Ava Fletcher

Designing the Digital
Birth Certificate App

UX Design

Design Systems

Accessibility

Registry of Births,
Deaths & Marriages

NSW Department of Customer Service

The World’s First Digital Birth Certificate

Worked with the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages to design the world’s first Digital Birth Certificate (DBC), enabling Australians to securely prove their identity through a standalone mobile app.

Services

UX Design

Design Systems

Accessibility

This section of the case study is password protected.

🔑 Unlock

1. Overview

My Role: Experience Designer, responsible for designing native mobile app for iOS and Android (UX/UI), building a design system and accessibility framework, and ensuring a secure-but-user-friendly experience.
Timeline: 7 months, April – November 2022
Key Tools: Figma, WCAG guidelines, Material Design, Apple Human Interface Guidelines, Jira
Team shape: Lead Experience Designer, Consultant Experience Designer, Business Analyst, Tech Principal, Delivery Principal, Quality Analyst, 2x Full-stack developer squads (iOS and Android).

2. The Problem

Challenge: Create a secure, accessible, and native mobile app experience for citizens to prove their identity while adhering to high standards for accessibility and digital security.
Why It Mattered: This project was a pioneering step toward digital identity in Australia, with plans to extend the DBC framework to other states and territories in Australia.

3. The Approach

‍

Native Mobile Design:

Designed distinct app versions for iOS and Android, aligning with their native behaviours and system defaults.
Developed a design system from scratch, incorporating guidelines from Material Design and Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.

Accessibility:

“Shifted accessibility left” to an early stage of development by creating an accessibility framework, including a focus order guide and rules for implementing larger text settings for users with vision impairment.
Ensured WCAG AA compliance through iterative design and testing, passing rigorous accessibility user testing and audits.

Security Features:

Integrated multi-factor authentication (MFA) and biometric login options to prioritise user security without compromising on usability.
Conducted user research to align security features with citizen expectations and needs.

4. The Solution

A secure, WCAG-compliant, native mobile app that leverages platform-specific design patterns and provides a seamless user experience for iOS and Android users.
Comprehensive design system supporting consistent and scalable design across future iterations and states/territories.Accessibility framework and best practices implemented in collaboration with developers and QA.

Design System Examples

5. Results and Impact

Successfully passed security audits and met stringent digital identity standards. Achieved full compliance with WCAG AA standards, making the app accessible to users across all demographics.
Delivered a scalable design system adopted as the foundation for future digitisation efforts across Australian states.

End-to-End Flows
Native Mobile Design

Project Sponsor, Hon. Victor Dominello
Former NSW Minister for Digital

Modernising Online Forms for
Births, Deaths and Marriages

UX Design

Accessibility

Customer Experience

This section of the case study is password protected.

🔑 Unlock

Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages

NSW Department of Customer Service

Modernising Online Forms

Redesigned and optimised the online application process for registering births and ordering birth certificates in New South Wales.

Services

UX Design

Design Systems

Accessibility

1. Overview

My Role: Experience Designer, responsible for the form redesign (UX/UI), user flows, developer collaboration, improving accessibility and usability, and ensuring compliance with NSW government legislation and digital identity standards.
Timeline: 8 months, November 2022 – July 2023
Key Tools: Figma, Miro, Jira, NSW Digital Design System, Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF) standards.
Team shape: Experience Designer, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Tech lead, 4x Full-stack developers.

2. The Problem

Challenge 1: The online process for registering births and ordering birth certificates was clunky, inefficient, and led to over 7,500 citizen complaints. It is the gateway for over 100,000 birth registrations and birth certificate orders in NSW each year. The NSW Minister for Digital, Hon. Victor Dominello, advocated to resolve the complaints and inefficiencies ahead of the launch of Australia's first Digital Birth Certificate.
Challenge 2: Managing the complexities of family dynamics and relationships (e.g. parents, guardians, case workers, disputing parents), creating a need for flexible user flows to accommodate various scenarios.
Challenge 3: Handling multiple proof-of-identity (POI) requirements, which led to security risks, user mistakes, and non-compliant applications, putting significant strain on the department’s resources.

