Improving access to government services
Untangling a complex digital ecosystem for the Australian Government
ROLE
Lead researcher
TIMELINE
4 months
PROJECT TYPE
Mixed methods research, strategic design
CLIENT
Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) Australia
The Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade is an Australian government agency responsible for providing services to citizens and foreign nationals around the world. The agency operates a primary website, dfat.gov.au, and over 100 embassy sites based in countries around the world.
Dfat.gov.au is a large and complex website that provides information related to Australia's international relations and foreign policy, along with resources for businesses, students and tourists. The Australian embassy sites provide information and consular assistance for Australian citizens living or traveling abroad, as well as for foreign citizens seeking to visit, study, or work in Australia.
Overview
Theses disconnected government websites were failing the very people they were designed to serve. This massive network of sites resembled a linear, outdated service model with siloed operations, unmanaged growth, and digital waste. Each site had evolved independently, creating a fragmented system with duplicated content, disconnected user journeys, and inconsistent experiences. For a government agency responsible for connecting Australia to the world, this digital fragmentation was more than just an inconvenient user experience; it was a barrier to essential government services.
The problem
I led the research stream for DFAT’s web redevelopment discovery program, in partnership with content and technology teams. I was responsible for conducting the research that would uncover the root of the issues and help DFAT reimagine their digital presence as an interconnected, efficient, and adaptable global ecosystem. The scope of the research covered dfat.gov.au and 109 Australian embassy websites worldwide.
The goal
This research provided DFAT with its first holistic understanding of global user interactions across its entire digital ecosystem. By aligning research insights with business strategy, this project created an evidence-based foundation to inform future improvements to the digital ecosystem.
The outcome
Project approach
DISCOVERY
Before diving into solutions, I knew I needed to understand the full scope of the problem. This wasn't just about fixing websites; it was about understanding a complex system of stakeholders, users, and needs that spanned the globe.
I designed and facilitated two stakeholder workshops: one focused on the primary dfat.gov.au site, another on the 109 embassy sites worldwide. But after the first session revealed surface-level engagement from the stakeholders, I recognized I needed to pivot my approach.
The breakthrough came when I shifted from asking stakeholders what they thought, to challenging their assumptions.
I pre-populated our collaborative Miro boards with existing assumptions and asked participants to refine, challenge, or validate them. Deeper insights emerged. Stakeholders began questioning long-held assumptions about their users and acknowledging they had gaps in their understanding.
This strategic shift didn't just improve workshop engagement, it revealed that DFAT's challenges ran deeper than technical issues. Their entire digital presence was built on assumptions rather than evidence.
Engaging stakeholders through strategic listening
A Miro board I created for the stakeholder workshops with existing assumptions for participants to refine, challenge, or validate
Evaluating the current fragmented user experience
To gain better understanding of the fundamental usability issues, I conducted a comprehensive UX audit across DFAT's digital ecosystem, evaluating both desktop and mobile.
What I discovered was a multitude of critical usability issues, prevalent across each site:
Navigation structures that favored internal organizational hierarchies over user mental models. Citizens looking for passport information had to navigate through bureaucratic categories that made no sense to them.
Content fragmentation that created competing sources of truth. The same visa information existed in three different places, with subtle but critical differences that could undermine user trust.
Accessibility barriers that excluded entire user groups from accessing services they were legally entitled to use.
I categorized each issue by its level of impact on the user experience and provided recommendations for how the issues could be improved across the ecosystem.
This systems thinking approach helped DFAT understand that quick fixes wouldn't solve fundamental structural issues. They needed a strategy that could make the ecosystem more cohesive, usable, and sustainable over time, ensuring users are always at the center.
UX audit evaluating core usability issues across the ecosystem; this snippet from the audit highlights two UI issues discovered on dfat.gov.au with and their level of impact of the user experience
RESEARCH
The challenges of executing global user research
I designed and executed a global user research program that brought DFAT face-to-face with their actual users for the first time, conducting 19 user interviews with participants in four countries.
Recruiting participants while managing government security requirements, time zone complexities, and diverse user needs wasn't just logistically challenging; it required strategic thinking about representation and access. I had to ensure we heard from Australian citizens living abroad, foreign nationals in Australia, and foreign nationals seeking to enter Australia.
Due to testing platform limitations, I strategically selected locations (Australia, UK, India, Canada) that could fulfill our participant requirements and designed targeted screeners to ensure diverse representation.
I designed an approach that combined user interviews and task-based usability tests, capturing both qualitative insights and quantitative performance metrics. I believed the combination of qualitative and quantitative data would craft a compelling strategic narrative for DFAT. Half of the participants tested the primary DFAT site, with the other half testing the embassy site from their respective country (UK, India, or Canada).
A user session for dfat.gov.au conducted with a foreign national living in Australia along with a sample of interview questions and user tasks
→ Tell me your first impressions of this site.
→ How does the site make you feel?
→ What do you think you can do here?
→ Who do you think the site is for?
→ You want to obtain a visa to travel to Australia. Show me where you’d go to find this information.
→ You want to find information about working temporarily in Australia. Where might you find this?
→ How do you rate the overall experience of dfat.gov.au, using a scale of 1-7 with 1 being easy and 7 being difficult. Tell me more about why you gave it that score.
The moment that changed everything
During our user testing sessions, I watched a participant navigate through DFAT's fragmented system. The participant told us he was an Australian citizen who had tried to get help for his family stuck in Ukraine at the start of the war. He described his struggle to find the right information and support channels he needed in a crucial, stressful moment. He felt a sense of urgency to help his family, along with frustration and helplessness when he couldn’t easily access the government support he needed.
