During the planning stage, it was decided that personal stories of those who used emergency contraception would be a great addition. DDA Medical filmed six women in our state-of-the-art video studios as they each shared their stories of how they learned about emergency contraception. After video editing and post production, our website developers embedded four testimonial videos in the website, including one translated into Spanish. The women are featured on the home page and give an introduction to their story once a user scrolls over their image. Once clicked, the user can hear the full stories of their own experiences using emergency contraception. This personal feature of the website adds a necessary element for such a sensitive subject.
As news and controversy spread relating to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, ARHP wanted to provide useful information to both men and woman of all ages in order to fully inform everyone of the facts. In collaboration with Planned Parenthood, ARHP worked with DDA in 2008 to design a unique interactive web-based tool that was both informative and user-friendly. The website DDA developed was more of an immersive virtual environment that placed visitors inside a physician's office where waiting room magazines act as supplemental materials to the information relayed by a live healthcare spokeswoman. Users can click on each magazine and virtually flip through information on HPV prevention, treatment, and the vaccine. DDA filmed the spokesperson in our state-of-the-art video studio using green screen technology in order to fit her into this virtual world. After editing and post production, DDA programmers embedded her in the virtual environment to act as a friendly, private healthcare provider as well as website host.
Through multiple interactive web-based tools, DDA helped ARHP increase awareness of its reproductive health awareness programs. With video, animation, and interactive user functionality, these tools not only inform, but they also help users understand what each healthcare issue is, how it will affect them, and how they can make more educated decisions when it comes to their well-being.