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NSW Electoral Commission website interface redesigned to give voters quick access to essential election tasks.NSW Electoral Commission website interface redesigned to give voters quick access to essential election tasks.

NSW Electoral Commission

Every interaction counts

Impact area

Empowering people

Services

Digital transformation

Service and product design

Brand strategy

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The New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC) exists to deliver democracy in NSW and is justifiably proud of its record in running fair, independent and accessible elections.

That said, democratic processes and institutions around the world are facing a range of challenges including declining voter participation, particularly among young people, low trust in public institutions and increasing preferences for new methods of voting, including voting online.

To ensure the people of New South Wales continue to maintain their trust and confidence in our electoral system, NSWEC initiated a project with Folk as experience design specialists to transform the products, business systems, organisational design and technology which supports the digital presence for the NSWEC.

Research wall covered in colour-coded sticky notes mapping insights about voter needs and behaviours.Voters gathering outside a suburban polling place, illustrating on-the-ground election day experiences.

Discovery and research activities included:

  • Conducting desktop research including site reviews, analytics, content audit and a review of exemplars.
  • Consulting with internal and external stakeholders and audiences to clarify and prioritise business objectives and user needs.
  • Analysing and documenting research findings and recommendations, including personas and user journeys.
Diagram showing voter primary and secondary goals, highlighting what people need to participate confidently in elections.
Detailed voter journey map illustrating enrolment, understanding, election awareness, voting tasks and long-term engagement.
Diagram outlining political participant goals, from understanding responsibilities to tracking compliance and accessing forms.
Journey map outlining the steps and touchpoints for political participants, including registration, training and compliance tasks.
Comparison diagram showing the current and future state of the site, featuring service delivery, social media, traditional media, and community sources.

Defining the future state

Based on our findings and insights we developed a future-state vision for the NSW Electoral Commission web presence.

A single point of access and source of truth for voting services and information.

Customer centric navigation and a better mobile experience.

Bringing strategic focus to the brand

Through a brand clarification process we defined comprehensive guidelines to document the brand, its elements and their use.

Three goals that the brand needed to achieve:

  1. Encourage participation
  2. Maintain trust and confidence in integrity of the voting system
  3. Create an internal north star that created alignment and encouraged collaborative ways of working.
Grid of NSW Electoral Commission election guides and manual.
Multiple slides of a brand style guide presentation.

Digital design system

To ensure the website could evolve, a digital design system was developed.

An atomic design system was adopted and the core assets were broken down into three sections:

  1. Foundation elements
  2. Component elements
  3. Patterns

Foundation elements

These are the core design elements that make up the NSW Electoral Commission visual identity.

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Pages of a digital brand guideline spread out showing iconography, colour palettes, grid layouts, and UI components.

Component elements

Component elements are complex entities made from several foundation elements.

Overhead view of multiple angled printout pages featuring design layouts, banners, call-to-action tiles, and accordion UI components.

Patterns

Patterns are primary elements made from a number of foundation elements.

Multiple screenshots of website design components.
Three mobile phone screens showing NSW Electoral Commission website in Awareness mode, Election mode, and Result mode with voting information and options.
NSW Electoral Commission webpage showing details and links for the 2019 NSW State election.NSW Electoral Commission website homepage.
Screens showing NSW Electoral Commission website pages on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

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