Something uniquely New Plymouth

The redesign and development of New Plymouth District Council's digital presence.

Client

New Plymouth District Council

Services 

User Research
Design
Web Development
Digital Strategy
Umbraco CMS

Visit

npdc.govt.nz

After over four years of working with New Plymouth District Council to upgrade the majority of their websites to Umbraco, it was time to work on the most complex of their sites—their corporate website.

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Uniquely New Plymouth

The visual design brief for the new website was to:

  • Something uniquely New Plymouth

  • Enhanced NPDC logo and brand

  • Friendly professionalism

To achieve this the Effect design team collaborated with several local artists and carvers to delve into the history of the district and surrounding land, as well as the carvings and art work in the council buildings.

These stories were then translated into digital design elements that could be applied to the navigation and components within the website.

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A Collaborative Build

Working closely with a wide range of the council team, web components were carefully crafted within a continuous feedback loop.

The result is a purpose-built local government website that:

  • Makes life easy for the staff responsible for updating the website

  • Clearly communicates information to the community to enable quick decision making and self-service

  • Integrates with existing council software to minimise administrators' workload and increase accuracy and efficiency.

In addition to improving staff experiences, the program has also been cost-effective. The consolidation project has saved the council over $100k per year in licensing, hosting, and support costs. These cost savings can be redirected towards other important initiatives, such as improving services for local residents.

Continuous Improvement

A council website is never finished, there is always strategic planning, LTP's, annual plans, rules and regulations that require clear and concise communication with the public.

The NPDC website build includes several exciting features to share feedback from the public and ensure information is up to date and relevant. 

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In 2022 the New Plymouth District Council won ALGIM’s “Supreme Website” for the New Plymouth District Council’s website design.

How can we help you?

Talk to us about your digital presence and the improvements you want to make.

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