You can find a needle in a haystack
Ever found it easy to find information from a council? Us neither—until Breathe designed the website for the Wellington City Council (WCC).
Findability
WCC knew that one of their biggest challenges was providing the public with information on a dizzying diversity of functions. From rates information, public transport and council policy to sanitation and attracting tourists and migrants, the list of council responsibilities is long, varied and constantly growing.
Add to this the thousands of residents who daily need information and answers from WCC and it becomes obvious that identifying the information you need and keeping open lines of communication can turn from a headache to a nasty migraine—for both sides.
A strong partnership with the council Web Centre
Breathe and the council’s Web Centre worked as a very tight team to both define the information architecture and functionality during the planning period, as well as for ongoing design and functionality improvements. Breathe built upon the solid backbone structure to develop an informative and interactive web site enabling browsers to look up information and communicate with the council. On top of this the site is built in a modular fashion so the council is nearly fully managing the site internally, being able to add and update the site to maintain the site’s relevance and usefulness for the public.
Since the site was first built, Breathe and the Web Centre have added a number of modular online tools for both the public’s and council staff’s benefit. This list includes:
- an online tool for property developers to calculate their required council contributions;
- a directory for community groups to submit information with council-side admin functionality;
- web alerts addressed to both the public and council staff giving notifications of council events;
- an online archive of historical rates information.
WCC’s website is now welcoming, easier to navigate and more interactive than ever. It offers locals vital information on everyday issues and supports local industry by helping to promote Wellington to the world.
The site has won numerous awards including being a finalist in the prestigious Webby Awards in 2007. A full list of awards is listed on their website.