Alzheimer Nederland
Alzheimer Nederland is a leading organization in the Netherlands dedicated to supporting people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, as well as their families and caregivers. It funds scientific research to better understand, prevent, and treat dementia, and provides information, support services, and awareness campaigns to improve quality of life and reduce stigma around the condition.
Alzheimer's Netherlands has three websites where I was the lead designer responsible for implementing improvements and designing new functionalities: www.alzheimer-nederland.nl, www.dementie.nl and www.samendementievriendelijk.nl.
PERIOD
November 2021-April 2023
MY ROLE
Project lead, user research, interaction design, user testing, technical design
Some key achievements for me personally:
Integrated user testing in the development process
I successfully embedded user testing as a regular step in our workflow, ensuring every significant change or new feature was validated with real users before launch. Working within a limited budget, I implemented cost-effective strategies to recruit relevant participants and develop prototypes efficiently. For instance, I organized guerrilla testing sessions at a local library to gather feedback on the redesigned menu for Dementie.nl, making user insights accessible and actionable.Facilitated cross-discipline collaboration for complex problem-solving
Recognizing the need to streamline communication between the product owner and developers, I initiated multi-disciplinary working sessions to tackle complex challenges directly. Bringing together development, the product owner, and myself in real-time led to improved mutual understanding and often resulted in simpler, more effective solutions. This proactive approach not only enhanced team alignment but also accelerated decision-making and implementation.
A few project highlights
Simplified access to local activities and support for dementia caregivers
Alzheimer Nederland operates over 20 regions across the country, each managed by its own team of volunteers, organizing activities and support for caregivers of people with dementia. However, users searching for resources online faced a confusing structure, as finding activities required selecting a region. For many, the designated region wasn’t intuitive—living near a regional border often meant closer activities fell outside their own region. Additionally, some resources on the site overlapped multiple regions, adding further complexity.
To address this, I redesigned this section of the website to simplify access. Now, users can easily locate all relevant cross-regional activities and support by simply entering their postal code. Additional filters for distance allow them to further refine results, providing a streamlined, user-friendly experience that ensures caregivers can quickly find the support they need, wherever they are located.
Enhanced navigation for accessing relevant content
Since its launch in 2015, Dementie.nl has provided a wealth of information and community resources for caregivers of people with dementia. However, as the site’s content expanded, the structure became unwieldy, making it challenging for users to find relevant information. This presented an ideal opportunity to overhaul the site’s organization and enhance the user journey.
In the original design, users navigated separately to either informational pages or community discussions. Through user testing, we discovered that caregivers prioritize topics over content types—they want quick access to information relevant to their specific needs, regardless of format. In response, we redesigned the site to organize all content under clear, recognizable topics, making it easier for users to locate key information quickly. Content type (article, discussion, etc.) now plays a secondary role, accessible within each topic as needed, allowing users to maintain an overview of all available resources.
An engaging e-learning for the public
The goal of samendementievriendelijk.nl is to learn as much people as possible how they can recognize people with dementia and how they can best approach and help them. I designed the flow and interactions of this e-learning.
