Description:

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is the government agency responsible for identifying, protecting and promoting Aotearoa’s unique historical and cultural heritage. The organisation has been on a journey to bring its mission to life “to ensure that our bicultural history is understood by New Zealanders and all peoples.”
 
The old website was visually dated, bloated with content, hard to navigate and conveyed a user experience that was not consistent with their bicultural values or future focussed vision. The new website redesign project put their vision at the centre of the strategy and brought it to life through an experience that reflects who they really are:
 
Tairangahia a tua whakarere;
Tātakihia ngā reanga o āmuri ake nei

Honouring the past;
Inspiring the future


Through the use of language, experience and visual design, we were able to build an emotional connection with visitors and inspire exploration through their story. 

A key focus for the new website was elevating Māori heritage, and in its development, we spoke directly to Kāhui Māori - incorporating workshops, data analysis, surveys, and interviews into the process.

 Māori design is integrated throughout, with the home page design centered around a pou, inspiring the feeling of a whare and village, with elements that represent whakairo (carving) & Māori painting arts. The ‘pou’ is traditionally a symbol of support – it also appears in their name Pouhere Taonga which essentially means the post that binds the treasures. Treasures being people, places, stories, cultural beliefs, traditions and things.



A new, modern colour palette was developed to enhance the brand throughout the website experience. This was inspired by colours of the places that the organisation represents and developed from natural materials used in traditional Māori arts.



At the heart of the website is a list of approximately 6,000 sites recognised for their outstanding heritage significance and forming a national record of the country’s rich and diverse place-based heritage. We surfaced these through a new smart search platform. We prioritised the UX to guide people through the journeys mapped by audience types. The overall experience is both functional and explorative in that it guides people to destinations in three clicks or less but also encourages exploration through use of photography, content tagging and links.