Canton of Basel-Stadt - Public information truly centred on its users

Sector(s)

Government

Team Members

dulnan, ayalon, siegrist, tcrawford, martinpe, thormeier, ancaverniceanu

Project Team

Jonathan Noack

Thomas Nagy

David Schmidt

Rebecca Borer

Manuel Neubauer

Ilona Keller

Visit the site

Organizations Involved

Liip

Community contributions

As part of this project, several key contributions were made. The most significant are the blökkli editor and the blökkli paragraphs module. The blökkli Starterkit also incorporates many elements developed during this project.
To measure the progress of content creation, we developed a module that monitors the current status in Datadog.

While developing this module, we also improved our existing modules for caching (Nuxt Multi Cache) and the GraphQL Core Schema as well as Vuepal.

We relaunched the Canton of Basel-Stadt website to make it more user-centred. The navigation was simplified, focusing on relevant topics for users rather than internal organigrams.

A website relaunch for the people, by the people
Public information is essential, but it used to be difficult to access on administration websites. With its relaunch, the canton of Basel-Stadt offers a new bs.ch experience, designed with its users, the hundreds of editors contributing to the site, and its visitors in mind. Users can now easily find information or directly ask for answers.

Content strategy as a cornerstone for a fully user-centred approach
To create a website that works for both its users and its more than 300 editors, a well-defined content strategy is essential, including content governance, to ensure sustainable editorial quality.

Describe the project (goals, requirements and outcome)

Challenge
As part of the relaunch of bs.ch, not only was the technical architecture revised, but the information architecture was also completely redesigned with a radical focus on the users. In addition to the new visual design, all content had to be recreated by over 300 editors - for the first time, across all departments. Content governance, including new forms of collaboration, had to be developed and communicated to the more than 300 editors.
Approach
As a first step, we developed the UX principles with the cantonal team. These provided guidelines and orientation for all subsequent steps. The new content to be created required an entirely new information architecture. As a first step, the various access points were evaluated using tree tests. Based on the user tests, a navigation concept with a very prominent breadcrumb was developed that allows users to quickly find their way around the site. The vast majority of users do not navigate through a website from the home page, but enter directly via a deep link.
Since terms sometimes have a different meaning in the administrative context than in everyday language, it is particularly important that users quickly understand whether they are in the right place. And if not, how to get to the right place.
The visual design was implemented based on these premises. Clear, accessible typography and a design that works flexibly in the context of the cantonal administration. Based on the design, we developed a design system that is used for all digital applications in the canton of Basel-Stadt.
Result
The project was completed on time and under budget. The website sets new standards with its strong design for a public administration. At the same time, user feedback has been very positive: the new topic structure is easy to understand and the navigation concept focussing on direct access works.
The relaunch has also attracted international interest: the project was presented to the community at DrupalCon in Barcelona. It is an excellent example of why a successful relaunch depends not only on a modern technical architecture, but above all on the content and active collaboration between all stakeholders.

Why Drupal was chosen

Drupal was an ideal choice for the project from the get-go. Basel-Stadt required a solution that was both robust and flexible. With its granular permission management, clear separation of structure and content, and emphasis on open-source products, Drupal turned out to be a perfect match.
Its adaptability has made Drupal an excellent platform for over 400 editors with varying levels of expertise in web publishing. The previous website was built on Magnolia.