Link’s redesign of the Human Services website commenced with the production of three design concepts. An agreed approach was then informed by extensive stakeholder consultation. From the conceptual stage, additional ideas for treatment of content elements and user interaction were already being planned for, particularly in terms of the technical approach required.
Our design solution is compliant across all accessibility guidelines and includes additional style sheets for mobile, tablet and print.
71 Comments
Your site is simple, professional, the use of colour is great and yes, it is vital that you can navigate all websites on tablets and phones. I think your company did a great job here.
Thanks Greg
Beautiful work!! Very professional and eye-catching!!
Thanks – just read your review of 50 shades too. I missed all the hype on that book I guess. Too busy working
Love the use of color and the clean mobile and tablet designs! Nice job.
Thanks Lynn – the site is live at http://www.humanservices.gov.au. I linked from the image but just noticed I didn’t actually spell out the link in my post…
user friendly, simple and dynamic that is what makes a website. But most important IMHO is to make it compatible with mobile devices. everyone is looking on the go. I hate when I have to wait until I get home to look at a website. that means it won’t happen because I will usually forget. thanks, ~k
I agree about having to wait. Although, I have to admit that I haven’t yet updated this website to be optimised for mobile
We are spending a fair bit of time developing sites with either Drupal, WordPress or our own bespoke LinkCMS. The responsive themes for WordPress are great but the context driven regions for the Omega theme in Drupal are looking very special ATM.
Designing optimised layouts for different screen sizes, devices or even ‘contexts’ will be in the hands of the website owner, not just with designers and developers. We’re already developing a site using this technique for one of our Govt customers and its a whole new world of fun.
Human! Excellent Design With An Eye Toward Professionalism. Worthy Of A Tantar! Alas, I Am Not Using Mobile Devices In Space, But My Human Buddy Thinks Mobile Is The Way To Go. If They Can Use Your Site Easily With A Mobile Device Then You Will Have Happier Visitors!
Nice use of title caps
Nice layouts…..clean design……..and don’t forget Android Tablets and Phones……!!
Its true, we took the predictable and easy option with the iPad and iPhone
I just got a new Samsung Galaxy S3 and do prefer the Android experience over iOS. Although, I will probably also check out the Metro goodness when Windows release their next generation of phones…
Clean and simple makes for uncluttered attention
First, beautiful work. More importantly, mobile optimization is absolutely critical today. Fewer people are buying desktops and laptops, and more people are using tablets or handheld devices. That alone is reason enough!
Thanks Chris, and I agree about the importance of mobile. The next computer most people will buy is a mobile. And, most people update their mobile more often than their desktop, so the freshest technology they are likely to own is literally in their hands
The standard and tablet sites worked well and looked similar enough, however the phone screen it would have been nice if the picture of the girl was still somehow integrated in there, but otherwise it looks consistent in other aspects.
She’s still there if you view the site in landscape on your mobile
Fair point though.
Nice…I guess in two words I would say it striking and dramatic… not sure why I find it dramatic. I must admit I have trouble with smaller fonts… old eyes
LOVE this…the colors are good and I WISH that all companies would make their sites tablet and mobile friendly…all that said, MINE is NOT yet…oops
The site is simple, professional, and presents itself in a clear concise manner…
Thanks for the love Brandon
Don’t stress about those mobile unfriendly sites too much, it will all roll through pretty quickly. Most will refresh and update their sites. Those that don’t will probably still have animated gifs of dogs chasing cats across their screens anyway, so nothing to miss there 
Hi Steve,
I am no expert in digital technology design, but what I can say is that I really like the multi-coloured buttons which have been chosen wisely because none of them are garish. On a black background, it works well too.
I am unsure about the picture of the girl – the picture itself is a good choice, but it would have been nice to see it as a colour pic. It also may have been better under your Welcome section and right across the screen together with other people, perhaps representing family.
In the website version, I would also like to see the buttons and images stretched across the page again, but this is just my preference.
Overall, I’d say it is about 90% to my liking and is a brilliant, elegant, start.
Thanks for the feedback Robert
Excellent color scheme doesn’t detract from the simplicity of navigation. Looks great, and I have “old eyes” too and can’t see on a phone so well. Nicely done!
Mobile is, (according to a recent workshop I attended) all there will be as soon as 5 years. This means, you are slightly ahead of your times, right on the mark. Congratulations on making it clear and easy to read for aging eyes….a factor few people consider. More and more of us 70+ are savy thanks to our great nieces and great nephews who are ìnternet gurus at 5 and 6.
Remarkable, clear, concise. Well done.
Great design layout and color scheme. The app looks very easy to use as well. It is becoming increasingly important to have mobile as well as website capabilities these days!
