Description:

Rapidly evolving pandemic conditions and major transformation within the New Zealand health sector meant the Ministry of Health urgently required a platform that would not only support the government's Covid-19 response, but have the potential for re-use in the future digitisation of population health programmes.

With much ambiguity around requirements, we needed to create a scalable, modular self-service platform that could flex for many eventualities. Its first critical function, however, was to enable the easing of Covid-19 restrictions across the country by allowing all Kiwis to access their own Covid-19 health data - and prove their vaccination status, or show a negative test result.

Ultimately, we needed to deliver a solution that would be intuitive enough for an entire population to onboard, but flexible enough to scale for new use-cases both during and beyond the pandemic.

To ensure digital equity for this product we conducted extensive user research and consulted with advocacy groups including Māori and Pacifika communities, the disabled and elderly. This feedback was then rapidly incorporated into the designs.

My Covid Record has clear flows and simple navigation - every option is available upfront - along with easy to understand language. The visual identity for the platform had to be created from scratch and needed to feel different from traditional government sites - providing a warm, inviting and safe environment for all its users. By employing the Ministry's values - Manaakitanga, Kaitiakitanga, Whakapono and Kōkiri ngātahi - we were able to quickly generate a brand experience that was welcoming, organic, trustworthy and inclusive. This ethos was brought to life through the site's modern colours, leaf motifs, gentle gradients and appealing imagery.

The flexible modular IA/UX framework allows for the seamless incorporation of new features as requirements change and evolve.

My Covid Record saw the onboarding of more than 200,000 people in the first hours, and the site has since supported the successful generation of 3.5 million vaccine passes and certificates, and the self-reporting of over 1.3 million RAT results. Around 1,000 new users are still onboarding every day.

My Covid Record has also helped fast-track the digitisation of public health in New Zealand by facilitating millions of Kiwis to create a digital identity matched to their NHI number - over 63% of the population are now equipped to access future online services.

Thanks to its success, My Covid Record has become an exemplar for the Ministry of Health and now forms the foundation for digital public health services they want to deliver going forward. Accessibility implementation has been described as 'better than best practice' and set the Ministry's benchmark.

My Covid Record has been widely praised by the public for its ease of use and at a critical point in our nation's pandemic journey, provided the proof-point for Kiwis to safely re-enter their communities.