For the past two weeks, I've been finishing the layout individual pages for the website. I've completed the overall look for each page: the homepage, the "Safer Sex?" page, the "Basics to Birth Control" page as well as each individual type of birth control, the "Get Services" page and the "Know Your Rights" page. I've also finished the "Sitemap" and "Sources" page. I haven't finished uploading each entry for the "Get Services" page and I haven't been able to take photographs of birth control methods, but otherwise I have completed all of the content for the website. The biggest problem I have been running into is making the website responsive, as well as positioning elements on the website. To make the website responsive, I essentially have to code the website three different times - a "desktop" version, a "tablet" version and a "mobile" version. I'm also trying to find natural breakpoints, meaning that when the content gets squished or begins to look awkward, I alter the code. Because I'm not well-versed in positioning, a lot of the elements have been shifting unpredictably depending on the size of the monitor, so I've been trying to account for that by adding more media queries. It's a pretty inefficient way of coding, but is fairly functional for the time being. I likely will not be finishing the website by the end of SRP season. There's a lot of functions that I would one day like to implement on the website - for example, social media outlets, different language versions, etc. There's also a lot of coding and debugging that I will have to do in the coming days. However, I will have the overall layout and content for the website finished by my SRP presentation.

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Last week, I conducted a focus group using BASIS students ages 14 - 17 to gauge what interests teens and to assess their knowledge of sexual health. I got the idea when I met with staff members from the Pima Health Department, and they graciously provided numerous resources on how to conduct a focus group. Everything is scripted - I had to write disclosure forms, questionnaires, my introduction and discussion topics, and my methodology beforehand. I asked them questions such as "Why do young adults take sexual risks?" and "As teenagers, what concerns do you have about acquiring birth control or family planning services?" For the most part, it seems like for young adults, the burden of pre-planning, interrupting spontaneity and social pressure result in dangerous sexual practices. Furthermore, there exists a barrier between teens and parents when it comes to discussing sexual health. The participants of the focus group report having difficulty talking to their parents about sex, often because of how awkward it tends to be and because of a difference in religious beliefs and parent ideology. Consequentially, confidentiality and accessibility are important for young adults. I also compiled a slideshow of different website designs, specifically Bedsider, Scarleteen, StayTeen, Planned Parenthood, Teen Outreach Pregnancy Center and the Pima County Department website for young adult sexual health. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that teens do not enjoy being the objects of pandering! For websites specifically targeted towards teens (i.e. Scarleteen and StayTeen), the participants of the focus group noted that the colors were too bright and that the design was generally too childish and belittling. It makes me wonder if the people who designed the websites even asked their target demographic if their website was appealing. Most members of the focus group liked the designs of Bedsider and Planned Parenthood the most due to their calming color schemes and accessible layouts. Additionally, I showed them sample articles about the implant from Bedsider, Scarleteen, StayTeen and Planned Parenthood with the logos removed. I asked them to assess the tone and content of the articles. Their least favorite article was from Bedsider, which they remarked was too much like a "teen mag." Scarleteen's content was too dense and inaccessible, while StayTeen's information was too concise. Again, Planned Parenthood was a fan favorite.

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For the past week, I've been finalizing the content on my webpages. This involves a lot of fact-checking, comparing information and advice from a variety of sites, and trying to find as much raw data as I can. Since I'm not a licensed or trained peer advocate, I rely on secondary sources on existing websites designed for individuals in their teens / early 20's. The websites that I visit most often (and I strongly recommend that anyone interested in sex ed check them out as well) are in no particular order:

•  Bedsider - a great resource on birth control methods with segments on dispelling myths surrounding sexual health
• Scarleteen - an incredibly thorough resource on birth control and sexual health advice, though sifting through all the material can be a bit overwhelming
• StayTeen - a much more condensed version of Scarleteen and Bedsider; has short and concise summaries of birth control methods
• PlannedParenthood - an accurate and thorough resource on birth control methods

One aspect of my website that I am aiming to make more unique than other sex ed sites is information specific to Tucson with an intent to eventually expand this to the entire Pima County region. For information on teen pregnancy and STI transmission in Pima County, I've relied on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which provides detailed annual studies, the Guttmacher Institute which has compiled state policies on contraception, and the Arizona Department of Health Services which records information on a county-to-county basis. From these two sources, I've discovered that Pima County specifically has among the highest rates of syphilis and chlamydia infections among teenagers in Arizona. I've also been looking into local legislation and have been disappointed to find homophobic language embedded into laws focusing on sex ed and HIV classes.

I've also been compiling a list of clinics that provide birth control methods as well as organizations that conduct HIV / STI screenings and pregnancy testing. However, I have also disturbingly stumbled across some organizations that advertise themselves as "Abortion Information Centers" or "Pregnancy Crisis Centers" in Tucson. For those unfamiliar with these organizations, they disguise themselves as unbiased information centers that even give free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and counselling for their clients. Unfortunately, they are often funded by religious institutions, provide misleading information intended to "advocate for the life of the fetus," provide no abortion referrals and often do not distribute "unnatural" birth control methods. Because I want to refer teens to institutions that provide information that does not focus on shaming and fear-mongering, I will not be including these organizations to my local database.

