Manatu Taonga website redevelopment
Challenges
In 2023, the website for Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture and Heritage was due for redevelopment alongside its Drupal upgrade. The existing site originally built in 2010 no longer met the needs of its audiences or reflected the Ministry’s priorities. Accessibility compliance was low and the site struggled to adapt to changing public information needs. The finished website needed to be easy to maintain and resilient to future upgrades.
Approach
As design lead, I worked closely with internal teams and external partners to deliver a solution that was both strategic and culturally grounded. As part of the design process, I ensured my team followed our detailed project requirements that ensured Te Ao Māori and Te Tiriti principles were embedded across the site’s design, content strategy, and long-term maintenance plan. A key part of the websites design process involved collaborating with Ira, a Māori led creative agency, to develop a suite of original illustrations that visually expressed the Ministry’s new vision: “Ki te puāwai te ahurea, Ka ora te iwi – Culture is thriving, The people are well.” These illustrations communicate the Ministry’s commitment to supporting the creative sector.
I ensured the technical team and stakeholders maintained open communication throughout the entire project, working collaboratively while continuously finding ways to improve our outputs. This ensured our user requirements and principles were embedded across the site’s design, content strategy, and long-term maintenance plan. I facilitated procurement for site testing and worked directly with an external accessibility expert vendor to ensure full compliance with the NZ Government Web standards.
Outcomes
The result is a modern, accessible, and culturally resonant website that authentically represents Manatū Taonga’s identity and values. The new platform is structured for long-term sustainability, with robust content management processes that have significantly improved operational efficiency.
The new site is adaptable to changing Ministry priorities and ready to support more bilingual content in the future. Several new features include a searchable and filter function publication library, funding application form, language switching pages and keyword content navigation.
The website was built entirely in-house by our team of developers, designers, and content specialists, supported by several external vendors. Delivering the build in-house strengthened our internal capability and ensured the final product met the highest standards of accessibility and user experience.