3. The Approach

Usability Assessment & UI Redesign:

Analysed and triaged the 7,500+ complaints to identify and resolve critical UI and usability issues.
Addressed significant user experience challenges, particularly with the identification upload process to improve clarity, reduce errors and increase completion rates of the online forms.
‍

Designing Flexible User Flows:

Designed user flows to accommodate various scenarios, such as parents, disputing parents, case workers, and legal guardians.
Implemented multiple levels of identity assurance (email-only, hybrid, strong) in line with recommendations from the Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF).
‍

Streamlined Processes & MyGov Integration:

Designed the forms to integrate with MyGov, Australian government’s online service provider, to allow for strong, seamless identity authentication, reduced the number of steps in the registration process.
‍
- For citizens and caseworkers who need to use email only, the manual process of completing the form has been significantly improved, for example with easier document upload (through the government Document Verification Service), clear tool-tips and quick address lookup.
- For citizens who choose to link their MyGov account, the process is streamlined further by pre-filling their information and removing the need to provide supporting identity documents (‘review and confirm’ rather than upload).
Ensured secure data handling and compliance with privacy standards, creating multiple levels of identity verification.
‍

Real-Time Feedback:

Designed and implemented real-time feedback mechanisms to guide users through the process and prevent common mistakes.
- For example, dynamic tool-tips to let users know how many more documents they need to upload, reducing the number of applications submitted with incorrect or missing information.

Usability Assessment Example:

4. The Solution

Redesigned the Birth Registration form (supporting 3 identification options).
Redesigned the Birth Certificate Order Form (supporting 3 identification options, and an enhanced checkout experience).
Developed user flows for various complex scenarios, such as registering children in state care (for different 7 applicant types).
Streamlined application process with MyGov integration to reduce steps, enhance security and ensure compliance with TDIF standards.

New Checkout Page
Ensuring users order the correct certificate type

Redesigned Flows
Reducing the number of steps to complete an application

Order Birth Certificate (Email Only)

Order Birth Certificate (myGov Integration)

5. Results and Impact

Reduced the number of non-compliant applications significantly, alleviating manual workload on the department.
Streamlined the user journey, reducing clicks and improving the overall user experience.
Enhanced data security and user privacy by implementing secure identity verification flows.
Uplifted and modernised the online services for the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages to be prepared for public engagement and volume increase brought by Digital Birth Certificate App launch.

Building a Travel
Recommendations Platform

UX Design

Product Strategy

No password required for this section

Local Unknown

Travel Startup

Redefining The Travel Experience Through Local Expertise

I created Local Unknown out of a desire for quick and clearcut, word-of-mouth travel recommendations. It evolved into a platform for travel enthusiasts and passionate locals to share snapshots from their favourite places.

Services

UX Design

Product Strategy

1. Overview

My Role: Founder & Designer, responsible for UX/UI design, brand identity, content strategy, and platform development.
Timeline: 4 years, July 2019 – August 2023
Key Tools: Webflow, Sketch, Airtable, Mailchimp, Pinterest, Etsy, Adobe Photoshop.

2. The Problem

Challenge: Traditional travel planning was often time-consuming and frustrating, especially for young Australians looking for authentic experiences rather than generic tourist suggestions.‍
Why It Mattered: With young Australians spending an average of $7,722* on overseas trips, they couldn’t afford to waste money on disappointing experiences. They needed a better way to discover local, authentic spots outside of the mainstream travel sites.
(*2019 data).

3. My Approach

‍

Community-Driven Platform:

Designed a simple, visual platform that allows users to share their favourite hidden gems - whether it's a local beach, a café, or a must-hear podcast. Following the simple format of somewhere to go, eat, listen to and location details.
Created a personalised quiz to categorise users based on their travel preferences (culture, food, outdoors, nightlife, shopping), which informed tailored recommendations.
Built and managed a CMS to handle user-generated content efficiently.

Brand and Content Strategy:

Developed a cohesive brand identity that reflected travel and nostalgia - heavily featuring film photography, postcard imagery, vintage trinkets and travel memorabilia.
Created an engaging content strategy that encouraged users to share their personal experiences through contributions to the platform.
Established a strong presence on social media platforms, particularly Pinterest and Instagram, to drive awareness and user engagement.

Web Design and Development:

Designed and built a fully responsive website using Webflow, ensuring a seamless user experience across devices.
Integrated the website with Airtable, Mailchimp and Make.com to automate the personalised quiz results and email recommendations.