They advertise themselves as an "abortion information center...."

...yet when you read the fine print, they won't even tell you where to get an abortion, nor do they provide abortion services themselves.

   

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For the past week, I've been working on designing the layouts of each unique type of webpage. Last week, I posted images of the homepage and a sample of an article describing the IUD. This past week, I've created a layout of a "Safer Sex?" page, detailing how young adults can protect themselves from STIs and unplanned pregnancies while remembering the importance of communication, personal boundaries and unimpaired judgment while making decisions regarding their sexual health. For this page, I've made two separate mock-ups. One is bold, colorful, and styled to look like an infographic. The other resembles a more classic news article, and though it is much more minimalist, it can handle lengthier content than the infographic-styled webpage.

       

I have also been working on a design for the "Get Services" webpage, which will catalog the clinics in Tucson that provide birth control services and free condoms. For this page, I'm planning on making it filterable, meaning that according to certain tags you can find a clinic that will suit your individual needs. It has been especially tricky to integrate responsivity into this webpage due to this filter function, but I have been looking at the mobile version of clothing and shopping websites for inspiration since these also use filters as part of their design.

Finally, I am struggling to design a viable logo for Tucson Teen. Branding is challenging and I'm not particularly experienced in it. The logo above was my first design, with the T in Tucson resembling an IUD. However, it ended up being too grungy for the much cleaner aesthetic of the website. Back to the drawing board!

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So far, I have designed the homepage layout and the layout for an article on a method of birth control. For the homepage, I decided on a simple, soft design - a full-width image for the top header, a second section with article summaries, a contact button and the footer. For the article, I've been aiming on an infographic look with succinct, summarized information that is fun, colorful and accessible. Looking at my preliminary plans for this website, I'm anticipating that the most challenging aspect to code will be the responsive navigation bar. For smart phones and iPads, it should be a collapsible menu that will cover the content when the user clicks on the little "hamburger" icon in the corner, but for desktop screens the menu will cover the top of the screen automatically. Though the design is fairly simple, I've never had to code a responsive, multi-level navigation bar before; however, there are many templates / designs online, especially at an amazing resource called This Is Responsive.

Color sampling from existing stock images  

Desktop mockup for homepage

I've also gotten great photo resources from Justice Amarillas, a BASIS alum! She's generously donated a great database of old photos from her SRP and AP Studio Art project for the website. I'm proud to say that this website remains a project designed by Tucson natives with the artwork and designs created by young adults. A challenge for me will be to choose appropriate images, particularly those that give off a "Tucson" vibe. 

Desktop mockup for an article page

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Sitemap

This past week, I've been working on the design and formatting of my website. A major challenge in this process is planning for a responsive website, or a website whose design will change depending on what kind of monitor with which you view it. A successful, modern website is accessible and aesthetically pleasing whether you're looking at it on a laptop screen or a smart phone. In the past, I've made the mistake of trying to plan out a website for a desktop screen and then compressing it to fit a smaller screen, but this has proven to be highly inefficient. This time, I will try to plan for an iPhone / Android screen and choose natural breakpoints for when the design should change to incorporate a larger monitor. By doing so, I hope to create a website that feels more naturally responsive.

At this step, I am currently creating a sitemap and wireframes for my website. A sitemap is a very general, overall plan for my website, mapping out very rudimentary building blocks like links and pages to break up my content. A wireframe is a layout of my website in its most basic form, using boxes to indicate where text might be, where an image might be displayed, etc. I have also been figuring out potential color schemes for my website, and am choosing colors that I associate with the Sonoran Desert - brick reds, cream and tan, dark blues and purples. My next step will actually be creating a mock-up of the website itself.

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After speaking to a representative from the Pima Health Department, I've acquired essential information for creating a sexual health website targeted towards young adults. Namely, that healthy sex doesn't just involve wrapping everything in latex and remembering your daily / monthly / annual dose of hormones - healthy sex means responsibility and self-care as well as respecting the choices of one's partner. Furthermore, communication is key - if you can't talk to your partner about sex, then you're probably not prepared for it. I've already been referred to some great online resources for contraceptives and sex ed: stayteen.org, bedsider.org and the Planned Parenthood website all provide comprehensive information on sexual health. I'm eager to take their website model and make it specifically tailored to the Pima County area.

Furthermore, one surprising detail I have discovered is that for young adults, contraception should be completely affordable - if you know where to look. There are myriad resources around Tucson that provide free sexual health services such as STI testing, pregnancy testing, and condoms (honestly, the fact that people still pay money for latex condoms shocks me). Certain clinics around Tucson also operate on Title X funding, meaning that they can provide you discounted services based on a sliding income scale. For low-income teens, this means access to incredibly cheap, confidential and professional services.

As for the website, I'm beginning the preliminary stages of planning: a site-map and wire frame just to get started. I've fleshed out my intentions for the website and my target demographic with a creative brief.

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