The Department of Home Affairs is responsible for coordinating national security, countering terrorism, fighting crime and foreign interference. With such a high profile responsibilities, it is vital for information to be accessible and effectively communicated on the National Security’s website. As the global environment has been changing with terrorism more present, the National Security website team acknowledged the importance of having a functional digital platform. This included making the site accessible enough that those with low reading levels, low computer literacy or a range of impairments would be able to use it. As well as prioritising a clear information architecture so information was findable. The purpose of the National Security website is to provide users with current information on security threats, what to do during an attack and how to protect your business from terrorism. The functionality and importance of the platform is expected to continue to increase. Thus, the website team wanted and needed to have a thorough understanding of the needs of their users and be able to provide an accessible and suitable service. DHA engaged Pragma to perform a content audit and analysis to support these user research activities, and then to do content design and UX design for the website redevelopment, including creating a new IA and taxonomy.

To help the project team understand how best to improve the National Security website, we conducted user research, usability testing and a content audit and analysis. The project team also had conducted initial user research and ‘current-state’ usability testing. As a result of the findings that we uncovered and synthesised for the Department, we were able to make informed decisions about the content needing redevelopment for the new website, and content that could be redesigned at a later date. Project timelines meant that not all content could be fully redeveloped for the launch date. By auditing the content of the website, we were able to understand the highest priority information for users, based on Google Analytics data and the user research done to date. A new information architecture was designed for the site, in line with user needs and informed by the research and analysis. We prioritised activities such as pulling high-value content out of downloadable PDFs and into a web and mobile-friendly format. Content was also redesigned to be more accessible and in line with WCAG 2.0 AAA recommendations. Content prioritisation was smooth and easy to socialise with stakeholders because of the evidence base that helped shape our recommendations. Research and testing has provided the website team with implementable, evidence based actions which will improve and maintain the website. With the new IA and content design, users can easily access important information that has a big impact on their safety, their business operations and Australia’s security.