Client

New Plymouth District Council

Services 

Web Design & Development 

Umbraco Content Management System

Local Government

Visit

www.npdc.govt.nz

Designer

Effect

NPDC Corporate Website

Over the last four years the majority of websites have been upgraded to Umbraco including the most complex, the NPDC corporate website which was redeveloped in 2021.

Uniquely New Plymouth

The visual design brief for the new website was to:

  • Create something uniquely New Plymouth
  • Enhance the 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.

A Collaborative Build

Working closely with a wide range of the council team, web components were carefully crafted to allowing the council .

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.

 

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

Design Workshop with the team

Design Workshop with the team