Hinterland: a calm, illustrated atlas of the inner life.
An editorial publication about mental health, with plain-language topics, essays, short practices and a clear route to support, drawn in one engraved illustration style.
Built by Gr8r for its own portfolio. Not client work.
The problem
Write about mental health without adding weight.
People reading about anxiety, low mood or grief are often tired, worried or short of time. Much of what they find is clinical, alarming or trying to sell them something. The site had to read plainly, feel calm, and never leave help more than one step away.
- 1Clinical or alarming language pushes readers away
- 2Readers arrive in very different states
- 3Help needs to be easy to find from every page
The workflow
From arriving to finding what helps.
- 1
Arrive
Pick the word closest to how you feel, or none.
- 2
Read
Open a topic or an essay and read at your own pace.
- 3
Practise
Try a short guided practice that needs no account.
- 4
Reach out
Find a helpline or a service when you need more.
The website
Built for reading slowly.
Four parts of the site carry most visits. Each pairs plain writing with a hand-drawn illustration and keeps the next step close.
- Topics
Twelve topics, in chapters
Each topic is split into five chapters, from what it can feel like to when to seek support, with a contents list that follows you down the page.
- Check-in
A word, not a score
Choose one of eight words and the page answers with a line, a short thought and three places to go next: something to read, try and explore.
- Tools
Practices that guide you
Paced breathing counts each breath in and out as a ring widens and draws in around an engraved moon, with time left, pause and reset.
- Resources
A directory you can narrow
48 entries in nine sections, from guides on the site to outside organisations, with search, section filters and a type filter.
Engineering
Quiet interactions that stay out of the way.
The site is a React single-page app with client-side routing. Site-wide search opens with the / key and closes with Esc. The check-in word and the resource filters are kept in the page address, so a view can be shared as it is. Scrolling is smoothed, and the CSS includes reduced-motion rules throughout.
- Search on the / key, grouped by type
- Filters and check-in kept in the URL
- Reduced-motion rules throughout
- Responsive down to phone width
Find: search everything from one box
Browse: twelve topics, each with its own drawing
Reach: helplines one step from the homepage
Outcomes
Designed to make difficult subjects easier to approach.
What the website demonstrably does. Measured results will be added only with evidence and approval.
Plain writing, in chapters
Every topic follows the same five chapters, from how it can feel to when to seek support.
Practices without an account
The tools run in the browser, and the site says that nothing you type leaves the device.
Support always close
Support is in the header of every page, with helplines on the homepage and a full support page.
