Lewisham Council

A digital transformation project

Overview

Lewisham is a London Borough in South London and forms part of Inner London. The local authority is London Borough Council based in Catford.

The initial brief consisted of a number of principles outlined within a digital strategy document. The primary goals of the project were geared toward promoting a digital change and channel shift to encourage users and services to actively use the website as the main platform for information, digital transactions and customer services. The initial vision outlined by the council stated that the website should;

Be a place where anyone can access information about the council or its people.
Customers should be able to do business with the council
Citizens will be able to engage with the council.

Key skills

Design Thinking, Design Strategy, User Interface Design, User Experience Design, Responsive Design, Brand Development, Design Principle Development

https://lewisham.gov.uk/

The problem

The councils' strategy statement outlined a number of core principles that were framed as problems that formed the basis of this digital transformation project. These principles were well defined and consisted of:

'Digital by default'. Digital services were to be improved and implemented within an online platform.
Transforming digital transactions. All transactions should be digital by default.
Engaging users online. Utilising social media and email campaigns to drive traffic toward the website.
Improve the overall user experience of the website. Implement design principles drawing from the Government Digital Service (GDS).
Promote the digital change and channel shift to a digital platform.
Review and improve the Lewisham brand to strengthen the council's presence.

303,536

The overall population number currently situated within the London Borough of Lewisham.

A screenshot of a home page taken of the Lewisham website prior to work commencing

Refining and redeveloping the Lewisham brand

Within the initial discussions undertaken with the client, it was highlighted that the Lewisham brand itself needed refinement as it was not meeting expectations in regard to providing a positive and modern approach to support the new 'digital first' ethos. The brand and styling had originally grown organically to meet the needs of the council, however, it had become outdated and with insufficient governance or principles in place to manage, it had become confused with no clear cohesive direction.

Brand dilution

This organic growth was clearly evident in the colour palette that was provided by the client at the start of the project.

This was proving detrimental to the client and the brand itself was becoming diluted and losing impact as it was being used inconsistently between different facets of the organisation and within different mediums and channels of communication.

Building solid foundations...

I established an approach that incorporated reviewing the existing brand, I then devised a range of design tasks and experiments to reform the foundations of the Lewisham brand. These exercises looked at multiple elements of the brand for example colour, typography, graphical style, photography etc. each in isolation initially, to help focus the decision-making process and discussion.

Refining brand identity...

Once the isolation experiments were completed, I looked to synthesise the results and visualise them within a range of 'style tiles' to establish how the elements could be combined, to define a coherent visual style that would be able to support the Councils requirements.

Style guide created to visualise the consolidated brand

The approach

Our approach combined GDS and Local Gov research and design standards with our teams lean UX methodologies. An initial UX phase was undertaken combining a unique blend of research methods with stakeholders and resident users, allowed parties to identify and frame the key problems to be solved.

Information hierarchy principles were collaboratively agreed for all master page templates. These templates translated into high fidelity wireframes whilst forming the base of a pattern and component library. From these, a prototype was rapidly developed to test new journeys, service transactions and user interfaces, both for desktop and small screen devices.

Remote usability tests were conducted and the analysis showed significant improvements in user flow, engagement and usability.

Example of responsive wireframe

Wireframe prototype showing primary navigation user interface

Wireframe prototype highlighting on-page navigation and core user journey

The solution

The complete and successful digital transformation of the Lewisham Council website was the culmination of careful planning, strategic thinking and co-creation. We were delighted to present the client with a refreshed website and brand that will support the future strategy and goals of the council. This platform will allow and support the promotion of a digital first approach to provide local residents access to content, information and services in a manner that is user centric and accessible.

Improved overall user experience

By utilising multiple research methodologies and taking a steer from the GDS (Government Digital Service) we have implemented and defined core design principles and governance to improve the general usability and navigation of the website.

This enables the user to access information and services in a streamlined and logical manner promoting the engagement and channel shift to a digital platform.

Refined and enhanced the visual brand

The work undertaken to redevelop the Lewisham Council's brand identity has resulted in a clean, minimalistic, and professional outcome.

The refinements that have been made, have resulted in a brand that now feels coherent and consistent and that will provide a solid foundation that will support the council's requirements.

Image details a portion of the completed component / pattern library

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