Creating a Digital Consultation Platform for Local Government

Overview

Smart Consultations was developed as an extension of the SmartSurvey platform, helping local authorities and government organisations consult with the public before major projects and policy decisions.

My role was to design and build the front-end experience, creating a platform that was accessible, intuitive and responsive, while integrating seamlessly with the existing SmartSurvey administration system.

The Challenge

SmartSurvey already provided organisations with a powerful survey platform, but government clients had a different requirement. They needed a dedicated consultation platform that allowed them to engage with local communities on larger projects, while making it easy for members of the public to explore information, share feedback and take part in consultations.

Existing consultation platforms often felt complicated and difficult to use, particularly for less confident users. At the same time, the new platform needed to fit within SmartSurvey’s existing infrastructure and administration tools, creating additional technical constraints for the design.

My Approach

Working alongside the development team, I was responsible for designing and building the front-end experience.

The project was shaped through discussions with local authorities, feedback from existing customers and research into competing consultation platforms. We used what we’d learned to simplify the experience, improve accessibility and make consultations easier for the public to navigate.

A particular focus was ensuring the platform worked equally well across desktop and mobile devices while remaining accessible to the widest possible audience.

The Solution

I designed a clean, responsive consultation platform that extended the existing SmartSurvey ecosystem without feeling disconnected from it.

The interface focused on clear information hierarchy, simple navigation and accessibility, helping users quickly understand consultation topics, explore supporting information and submit their feedback with confidence.

By building on the existing administration platform, the new consultation tools could be managed using familiar workflows, reducing the learning curve for existing SmartSurvey customers while introducing entirely new capabilities.

The Outcome

Smart Consultations was successfully launched and adopted by councils and public sector organisations for citizen engagement and public consultations.

I left SmartSurvey shortly after launch, so I don’t have access to longer-term performance data, but the product expanded the platform into a new area of public-sector engagement.