- At launch
- 2023
1,000+
families using Compass within seven months of launch
- The first direct feedback channel between families and local authorities
- What families report now informs service planning across Scottish councils
All case studies
ARC Scotland · Charity · Web app
Compass helps young people and families plan for adult life
Compass is ARC Scotland's free transition planner for young people with additional support needs, their parents and carers, and the professionals who support them. We built it, have looked after it since launch in 2023, and in October 2026 redesigned how people find their way in.
- Product strategy
- UX and interface design
- Software development
- Accessibility
- Support and maintenance
compass.arcscotland.org.uk
- Client
- ARC Scotland
- Who it's for
- Young people, parents and carers, professionals
- Live since
- June 2023
- Latest chapter
- Front door redesign, October 2026
Where it started · 2023
From an unmet need to a new service
Leaving school brings decisions about money, health and social care, housing, study and work, often all at once. ARC Scotland wanted young people with additional support needs, their families and the professionals around them to have one free place to plan it.
There was no existing system to replace. We worked with ARC to shape the idea into a first release, co-designed with the people it was for, and launched Compass in June 2023. We've supported and developed it ever since.
June 2023
First release
A free planner that turns leaving school into a timeline of what to do and when.
Within seven months
1,000+ families
And the first direct feedback channel between families and local authorities.
Since launch
Supported and developed
Compass grew into three versions: for young people, for parents and carers, and for professionals.
October 2026
A new front door
A redesign that helps each audience find the version that's theirs.
The product today
One planner, three versions
Leaving school brings decisions about money, health and social care, housing, study and work, often all at once. Compass turns them into a timeline. People answer a few simple questions, and Compass shows what to do at each stage, from around three years before leaving school to six months after.
- Aged 14 to 25
Young people
Explore ideas for work and study, find help with life skills like moving out or learning to drive, and keep track of important tasks. Young people can look around as a guest before making an account.
- Families
Parents and carers
A personalised to-do list for their young person's stage, plain-English guidance on benefits, health, housing, care and rights, and reminders for key dates. One account can follow more than one young person.
- Practitioners
Professionals
Find a young person's stage and see the duties and guidance for education, social work, health and the third sector, each linked to the legislation behind it. Free for every practitioner in Scotland, with a toolkit to share with teams.
What people tell Compass reaches policy
As people use Compass, it asks short questions about how their transition is going. Answers can't be linked to anyone. ARC Scotland turns them into an annual Compass report that informs local and national policy and practice.
The redesign · October 2026
Helping people find their way into Compass
Compass had grown into three tools, but its public page still did everything at once. Young people, parents and carers, and professionals all landed in the same place and had to work out which version was theirs, what it would do for them, and whether it was safe to sign up.
ARC asked for a front door that answers those three questions, in that order, for each person.
Our role
ARC set the brief and reviewed every page. We designed the prototypes, worked through ARC's review, then built, tested and released the new pages.
- new public pages
- 3
- review comments applied
- 60
- releases, 13 to 20 October
- 3
Ask who people are first
The home page opens with one question: which Compass is for you? The three answers are written the way people describe themselves: I work with young people, I'm a parent or carer, I'm a young person. Each audience keeps its own colour on its own pages, so people can tell they're in the right place.
The route choice on the Compass home page. Explain each version in its own terms
Parents and carers, and professionals, now each have a page of their own. Families read about stages, to-do lists and reminders in plain English. Professionals see duties, roles and the legislation behind them. Young people can go straight in and look around as a guest.
Compass for parents and carers 
Compass for Professionals Show the product before sign-up
Each page previews what people will actually use: a parent's to-do list, the six-stage transition timeline, transition topics, and a professional's key duties at each stage. The previews are built in HTML rather than pasted in as pictures, so they stay sharp at any zoom and screen readers can read them.
The transition timeline, for families 
The same timeline, for professionals Reassure people before asking for anything
Every page says up front that Compass is free, made for Scotland and supported by the Scottish Government. Proof points show where the guidance comes from: more than 300 conversations with young people and over 100 hours of research. And there's a plain answer to what data Compass collects and who can see it.
Proof points and the data question, on the home page.
One address
Every version now lives at compass.arcscotland.org.uk, under /parents, /professionals and /young-people. Old links to the separate sub-domains redirect, so bookmarks keep working.
Readable by default
Text is at least 18px and every target at least 44px. Layouts were checked on 390px phones and at 400% zoom.
Checked on every release
Automated WCAG 2.2 AA tests run in the release pipeline, alongside browser tests of each sign-up journey.
On a phone
The same routes, one column
Each page reflows to a single column. On the home page the route choices come before the photography, so they're the first thing people reach.
Compass for parents and carers 
Compass for Professionals 
The transition timeline
Results
What changed, and when
- After the redesign
- October 2026
Measuring
Sign-up results to follow
The new pages went live between 13 and 20 October 2026. We'll add results here once there's enough data to compare fairly with the old page.
What we'll compare: account sign-ups for each version, and how many visitors to each page go on to sign up.
Built with
- Laravel
- PHP
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- MySQL
- Laravel Nova
- Playwright
- axe-core
- PostHog
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