eSafety.gov.au (‘eSafety’) is the primary destination for people who want to understand or report online abuse, including bullying, harassment and sharing nudes without consent.

Since its launch, the eSafety website had grown in structure and content. That growth was not uniform, with different government priorities leading to some site sections expanding more than others. With increasing usage, it was time to address user experience, and related navigation and content,  with the goal of a seamless site user journey for all Australians seeking help to stay safe online.

At a time of high profile activity by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, the digital team scoped two important projects to assess primary user experience of the eSafety website.

Building on previous digital work with eSafety, Ellis Jones conducted two consecutive UX research projects:

• User experience of people with intellectual disability (PWID), their carers and support workers.
• User experience of parents, educators, social workers and young people (including a group with vision impairment).

The goals in both cases, were to:

• Understand how participants come to the site, including awareness of eSafety, understanding of its role as it relates to site use, and alternative information sources/websites.
• Understand pain/gain points, navigation journeys, and post-website usage of content and tools.
• Clear articulation of experience differentiation by audience, to inform future website UX strategy, and business strategies.
• Recommendations on quick wins and longer-term changes to align UX with site and business goals.

The method comprised:

• Expert UX heuristic review based on best practice
• Unmoderated, guided usability testing using Lookback to prompt and record participant responses.
• Card sorting using Optimal Workshop to observe user grouping of content into possible navigation configurations.
• Four in-person workshops with moderated testing, alternative functionality and wireframe reflection, and AI discussion.
• Analysis and workshopping with the cross-function project team.

Recruitment was safe, ethical and highly comprehensive. All PWID interviews were completed in person with a carer or support worker present. All workshop and interview participants were contacted in advance to ensure understanding of the process, and consent to participate.

People with vision impairment were recruited through trusted intermediaries. Participants featured people with different cultural, First Nations, and LGBTIQA+ identity as well as gender and age diversity.

Research and reporting provided:

• Important insights in user behaviour and understanding relative to eSafety’s role/identity and presentation.
• Exemplars of recommended site changes using visual, narrative and hyperlinked examples emerging from user feedback.
• Actionable recommendations to optimise navigation and content structure, mobile responsiveness, and search functionality and display.
• Information and recommendations on adopting inclusive design principles to optimise accessibility and inclusivity, including through the user of screen readers.
• A roadmap acknowledging internal contexts, and indicating quick wins and longer-term changes/investments.

To support implementation of report findings through the subsequent digital design and development phases and support accessibility, a video presentation was recorded.

Feedback from client representatives and key stakeholders was highly positive.