This was more than a usability issue. It was a human story that clearly showed how DFAT's fragmented system could fail people in the moments they most needed government support.
From the mouths of users
I feel like this website tries to push you towards services on other websites. None of the information I need is on the site.
This looks like a website from the 1970s.
It feels thrown together, like it was made by someone who has never made a website.
It doesn’t give me confidence. It doesn’t clearly showcase what it’s for. Nothing makes it a memorable experience.
DEFINITION
Transforming data into key insights
With the user interviews completed, I faced the challenge of synthesizing large amounts of complex information into actionable insights. Using Condens as a central location to manage the data, I completed two rounds of synthesis grouping data into common themes and patterns. The first round yielded themes around user perceptions of the site, feelings about the overall experience, ability to navigate and search for information, and ideas for improvement.
Synthesis completed using Condens tagging user interviews
Synthesis completed using Condens grouping data into common themes
After a second round of synthesis, I distilled the data even further into four primary themes:
🔎 Complex navigation & poor content findability
Navigation menus reflect internal government structures and use confusing government jargon, resulting in complicated user journeys. Unintuitive navigation causes users to struggle locating critical information, leading to frustration and task abandonment.
🔎 Content is duplicated & fragmented across sites
Content is duplicated across multiple pages and even other government websites. Users were confused, stating DFAT is an “unnecessary middleman”, redirecting them to external government sites to find the information they searched for.
🔎 Sites lack cohesive identity & purpose
In trying to be everything for everyone, DFAT doesn’t provide a top notch experience for anyone. Users feel disconnected and question if they’re at the right place. No one could clearly articulate who the sites are for or what their purpose is.
🔎 Design inconsistencies & outdated technology
None of DFAT’s sites have a consistent visual identity and were built with outdated technology that breaks necessary features like site search functions. This undermines trust and credibility, causing users to abandon the sites altogether.
Creating high-impact visuals to tell user stories
Raw insights alone don't drive change; compelling narratives do. If we wanted to present a strong case for overhauling the entire ecosystem, I knew we needed DFAT stakeholders to build a connection their users.
So I created personas and journey maps that told human stories, showing DFAT leadership exactly how their fragmented system impacted real people trying to access essential government services.
A journey map created to show the navigation path of an Australian citizen looking for assistance for family overseas; based on real user stories we heard during research
The persona of Nik, an Australian citizen, based on the data collected through user research
RECOMMENDATIONS
Driving stakeholder buy-in through strategic storytelling
The final challenge was translating complex research findings into a strategic narrative that would inspire action at the executive level. While I was busy conducting research, the tech and content teams were also hard at work gathering their own respective data.
I led the creation of a cross-disciplinary executive summary, bringing together findings from design, tech, and content into one cohesive narrative — and this was no small task! All the findings had to be condensed into a digestible document that could be presented and shared with various stakeholder groups.
My goal for the narrative was to surface user pain points and demonstrate what DFAT's digital ecosystem could become if it was redesigned around user needs rather than internal structures.
This strategy invited DFAT to adopt a long-term, user-first, system-aware mindset; one that mirrors circular principles of longevity, adaptability, and value over time.
Strategic recommendations
for DFAT stakeholders
➡️ Improve dropout rates and reduce complexity by designing an intuitive navigation that blends a task-focused information architecture with user-friendly language
➡️ Simplify user journeys by creating cohesive visual and contextual signposts to crucial information, unifying the desktop and mobile experiences
➡️ Reduce wasteful content and build consistency into content workflows by consolidating duplicated content and organizing relevant pieces of information together
➡️ Develop a digital strategy that defines the purpose and audience of each website in the DFAT ecosystem, incorporating modern, human-centered design and technology
IMPACT
From assumptions to evidence-based strategy
While the transformation wasn't immediate, it was fundamental. As a direct result of this research, for the first time DFAT had a holistic understanding of their global user base grounded in real evidence, not just assumptions. We were able to provide concrete, prioritized recommendations that addressed systemic issues rather than surface-level symptoms.
Along with several of my teammates, I presented the final findings to DFAT stakeholders and government officials. During this session, there was an executive-level commitment to user-centered design as a strategic priority across the entire digital ecosystem.
After the presentation, we heard feedback from DFAT that they noticed increased empathy and user awareness among stakeholders, who now had faces and stories to connect with their work.
But the most significant outcome was cultural: DFAT shifted from making decisions based on internal assumptions to making decisions based on user evidence. This was the shift we had hoped our work would inspire.
A sample of pages from the final executive summary report presented to DFAT officials and stakeholders; these pages discuss findings from both dfat.gov.au and the embassy sites about the confusing user journeys we observed in research
REFLECTIONS
This project taught me that the most impactful solutions often come from stepping back to understand the whole system before trying to fix individual parts. As I’m now reflecting on this project in the context of climate work, I realize whether I’m solving problems for complex government services or circular economy challenges, the same skills are needed:
Systems thinking that maps the connections and relationships between seemingly separate problems.
Strategic research that uncovers root causes rather than just symptoms.
Human-centered approaches that keep real user needs at the center of complex decisions.
Stakeholder engagement that builds the understanding and buy-in required for transformational change.
Evidence-based storytelling that translates complex insights into compelling cases for action.
The circular economy faces similar challenges: complex systems, multiple stakeholders, and the need to shift from linear thinking to interconnected solutions. The strategic problem-solving approach I used at DFAT translates directly: understand the system, focus on human needs, build evidence-based cases for change, and create narratives that inspire action.
This project reinforced my belief that the most complex challenges require both critical analysis and human empathy: a combination that's essential for driving the systemic changes needed in sustainability and circular economy work.
