Background
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) provides independent oversight of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Security Bureau.
Opportunity
The Common Web Platform shut down in late 2021, and IGIS(external link) needed a new online home. The move was also an opportunity to redesign their branding.
Solution
The first stage was migrating their existing site to their new host: the locally owned and operated Catalyst Cloud(external link).
Everything looked and worked the same, but having the website hosted on Catalyst Cloud was cheaper and meant they'd be on a New Zealand-based site forever. Increasingly, private companies and government departments recognise the benefits and importance of data stored safely in Aotearoa rather than overseas. Once the website and the financial year had passed, it was time to upgrade the site and redesign the IGIS branding.
IGIS wanted a complete redesign of their branding and image: moving away from the older government crest style and towards something more modern. They worked with an advisory group and were given the name Te Pourewa Mātaki, which means watchtower. Visually, however, they didn't want to use standard imagery, such as a tower with an eye.
The Catalyst design team worked with a Māori designer, Sandy Rodgers. Sandy provided a range of organic logo options, while the Catalyst team provided corporate options. The final decision from IGIS was to use a corporate version of the logo text but pair it with the more organic cabbage tree drawn by Sandy. Catalyst then provided assets incorporating the cabbage tree with geometric lines to represent the flow of information and connection between IGIS and the people of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
The combination of the colour palette and logo encompassed their new brand, making it easy to customise Catalyst Starter. Catalyst created a pattern library of cabbage tree elements that IGIS could use in place of photos and a library of New Zealand- and technology-related assets.
As well as the web branding for the new website, Catalyst created document templates and physical print items, so the branding across all media is cohesive. IGIS can create new documents, switch out the images, and change text, just like they can with the website. We also provided IGIS with logo variations for different backgrounds and colour palettes.
Using the Catalyst Starter site meant the foundation groundwork was complete before building the website. Catalyst loaded the content by pulling it from the existing site and applied the new custom branding and styles.
One of the benefits of using the Catalyst Starter theme is that it leverages existing automation, so there’s very little quality assurance time needed, keeping costs down for clients. Plus, Catalyst Starter is on the same CMS they had, Silverstripe. Therefore, there wasn’t a learning curve for IGIS to update the content when needed. The new website took about six weeks from start to finish.
