Creating an information experience: The redevelopment of newzealand.govt.nz

The scope of newzealand.govt.nz is broad. It hadn’t received a lot of love since 2008. We had to transform the site and make it more user-centred. To create govt.nz, we’ve had to iterate, get feedback, try new things, and change the way government thinks about the web. govt.nz will replace the existing newzealand.govt.nz site, and we’ve got a story to tell about how we got there.

We’ll talk very briefly about how the project came about, then more on how UX research gave us the evidence we needed to stand up in front of some very important people and say “Trust us, we know what we’re doing”.

How do you maintain focus on creating a viable end product? How do you prioritise content to cover the range of government services people in NZ can access? These questions created many moments of mild terror and hours in front of whiteboards. The challenge here is huge.

We’ve taken to heart a few basic survival techniques, starting small, doing a few things really well and finding the “A-ha!” moments. We looked at the UX of government websites as a whole. Even though the usability of some govt sites is actually pretty good, the problems occur at a system-wide level. Different designs, confusing pathways, and [bleeping] PDF forms create frustration and shift users on to other channels.

We’ve set ourselves high expectations when it comes to accessibility, and government needing to be more transparent about how it manages and publishes information about it’s services.

Building govt.nz has meant reinventing how government thinks about doing stuff online. It hasn’t all been sunshine and lollipops. There have however been ponies.

Presentation audio