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Seacliffe Borough Council

Article 03/09/08

This article originally appeared in issue 178 of .net magazine, but I’m republishing it here because I’d like to use the Seacliffe site for a series of articles about CMSes and creativity. Or something like that. Any ideas?

I should note that the design, whilst doing it's best to address the issues raised in the article, was constrained by the magazine format; it had to have a certain width and height and had to be clear when printed at 15cm square. I'm currently realigning the design which a more considered approach for use in those future articles.

When you visit your local council's website, you're more than likely using it for one of three things: paying your council tax, complaining that your rubbish hasn't been collected, or find out what's happening in your area. The fact is, if you look at most council websites, they fail to address even two of these criteria.

The website of ficticious council of Seacliffe works where others fail. By adhering to these three primary user needs, the homepage can be effective at dealing with enquiring, confused or irate residents. The online services are presented prominently with the help of a block background colour and the Polaroid-style image, in the hope that when visitors arrive, they'll see what they need to do and exactly how to do it.

In terms of visual design, many other council websites look cluttered, old-school and boring. The Seacliffe Council site however, uses some nice images that break out of their moulds, making the page interesting and leading the eye from one section to another. It also makes use of a horizontal typographic grid and a subsequently simple layout - a must for laying out pages containing a significant amount of information. Colour is used quite liberally yet in a subtle way, giving the site a feel of both respect and approachability - qualities that any borough council would be keen to embrace.

The content on the homepage is kept to a minimum to avoid overwhelming visitors, although anyone wanting to delve deeper into the site can do so using the clear navigation.

Grid Using a grid to layout pages containing lots of information will always be beneficial to the usability and design of the site. Grids are also fun to break out of and experiment with.
Navigation The departmental-based navigation breaks up the inevitably large amount of content nicely, doesn't confuse or disorientate visitors, and highlights the most commonly used sections.
Online Services Visitors can pay bills, find jobs or apply for planning permission directly from the homepage. They can also browse an A-Z of of online services if they can't find what they're looking for.
Colour You wouldn't trust a council with a garish website, and you couldn't relate to a overly authoritative one. This council uses warm yellows and muted blues to portray approachability and respect.
News People are generally nosey; everyone likes to know what's happening in their area, despite how mundane the news stories may be. A featured news story works well to liven this section up a bit.
Contact and newsletter Visitors can easily contact their local council from the homepage and - in this age of green living - replace their monthly council newspaper with a digital version.

Posted at 10:16am on 03/09/08 - Categorised in Design, Websites

There are 4 comments on this entry; nice. Post a comment

#1 // paulg // 04/09/08

Hi,

I like the layout and design.

Would you like to see it on a council website?

I like the fact I see juxtaposed:
Seacliffe Borough Council
Im fucked

Very funny.

I can explain to you some of the elements that you would find on typical council sites, and also provide insights into the decision making process, or lack of it.

The cms discussion goes hand in hand with it of course.

Come back, do.
#2 // Greg // 04/09/08

I’m not sure I’d like to see this as a council site, but I’d certainly like my local council site to be as usable as I hope this will be.

Do you work for a council mate? It may be interesting to hear why many council sites are so unfriendly, but I’m sure it’d come down to the same reasons a lot of council-led ventures seem to fail: design by committee (a committee of non-designers at that).

Apparently there was a guy who emailed in the following issue moaning about the designs submitted for the feature, I’m trying to track his thoughts down.
#3 // PAULG // 05/09/08

Much of the gov.uk space is governed by the herd mentality, with very few willing to challenge what can be termed ‘current thinking’.

One of the self-prescribed gatekeepers of ‘current thinking’ is an org called SocITM.

They carry out an annual analysis of all (450) council websites and publish the results to those that cough up the annual dosh. (Better Connected)

They then derive a top 20 list.

It has just been a recipe for grey soup.

They provide no leadership as to how the web has changed in the last year, nor do they speculate about the coming year.

Over the last 10 years they have held up misguided advice as being ‘best practice’ (text only version of your website) ignored, or more likely failed to spot the use and importance of something like RSS. This year is the first year they spotted it. ( “ ... and obviously, you should make the events available as rss” - I paraphrase, but you get the picture)

So, an organisation of exam markers are held up as being the ‘current thinking’.

This reliance is ingrained, and now even tolerated and embraced by some central govt departments.

That’s just one of the ‘gatekeepers’, and that is just one reason why not just some, but the majority of council websites are almost unusable.

In your example picture, small though it is, I can see you have missed some other very key points to do with navigation, and is evident to those in the know, any web professional working in the gov.uk space anyhow.

In answer to your question, not any more mate, not in the way you mean.

I am still involved in the gov.uk domain area :)

Paul
#4 // GrantC // 21/09/08

Hi there

Great design, powerful yet fresh.

Apologies for what I imagine is a fairly simple query, but I am always in awe on header link sections such as this, where you have the search bar etc; how is this done (css)?

As for the image, that totally blows my mind - haven’t the foggiest how you even start about that ...

Teach me o’ yo-yo master