Government website design and development · USA
A US county government:
one front door for every county service.
A US county's departments, services, forms and news had to come together in one place that residents, businesses and visitors could use without knowing how the county is organised. We designed and developed it, working with a partner agency.
Government · County Services
A US county government
Government · County Services
A US county government runs many departments, from child support and the courts to public safety, finance, parks and health and human services.
Its website serves three audiences at once: residents who need a service, businesses who need a permit or a contact, and visitors who want to know what the county offers. We delivered the work with a partner agency, so the county is not named here.
What had to change
- 01Many departments, each with its own services, forms and contacts, had to sit in one coherent site.
- 02Residents look for a task, not for the department that owns it.
- 03Property tax information, maps and GIS, jobs, public safety, events and news all needed a clear home.
- 04The site had to work for residents, businesses and visitors, on every device.
The solution
A centralised platform
County information was spread across departments.
One website that brings every department, online service, form and announcement together under a single structure.
One place to start for anything the county does.
Navigation by audience and task
Residents rarely know which department owns their problem.
Top-level routes by audience (residents, businesses, visitors) and by the tasks people come to do.
Residents can start from who they are or from what they need.
Every department, one grid
A long list of departments is hard to scan.
A visual departments directory with a photographic tile and a dedicated section for each department.
The right office is easy to find.
Services people come for
The most-used services were buried.
Clear homes for online services and forms, property tax information, GIS and maps, employment opportunities, public safety resources, events, news and community programmes.
Common tasks are a click or two away.
Built for every device
The site had to work as well on a phone as on a desktop.
A responsive design with icon shortcuts to the main services on small screens.
The same services on a phone as on a desktop.
Technology
- Government website design
- Content management for departments, services and news
- Departments directory
- Forms and online services
- GIS and maps integration
- Responsive design
The results
One website bringing every county department and service together
Navigation built around residents, businesses and visitors
Property tax, maps, jobs, public safety, events and news given clear homes
A consistent experience on desktop and phone
What other teams can take from this
Organise for the resident, not the org chart
People arrive with a task. A government site that starts from the task, not the department, saves everyone a phone call.
A directory is a design problem
A long list of departments is a wall. The same departments as a visual grid becomes something people can scan.
Shortcuts belong on the phone
Icon shortcuts to the most-used services make a large public site usable on a small screen.
Why PixelCrayons
- Experience structuring large, many-department sites around how people actually look for help.
- Design and development from one team, from the information architecture to the build.
- Content structures the county's own teams can keep current.
The services behind this result
A website like this is our own design and web team's work; this one was delivered with a partner agency.
Practitioner notes
on this work.
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