00:00It's visually cleaner, it's mobile friendly, I can see the intent of actually making the
00:06overall user experience more friendly, but then the navigation is problematic.
00:10So the overall information architecture on how the content is structured and prioritized,
00:15it isn't quite working at the moment because when people visit the BOM site, people usually
00:19want to see the immediate and the more critical information, current weather, rain radar and
00:24warnings.
00:25But on the new site, these aren't really upfront.
00:27You have to kind of click to the different sections to access the basic weather information.
00:32And once you scroll down, you are met with news content and not localized or time sensitive
00:36data.
00:37So it seems like the redesign was really focused on a much more cleaner interface, which is
00:41I get that.
00:42But it's a fine line between that and oversimplification.
00:45So for a website like BOM, where the urgency and the clarity are absolutely key here, the
00:50content needs to be immediate, it has to feel intuitive, the interface, and it doesn't really
00:54just flow very well right now.
00:56What about the Bureau saying it did a lot of testing and it received overwhelmingly positive
01:02feedback with research groups before it was launched?
01:05Yeah, I remember seeing the better testing started as far back as last year.
01:11And then it did receive, like, they say that it received positive feedback, which is good
01:15in theory.
01:16But the issue here is I wonder who was actually consulted here.
01:20So the testing groups and the user groups need to really reflect the full range of stakeholders.
01:24So from what we're seeing right now, it doesn't seem like the testing was broad or diverse
01:27enough.
01:28So in particular, it didn't really properly include rural users, I suspect, could depend
01:33on the site quite differently.
01:34They're more heavily and more frequently than city users, for example.
01:38So people in agriculture, like people that are living regionally, they need more of the
01:42higher resolution data.
01:44So those needs might have been underrepresented in the testing space, I suspect.
01:48So I think that might be might have been problematic.
01:51So do you look at this and say, it's obvious what should have been done and they didn't do
01:57it correctly or not?
01:58Oh, yeah, I did.
02:00So the content layout, for example, it should have been clearer and much more prioritized
02:05by urgency and use case, especially with different users.
02:08So with the weather data, like the live data and storm alerts and rainfall, all of that should
02:13be the first thing that people see.
02:14So instead, it's currently buried under the more less essential content.
02:18And one of the key issues is with the weather map data is that the radar visuals have been
02:23oversimplified, I suspect.
02:24So the new color scheme looks visually cleaner, and I see the intent behind that.
02:28And perhaps it's more is to make it more legible at a glance.
02:31But it comes at a cost of like detail and nuances, because you can't really distinguish things
02:36like the hail risk of like the rainfall intensity.
02:39And these are really crucial for power users, especially like that are based in rural areas.
02:44Farmers, for example, they rely on information like that to make really important real time
02:48decisions.
02:49So the previous radar graphics, I suspect, were more informative.
02:52I think that they were aiming for, again, better legibility on the new site.
02:56But that simplicity has came at the cost of like important data being lost, especially
03:01for users that rely on that level of detail, like in rural and regional users, for example.
03:07And you're in a rural area yourself.
03:09So do you, are you one of the millions of people who use the site every day, and you
03:15saw it and thought it was, yeah, they'd missed the mark?
03:18It is problematic.
03:19Like with our neighbours, there's a lot of farmers around where I'm at.
03:22So I'm actually between urban and rural.
03:24So it's really important.
03:25And I'm quite affected by the change as well.
03:28So yes, indeed, very problematic.
03:30I can see why everyone's having a gripe at it at the moment.
03:34And so how can the Bureau make this right now?
03:37I think they need to bring more stakeholders into the process, especially for people from
03:41regional and remote and older users as well.
03:43And those who are using the site for work and safety critical purposes.
03:47And then to go through more phases of user testing, really identify where the points of
03:51friction are throughout the entire flow of the website.
03:54And observing how different people use the website where they struggle, and then importantly,
03:58to engage with their feedback, I would suggest they might consider rolling back and reintroducing
04:03features in much more smaller and staged updates, rather than overhaul everything at once.
04:08Because it's been a little bit problematic.
04:10The timing of the launch itself, I thought it was a bit unfortunate because rolling this
04:13out right now, as we are heading into summer and storm season, it really didn't give people
04:17enough time to learn the new interface and get used to it.
04:20And for a site that relies on emergency like that, that's a really big issue.
04:25So really trial things in phases, and making sure that people have access to better data
04:29in urgent situations and are comfortable in actually using the interface quite straightforward
04:34way.
04:35Do you think this is possibly an example of a situation where the older generation might
04:40have been kind of pushed to one side in the process of consultation on this, and younger
04:45people might have been involved in the development?
04:48And it was a situation where the older generation really needed to be involved and had on side
04:56for this.
04:57Yeah, exactly.
04:58So that's a really great point.
04:59So we test with many different users in user testings.
05:02And then the key thing is being able to engage with different stakeholders, not just from an
05:08age group as well, but from culture, gender, proficiency in technology and all of that as well, as well
05:12as the kinds of data that they access.
05:15So when we deal with user experience design, we have to test across all range of users rather
05:18than our assumptions as designers ourselves.
05:22So that's really crucial.
05:23So the testing phase is very important as well as the very careful and intentional rollout
05:27as well.
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