Landmate service ideation

• Problem Discovery - understanding the participation barriers
• Key Decisions - how the research shaped the service
• Research Approach - journey mapping, card sorting and validation
• Insights - what the research revealed
• Recommendations - practical next steps
• Outcomes - what changed and what we learnt

Landmate helps deliver land-improvement work in rural and regional communities through activities such as revegetation, fencing and environmental remediation. The program also supports rehabilitation and employment outcomes for corrections participants.

The service operated across a complex public-sector environment. Landholders and project owners needed to understand grants, labour availability, compliance tasks, application requirements and support pathways that crossed organisational boundaries.

The core design challenge was that the service worked for internal teams, but placed too much multi-agency complexity onto landholders. People needed a simpler way to understand what Landmate could do, how to plan work, how to apply and who owned each part of the journey.

My role

I was responsible for proposing the UX research approach, shaping workshop activities, facilitating stakeholder ideation, analysing findings and translating the evidence into recommendations for the Landmate website experience. I worked with Corrections Victoria and Department of Justice and Regulation stakeholders to define research questions, test assumptions about user needs and inform non-technical requirements before the website moved further into design and build.

Research the service journey before defining the website

The obvious move was to start by designing website content and navigation. That would have missed the work people needed to do before, during and after engaging Landmate. I proposed qualitative research activities that explored the full land-improvement journey: deciding what work to do, enquiring or applying, waiting for work to start, managing work in progress and completing follow-up tasks. This meant the website could be framed around real project-owner tasks, not only internal program structure.

Compare novice and expert mental models

Landmate had experienced internal stakeholders who understood the program, but the public website also needed to work for people with limited knowledge of the service. I shaped the research to compare external stakeholders with limited knowledge of Landmate and internal subject matter experts with extensive program knowledge. This revealed where experienced teams saw a service process and less experienced users saw fragmented tasks, unclear ownership and uncertainty - confirming the design needed clearer self-service content while still supporting assisted and case-managed journeys.

Use topic-based navigation instead of a government process map

The workshop tested whether content should be organised by task, topic, time slice or user group. More participants grouped content by topic than by time, which suggested that the website should not simply mirror a linear internal process. I recommended a topic-based information architecture using labels such as “Our services”, “How to apply”, “Plan your work” and “About us” - giving users clearer entry points for evaluating the service, preparing work and understanding Landmate.

Expose service ownership where the website could not simplify the organisation

Participants were exposed to the complexity of government organisational structures. Project owners needed to interact with multiple organisations, including DELWP and CMAs, and complete steps that were not all owned by Landmate. Where the website could not remove the organisational complexity, I recommended clearer checklists, sign-up reminders, grant-status messaging, related case studies and escalation pathways to make responsibilities easier to understand.

I designed the research to help the team understand user needs, vocabulary, information architecture and service opportunities before build. The activities were shaped to fit within stakeholder availability while still producing actionable evidence.

Journey mapping

Participants mapped information needs and blockers across the stages of a land-improvement project, from deciding what work to do through to reporting and follow-up after work was complete.

Card sorting

Participants grouped website topics and labelled categories in their own words. This revealed whether Landmate content made more sense by topic, task, time slice or audience group.

Comparative analysis

I reviewed related corrections, landcare, environmental and government websites to identify features, publishing patterns and content opportunities that could inform the Landmate experience.

Stakeholder validation

Internal and external stakeholder sessions helped test assumptions, build shared understanding and give the product owner evidence before progressing into wireframes and further testing.

Here’s what the research revealed about how people thought about and engaged with the service.

Project owners started from different places

Some people started with a backlog of work, some looked for community or environmental opportunities, and others began by identifying funding streams and partners. The website needed to support all three starting points.

Case studies influenced decisions

Participants reported that examples of similar work, especially examples with measurable outcomes, could help them decide whether to proceed. This created an opportunity to connect procedural content with related case studies.

Preparation tasks were fragmented across organisations

Before work could start, project owners often needed to manage site preparation, quotes, materials, milestones, compliance and safety tasks. Many of these instructions were spread across multiple organisations and websites.

Waiting and follow-up needed better support

Participants needed to manage long waiting periods, uncertain grant timings, work commencement dates and follow-up tasks that could occur well after work was complete. This created a need for reminders and clearer status messaging.

• Use a topic-based information architecture
• Use top-level labels: “Our services”, “How to apply”, “Plan your work” and “About us”
• Refine lower-level pages into related tasks under each topic
• Add “how to” content for project prioritisation, community opportunities and funding streams
• Link procedural content to related case studies using subject tags
• Add site preparation and legislative compliance checklists
• Add grant-status messaging and grant notification sign-ups
• Add a reminder sign-up function for post-work follow-up tasks
• Define assisted and case-managed pathways for complex or unfamiliar projects
• Consider a mobile-friendly reporting function for project owners and on-site staff

The engagement turned a broad website brief into a clearer service-design direction. The team gained evidence about what users needed to understand, how they grouped information, where the service exposed organisational complexity and which website features could reduce friction before build.

• 12 critical usability and process issues were identified before build began
• Journey mapping revealed where digital processes diverged from real-world land-management workflows
• Card sorting showed that a topic-based information architecture better matched participant expectations
• Research clarified the need for novice-friendly self-service content and stronger assisted support pathways
• Recommendations gave stakeholders a practical path for improving findability, service ownership and planning support

Reflection

The biggest lesson from this project was that a website can only simplify part of a complex service. When ownership spans multiple agencies, good design has to make the next step clear while also revealing where the service model itself creates friction.

If I approached this again, I would push for earlier prototype testing with project owners who had no prior awareness of Landmate. The workshop evidence was valuable, but broader novice testing would have strengthened confidence in how well the proposed service language worked for new audiences.