Phase 1 of the redevelopment of The Lowdown has been launched. You can explore the space by following this link.
The Lowdown is a channel for rangatahi to find support for wellbeing, identity, culture and mental health. The Health Promotion team is working together with rangatahi, and agencies Dioscuri and Rush on the new look, taking the best elements of social media rather than a traditional website approach. It’s on a zero-rated data platform, meaning it can be accessed without users incurring data charges.
The aim is to provide a safe space for rangatahi to find relatable, practical advice, hear the voices of their peers, and find communities where they can access support. A key feature is that much of the content – stories, illustrations, video and more – is created by rangatahi, for rangatahi. Cultural, rainbow and clinical support has been crucial to this mahi.
This is just the beginning of the redevelopment but users will notice the website already looks quite different. The navigation uses tags rather than traditional information architecture to send users to the content they are interested in. The design is mobile first because that is how the vast majority of young people will use it.
In addition to the agencies, the team has worked with a steering group, a clinical advisory group and a youth partnership group, as well as the Tāngata Whenua Advisory Group and Pacific Advisory Group.
More than 100 rangatahi at 15 locations across the motu have taken part in the research process to inform the content development.
Fifteen rangatahi were involved in different aspects of the welcome video. Pictured are dancers: Nese Godinet, Tamia Nathan and Caleb Gopal.
The focus of phase two will be continuing to develop a range of multimedia content with, by and for rangatahi.