The Australian Youth Forum (AYF) is run as a communication channel between the Government, young people (aged 15 – 24) and the organisations that work with, for and on behalf of young people. It is about engaging young people and the youth sector in ongoing public debate, getting their input on important issues and gaining practical solutions to what affects young people’s lives now and in the future.
DEEWR was looking to broaden the reach and improve the appeal of the site and sought greater expertise in working with the youth sector. They felt that Deepend had the experience and know-how to develop a fresh, innovative digital strategy that would benefit the initiative and energise the broader AYF presence.
One of the key challenges in this project was providing an initiative from the government that would be able to engage an otherwise disinterested youth audience. This balance was achieved through a strategic process, encompassing research and key stakeholder workshops to gain a deep understanding of the target audience’s needs. The strategic vision produced by Deepend helped to shape not only the functionality of the website, but also the direction and purpose of the AYF initiative.
The website was to be deployed on Sharepoint, a platform notorious for introducing design constraints. Deepend’s technical and design teams worked in tandem to produce a visual design that was bold enough to be relevant to the youth audience, while still fitting the limitations of the chosen CMS platform.
From a technical perspective, the DEEWR web team was unable to work in a blended environment with Deepend’s production staff. To overcome this, Deepend produced highly detailed functional documentation to specify the implementation of the visual designs into Sharepoint.
Since launching, AYF’s digital presence has become the primary hub in any channel for young Australians to have their voice heard. Government departments as diverse as the Australian Electoral Commission through to the National Commission on the Commemoration of the Anzac Centenary have taken input on board from AYF contributors to implement into policy.
