The Catalyst Starter site combined with new custom branding made the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security’s new website a straightforward and fast project.
With the Common Web Platform being shut down in late 2021, IGIS needed a new online home, and the move was also an opportunity to redesign their branding. The first stage was to migrate their existing site to their new host: the locally owned and operated Catalyst Cloud.
Everything looked and worked the same, but having the website hosted on Catalyst Cloud was cheaper, and more importantly means they will be on a New Zealand based site forever. Increasingly private companies and government departments are recognising the benefits and importance of having their data stored safely in Aotearoa rather than overseas. Once the old website was bedded in its new home and the financial year had passed it was time to upgrade the site and redesign the IGIS branding.
IGIS wanted a complete redesign of their branding and image: moving away from the older government crest style and towards something more modern. They worked with an advisory group and were given the name Te Pourewa Mātaki, which means watchtower. Visually however, they wanted to steer away from standard imagery such as a tower with an eye.
The Catalyst design team worked with a Māori designer, Sandy Rodgers who provided a range of organic logo options: while the Catalyst team provided some more corporate options. The final decision from IGIS was to use a corporate version of the logo text, but pair it with the more organic cabbage tree drawn by Sandy. Catalyst then provided assets that incorporated the cabbage tree, in combination with geometric lines to represent the flow of information and connection between IGIS and the people of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The combination of the colour palette and logo that encompassed their new brand made it easy to customise the Starter site. Catalyst created a pattern library of cabbage tree elements that IGIS could use in place of photos, as well as a library of New Zealand- and technology- related assets.
As well as the web branding for the new website, Catalyst created document templates and physical print items, so the branding across all media is cohesive. IGIS can create new documents and switch out the images and change text, just like they can with the website. We also provided IGIS with logo variations for different backgrounds and colour palettes.
Using the Catalyst Starter site meant that the groundwork had been done when it came to building the new website. Catalyst loaded the content by pulling it from the existing site and applied the new custom branding and styles.
One of the benefits of using the Silverstarter theme is that it leverages existing automation, so there’s very little quality assurance time needed, which keeps the cost down for clients. As it was built on the same CMS they were already using, Silverstripe, it also meant there wasn’t a learning curve for IGIS to update the content when needed. The new website took about six weeks from start to finish.
