Making things easier to find 1 October 2013

Brighton & Hove Our city - 270,000 residents Our council - a ‘unitary authority’ Our team - Web Communications team alongside… web developers, over 800 services, customer access, agency ‘Clearleft’

The big picture

What we’re facing Digital by default Open government Budget cuts Constantly expanding content with reduced resources

Where we’re heading

Making things easier to find Improving navigation on the Brighton & Hove City Council website by reducing content www.brighton-hove.gov.uk The why, the how and the when

Meet Kevin Our customers are the key! http://youtu.be/zn5wSyc8-PY Kevin comments on finding council tax information on our old council website.

Our design principles User needs first Reduce, reduce, reduce again Do the hard work to make it simple Council communication comes last Be consistent Surprise people by anticipating needs Don’t repeat effort Connect people to experts Minimise contact

How have we implemented these? Putting the user back at the heart of our service Changed information architecture and navigation Mobile first (responsive) design Reduced content New governance

Reducing content – why? “Every superfluous page we create is one more dead end for an angry, frustrated, confused user”. Richard Pope, GOV.UK

Website governance Web authors Web publishers Communications team

What are the gains? Increased channel shift 30% reduction in content Increased accessibility Closer working with services Targetted resources

It’s not the end! To be continued… Many thanks for listening Any questions? Contact me at Emma.Moore@brighton-hove.gov.uk