Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW)
Helping grow the State of the Environment report
The problem
Feedback and a formal evaluation suggested the 2021 State of the Environment report website was hard for some users to navigate and understand.
Feedback and a formal evaluation suggested the 2021 State of the Environment report website was hard for some users to navigate and understand.
An evaluation of the 2021 digital report found some users struggled to navigate the report.
This made it harder for them to find the information they needed.
Some users didn’t understand the technical content.
This made it harder for them to grasp the report’s key messages.
There were also concerns about accessibility and meeting government standards.
Future reports needed to meet the new Digital Experience Policy and work for a wide range of users.
The solution
We combined user research with our specialist expertise to make evidence-based recommendations on the design, structure, content and ongoing management of future reports.
We combined user research with our specialist expertise to make evidence-based recommendations on the design, structure, content and ongoing management of future reports.
- What we delivered
A project and user engagement plan outlining our research approach, recruitment and a discussion guide.
This helped ensure stakeholders agreed on the approach from the outset.
- What we delivered
A heuristic evaluation of the 2021 report website, along with website data analysis.
This helped identify issues and highlighted opportunities to improve the user experience.
- What we delivered
Contextual enquiry sessions with participants across 9 user groups.
These allowed us to observe how people used the report website and gather insights into their views on a proposed new information architecture.
- What we delivered
A user research report documenting our findings.
This gave DCCEEW a clear understanding of user needs and identified opportunities to improve future reports.
- What we delivered
A content strategy and action plan covering structure, substance, governance and measurement.
This gave staff practical guidance on how to create, review, publish and approve content for the 2026 report.
- We identified 5 new user groups based on how people use the report.
- We developed a new content model, with content types to support detailed research and quick, high-level information.
- We recommended improvements to the proposed information architecture and content labels.
- We identified opportunities to strengthen content capability. These focused on meeting government standards and making the report clearer and easier to read.