Design looks good to me
I like the responsiveness and the different layouts on the devices, just one point: families and old australians sections look the same color, maybe it’s because I have disterenotopia, but they’re really similar.
BTW great work
Overall I really enjoyed the site. Would be interested in how it actually functions from the consumer users angle. The differences between the consumers [public, workers within the system -both the in putters and the searchers].
I have noticed the dark tones of the rectangles. Surrounded by the darkness of the surroundings have you thought to contact the sight impaired agencies their colour tone recommendations? Current colours may be difficult for sighted and/ or hurried peoples – esp with the black word within the boxes.
Thanks for the feedback Susan – the site has many sections and you can see how it works at the live location. In the topmost navigation there is a link to toggle between corporate and consumer info, which makes it easier for people to differentiate information about the Department in general as opposed to information about services and programs delivered by the Department.
The redesign looks attractive and easy to navigate. It does a nice job of integrating a broad range of content categories as well.
I agree with the others – great use of colour. It makes every category stand out, and looks great on the phone.
Love the way the deign carries over from web to mobile… well don!
Great design – simple and elegant!
it look’s like big enterprises publicity
I guess it does
Good things are often created by small teams though, even in those big enterprise situations.
I agree with others about your good use of colour, and the clean un-cluttered look of the site. I am the wrong person to give an opinion on mobile use since I only access the internet on my faithful PC. Non-Apple.
Very clean, professional look – eye candy that’s not only appealing, but makes you want to learn more.
Very professional and clean, plus fantastic work on creating it for both tablet and mobile
Clear, precise and very well done!! It looks amazing on the phone! The colors are sharp too
Yea, I like the simplicity and the professional look of the design. Colour combination are very attractive and looks elegant to me.
Mobie compatibility is clearly a must for future. Those who do it today have an advantage. I like the design too – a bit dark for my taste but very crisp and clear. Great stuff.
I like the vibrant colors and the UX is really easy for users to navigate. Great design
Nice design but I don`t like the colour selection for the buttons or headings. Purple next to green or orange just doesn`t sit well with me.
The Department has a great branding team and I think the colours work to demonstrate something very important about the provision of their services. They have an extremely diverse group of people they work with and somehow they do all come together as equals. In Australia we have a long history of providing care and support to those that might need it from time to time. I think the branding helps to communicate that the Department embraces this obligation. It is both inclusive and respectful of the diverse and unique needs of people.
I like this design very much! The colors are great! I already want it on my smartphone and Tab.
I liked the clean, simple design, somewhat blog-like, with the nested menus on the right side pane. It rendered very well on the tablet and the smartphone in your pictures, so I was surprised it was not optimized for them! Of course with the mobile internet growing much faster than desktop use, it’s very important that pages display well in mobile devices; good job!
The client’s site is optimised for mobile and tablet, its just our own site that isn’t as yet
Amazing work!
your design looks professional and inviting. like the human faces.
love the colors and all the screens are easy to read
Striking colors! Mobile and tablet optimization and a cohesion of design is so important.
Clean and Crisp
I think it beautifull and a good design.
It’s a nice design, may only feedback: I think you should have found a way to place the image of the little girl in the phone layout, just to maintain the feel of the site.
Nice design ! Everything has been said about how good looking your theme is. Well done !
Very nice!
Beautiful site, beautiful work and excellent infos. Regards from Switzerland.
Thanks from Canberra, Australia
Awesome design
Some of the colors are pretty close together in the color spectrum. This may pose a problem with people who are colorblind. Otherwise, it looks great.
It’s simple, easy and the colors mesh very nicely
Great design! It’s simple, fresh, professional and easy to navigate.
Nice looks good
Great Job.
Great site, looks good and nice use of colours
Really like this. Reminds me of the Window Metro design, which I think is the future of mobile and online web design. It’s a great way of making websites easily accessible, easy to engage with and lots of fun to use.
Great job.
Looks nice. All I can say is that they had better have a good web interface, because trying to talk to humans on the help line is extraordinarily frustrating. Worse than Telcos.
Hey Steven,
Did the government actually go ahead with this? I would be more interested in how you are using your graphic design skills to make the user experience and user paths simple to find the information that they need in 1 to 3 clicks. Which is the difficult issue with sites such as government ones! Cause there is soo much information and normally very poor structure of it.
As for the design it is nice and clean and almost a web 2.0 like, which i like I would probably move the translate to the top right hand corner with your sub links, and maybe add a mega footer with some email opt-in for future updates? Just some ideas
Josh
Great deign, nice job ! It’s simple, fresh, professional !!
great job Steven!!
I visited the website and everything looks spot on!
Regards,
Helmuts Meskonis
Media Tower Limited
Crisp and straight forward. I like the use of multiple colors without being assaulted by them. Being able to work on mobile devices especially important, while not leaving original technologies behind.