Collection

Council websites

Research into users who access council websites, including microsites, portals and directories.

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• Breadcrumb testing in search results

  A summary of user testing looking at the visibility and understanding of breadcrumbs in search results.

  Phases: Live

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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• Developing a tone of voice for hackney.gov.uk

  In early 2025, Hackney Council conducted discovery desk research to create a draft new tone of voice for hackney.gov.uk.

  January 2025 - March 2026

  Phases: Discovery

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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• Improving digital service registration and login for Hackney residents Alpha

  Research to understand how Hackney residents currently register, login and reset passwords for certain digital services (through the council's One Account system) and ways to improve that experience.

  Phases: Discovery, Alpha

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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• Directory of services Alpha

  A project to build and test prototypes for Directory of Services which allows data to be entered and maintained in a central repository, which we can test and get feedback from.

  Phases: Alpha, Discovery

  Part of collections for: Council websites, Organise a community event or group, Get support if you have an illness or disability

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• Deciding on the scope of the design system

  The current version of our design system was created in 2021. We’ve been looking at how well Hackney.gov.uk aligns with the design system as part of a website discovery. We wanted to decide what the design system should contain and how it should be governed.

  November 2024 - January 2024

  Phases: Discovery

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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• Testing ways to improve how residents contact the council

  To rapidly prototype and test ways we can improve how residents contact the council. We carried out 3 design and research sprints.

  December 2024 - April 2025

  Part of collections for: Council websites, Contact the council

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• Images in homepage task tiles

  Summary of 1:1 user testing looking at the use of images in homepage task tiles. Do users find these a help or a distraction?

  Phases: Live, None

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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• Modern Slavery microsite Discovery

  Task based user testing with members of the public on new microsite looking at ease of use and whether promotional materials requested by the service were likely to be used.

  March 2019 - April 2019

  Phases: Discovery

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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• Understanding how residents group and label housing advice content

  Research to inform a new structure for the housing options and advice section of the Council website. It looked to understand how Hackney residents group and label housing advice content, to see if they understand how Hackney Council plans to label content, to see if they can access the information they need and if any information is missing.

  July 2023 - September 2023

  Part of collections for: Apply for a council home, Council websites

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• Can chatbots and AI help solve service design problems

  This discovery project aimed to resolve these problems by delivering; * a methodology for evaluating the suitability or otherwise of a particular application for developing into a chatbot or AI product * a research base to assist local authorities developing their individual business cases to save time and resource rather than duplicating research * a summary of the potential technology solutions that are available with their individual advantages and disadvantages of each, and their applicability to different circumstances * a set of case studies drawn from participating councils in how the framework can be applied

  February 2019 - April 2019

  Phases: Discovery

  Part of collections for: Council websites, Contact the council

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• Improving content on the Hackney Council website

  This project is about re-engineering Hackney content so that, in the long run, we can deliver it to different platforms

  April 2019 - December 2019

  Phases: Alpha

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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• Helping residents find organisations that provide support services in Hackney

  Developing a comprehensive and up to date platform for residents and community navigators to locate the voluntary organisations which provide support services in the borough.

  September 2019 - present

  Phases: Beta, Alpha, Discovery

  Part of collections for: Council websites, Organise a community event or group

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• Online Maps - Planning Services

  Research to improve the user experience around planning mapping and create a design standard for online maps.

  April 2021 - June 2025

  Phases: Discovery

  Part of collections for: Build or make a major change to a home, Council websites

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• Data standards for community-based services Discovery

  OpenCommunity is on a mission to discover the need for a community-services data standard. What might become possible if all community directories in the UK were designed in a way that allowed them to talk to each other?

  February 2019 - March 2019

  Phases: Discovery

  Part of collections for: Council websites, Organise a community event or group

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• Testing a list of services at Hackney Council

  We developed a list of services that Hackney Council provides as people visiting, living or working in the borough might know them. It was as an experiment to see if it was possible, as a list of services can help the Council see itself through the eyes of its residents and can help people to spot opportunities by looking at services together. This research tested the list of services with residents.

  September 2023 - January 2024

  Part of collections for: Council websites, Contact the council

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• Hackney website redesign

  In 2023, Hackney Council's Customer Experience started a project to replatform and redesign their website, hackney.gov.uk.

  Phases: Discovery, Alpha

  Part of a collection for: Council websites

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