lake Mackay
Web design & UX for The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI)

NCI Website

A public face for Australia's fastest supercomputer

Designing a new
and innovative
website

Often a website is the first engagement a person has with your organisation, and the perceptions formed in that moment impact a lifetime’s relationship. First impressions matter, something the National Computing Institute (NCI) understood when engaging Icon Agency to design a new and innovative website.

NCI needed a website that would truly represent their organisation and build strong customer relations, tasking us with creating something that was modern, responsive and useful.

NCI icons
server

Demonstrating NCI's importance and capability

As Australia’s leading high-performance data, storage and computing organisation, NCI plays a pivotal role in supplying government, science and industry bodies with world-class services. They’re also responsible for bringing the Australian Government's broader research sector together, collaborating with important educational institutions, major national science agencies and the Australian Research Council.

Communicating their depth of expertise from every angle was vital. NCI needed a new website that was both technically advanced and easy to navigate, and would better demonstrate their value to Australia's scientific and research communities.

NCI-homepage

Live statistics

A key feature outlined in our brief was the need to display live computing statistics in a clear and innovative way. In addition, we were tasked with modernising and transposing NCI’s offline style guide into a digital context.

bar graph

Close collaboration
with NCI and their
customer needs

Through close collaboration with NCI we were able to implement our proven process, starting by attaining a deep understanding of who NCI are and what their customers need. With extensive data gathering and interviews, we determined that while NCI operate in a modern, exciting and technically advanced environment, the public's perception was that they just run 'big computers'.

Drawing on this insight we were able to deliver a custom-designed solution that helps NCI demonstrate how they create value for customers and celebrates their successes as an organisation. With the right amount of art, data and experience, we tailored a solution that reflected their true nature.

Delivered for NCI:

  • A digital style guide that would honestly represent the organisation for years to come

  • Strengthening the customer-brand relationship through UX/UI

  • Robust, low maintenance and low-cost Drupal 8 CMS

  • API integration to visualise NCI live computational statistics

  • Simplifying user journeys with a new information architecture and content review

  • Making significant research findings easy to find

  • Helping experienced users find relevant information

  • Removing the frustrations of managing content