Melissa and Doug’s Life-Changing Mental Health Venture

CREATING A ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCE

With the same spirit, imagination, and ingenuity that designed thousands of toys, Melissa conceived of LifeLines, a digital ecosystem that aims to guide you on your path to self-acceptance. These digital product offerings take shape on four key pages: The Hike, Compass, Backpack, and community workshops.

Melissa and Doug challenged the Corra team to design a homepage that has the ‘wow factor.’ An experience that feels like you’re immersed in nature as if you are embarking on a hidden trail in the forest. We designed a page with subtle cinemagraphic movement that felt realistic—the sun shining through the tree branches, the autumn leaves falling in a vibrant pile at the bottom of the page. We wanted users, which LifeLines refers to as Seekers, to have a warm and welcoming first touchpoint with the brand, and to evoke a sense of calmness for an intended audience that is prone to anxiety.

When a Seeker scrolls the homepage they’re followed by an autumn leaf cascading down the page – symbolizing the release of whatever has been holding them back.
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As Cofounder Doug Bernstein put it, “It's the nuances, the details, and the thought that goes into LifeLines.com that makes it so special. It’s not something that you can just piece together from a template or theme.” And he’s right, every element was customized to perfection: from the positioning of the sun rays through the branches on desktop versus mobile, to the way the autumn leaf glides gracefully down the page, as opposed to a jittery zig-zag motion.

THE HIKE | A JOURNEY TO INNER SPACE

The metaphorical trail, also known as The Hike, is the centerpiece of the entire experience. Each trail marker represents a stage of a journey that consists of introspective prompts, video tutorials, poems, meditations, quizzes, and more.

THE COMPASS | TRACKING YOUR EMOTIONAL SPECTRUM

At Corra, we like to say, “you cannot change what you do not measure,” which encapsulates our approach to digital strategy. In that same spirit, our team developed a compass feature so Seekers can track their moods and identify patterns and triggers over time. The Mood Compass is intended to document how you’re feeling and help members realize that the low points in our lives are temporary, and although they may seem constant, there will always be variations in our moods—ups and downs, highs and lows. Seekers can personalize their Compass with different scenic backgrounds and labels.

LIVE WORKSHOPS | CULTIVATING A SENSE OF COMMUNITY

Creating a sense of community to support Seekers was essential. Workshops are a space for members to embrace their authenticity, engage in deep exploratory conversation, hear stories, and participate in exercises with Melissa and guests. Corra worked with dotdigital to facilitate these community workshops with email campaigns that keep Seekers engaged.

WHY PWA?

The mission of LifeLines is to help as many people as possible who are suffering from mental health conditions. To do this, they needed a technology solution that was scalable, mobile-first (to reach more people, more often), and highly discoverable with a low barrier to entry. Built on Adobe Commerce as a Progressive Web App (PWA), LifeLines.com doesn’t need to be downloaded from an app store. It’s searchable via Google. And unlike most traditional native apps, the full experience can be accessed on a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile device.

The LifeLines PWA can be saved to the user’s home screen for easy access. And as a Seeker returning to the site, you’ll be able to browse the app even if you happened to be on a literal hike through the woods with a limited internet connection.

ARCHITECTING FOR THE FUTURE

Corra architected LifeLines’ technology framework and capabilities not for today, but for tomorrow’s requirements. This was a multi-phase project that blurred the lines between content and commerce. We created the content ecosystem first—an experience with mental wellness tools, resources, interactive prompts, animations, and social media app-like functionality—knowing that, down the line, they would require a transactional ecommerce platform able to scale with various product offerings, both digital and physical. Corra opted for a PWA built on Adobe Commerce utilizing custom, highly sophisticated Page Builder templates to deliver on that content promise. Melissa and Doug trusted that this was the right solution for their long-term goals.

The LifeLines PWA is built on a headless architecture which will allow the brand to reach more people in need by enabling new interfaces in the future (like a smart watch app to track your moods with their compass feature), essentially whatever their vision foresees. LifeLines can now innovate and expand with ease thanks to their decoupled front and backend. This approach means their team can avoid diving into the backend with every iteration of their site—preventing breakages, delays, and spending costly development hours.

Unlike most businesses launching on Adobe Commerce, LifeLines’ focuses were content and community. They needed commerce functionality, but selling products wasn’t their primary goal initially. The free content-rich experience was the main feature. Corra developed mental wellness tools, resources, interactive prompts, animations, and social media app-like functionality on an ecommerce platform. Our solutions strategists and development team pushed Page Builder to new limits.