Research showed our users typically used search engines to find our content, and the existing site performed poorly in rankings. So it was critical the new design was focused on improving search rankings across all pages.

We also had to review the flow and processes for users to create a simplified, consistent and easy to use UX design. We have introduced more personalisation and easier management of favourites. Lastly we needed to bring the new TVNZ branding to life. This included our new logo, colours, our bespoke font and custom icon family.

The design is purposely restrained and focused on navigation to showcase our programmes. The colours, contrast and clean and simple design elements have been carefully chosen and crafted to work across all screens whether it is plugged into a TV set right down to a mobile.

Because the show artwork is the main feature of the site we did a total overhaul on all elements; sourcing and remaking over a thousand show tiles and cover images to create distinctive and attractive imagery for each show to entice users into trialing new shows.

It was important the design gave our content producers enough flexibility to work across any type and scale of show; some of which may only have a couple of episodes through to multi seasons shows with a suite of additional content. TVNZ doesn’t have the same budgets and resource of some of their competitors, so we had to be smart on how we defined show graphical elements to be as reusable as possible working in different aspect ratios and scales for all the responsive states and devices.

The site has given TVNZ a great base to build on. It has now got the ability and structure to roll out constant micro improvements, A/B testing and can produce in-depth analytics to help improve our design and drive programme choices.

On relaunch it has seen a record high of over 7.8 million streams for the month, over a million streams more than the same time the previous year and over 30,000 new verified sign-ups for that month.