What I did

Created and sourced travel content and recommendations from travel enthusiasts
Designed and built a Webflow site from scratch, Instagram community, Pinterest following and Etsy print store

The Impact

From 0 to 170+ unique content submissions across 50 cities
150k monthly impressions on Pinterest
Top 10 ranking in the New Wave startup program at University of New South Wales
40+ product listings in the affiliated Etsy store

Strategising for the Future of BPAY

Customer Experience

Product Discovery

This section of the case study is password protected.

🔑 Unlock

BPAY

Australian Payments Plus (AP+)

Strategising for the Future of BPAY

In a digital-first banking era, how does a 25-year-old payment pioneer stay relevant? With BPAY processing $24 billion in monthly transactions across 60,000 businesses and 150+ financial institutions, the stakes were high.

We were tasked with exploring opportunity areas for the future of Australia's most established bill payment platform, balancing innovation with the trust that millions of Australians place in the BPAY brand.

Services

Customer Experience

Product Innovation

UX Design

1. Overview

My Role: Experience Designer – responsible for research, concept development, and prototyping.
Timeline: 4 months, July – October 2023
Key Tools: Figma, Miro.
Team shape: Experience Designer, Product Manager, Business Analyst.

2. The Problem

The Challenge: BPAY’s transaction volumes plateaued as younger demographics shifted towards alternative payment methods and subscription-based models. Payments were perceived as slow, and manual processes were seen as clunky in an increasingly automated world.

Why It Mattered: BPAY needed to modernise while retaining its strong brand trust to stay competitive among 150+ financial institutions and 60,000 businesses.

3. The Approach

‍

Discovery Phase: Conducted workshops with internal stakeholders, Billers and Member Banks and mapped BPAY’s current ecosystem to identify user pain points and opportunity areas for growth.

‍Ideation Phase: Developed user flows and CX concepts for five key opportunities.

4. The Solution

Two examples of the opportunity areas explored.

Concept 1: Faster Payment Experience

‍

Addressed the pain point of BPAY’s traditional 2-day processing time.
Proposed real-time payments through a "Fast Biller" system.
Mapped out an enhanced payments flow, introducing:

Fast Biller Indicators: Clear visual cues at key decision points.
Instant Notifications: Real-time confirmation messages upon payment.
Seamless Banking Updates: Immediate balance adjustments in both banking and biller apps.

Challenge: Managing a dual experience for billers who adopt faster payments versus those who stick to traditional systems.

Solution: Designed an adaptive experience that minimised friction for customers while encouraging biller adoption.

User Journey

CX Concept
Faster Payment Experience

‍

Concept 2: Hybrid Integration with PayTo

‍

This second concept explored what it might look like to bring together two products from the AP+ portfolio - BPAY and PayTo*.

‍

*PayTo is a new product to the market, and simplifies recurring payments, like subscriptions, bills, gym memberships by enabling merchants and businesses to initiate real-time payments from their customers’ bank accounts.

‍

We conceptualised an experience that would:

Merge BPAY’s trusted reconciliation features with PayTo’s real-time payment infrastructure.
Eliminate manual data entry by integrating BPAY’s biller codes and CRNs into PayTo agreements.

We explored multiple approaches to merge these powerful platforms:
‍

Created various UI concepts to test different branding strategies to maintain familiarity and trust ("PayTo powered by BPAY”).
Designed a merchant-centric experience that only required bank interaction for final authorisation.

User Journey

CX Concept
Hybrid Integration with PayTo

5. Results and Impact

Unified Stakeholders: Turned abstract technical discussions into tangible possibilities, bringing banks, billers, and payment providers together around a shared vision for BPAY's future.
‍
Demonstrated Clear Value:

For Customers: Instant payments and real-time confirmations, without sacrificing trust.
For Billers: A competitive edge through faster payment processing, while preserving their existing reconciliation processes.
For Banks: A clear pathway to modernise their payment infrastructure while maintaining BPAY's market position.

Future Readiness: By visualising the future of payments, our prototypes didn't just show what was possible – we created urgency around what was necessary. Our work provided a strong concept to drive technical investment decisions and strategic planning, laying the groundwork for BPAY's future product roadmap.Reduced the number of non-compliant applications significantly, alleviating manual workload on the department.

Proposed Opportunity Areas (CX Concepts & Prototypes)