Transforming the Harbour Trust online experience

The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was established by the Federal Government in 1999 to protect and manage extraordinary foreshore locations on Sydney Harbour, from North Head Sanctuary to Cockatoo Island.

Cypha was engaged to redesign and rebuild both the Sydney Harbour Trust and Cockatoo Island websites through a competitive federal tender process.

THE CHALLENGE

The existing websites were content-heavy, outdated, and difficult to navigate, limiting engagement and failing to meet evolving user needs.

We were tasked with:

Redesigning the entire information architecture to support two interconnected but distinct websites
Improving UX and navigation by intent (rather than location)
Ensuring full WCAG accessibility and compliance with Government Digital Service Standards
Creating a more compelling visual experience that drives exploration, education, and bookings
Building a platform that is flexible, scalable, and easy to manage internally

THE PROCESS

Research and Personas

We began with analytics audits, user journey reviews, and stakeholder workshops to understand audience behaviours and uncover pain points across both sites.

Key goals included:

Reducing bounce rates
Increasing exploration of destinations and events
Tailoring content to key segments (visitors, educators, media, researchers)

Information Architecture

We completely overhauled the IA to support seamless movement between the two sites while maintaining their individual focus.
Navigation was restructured around user intent, allowing visitors to explore experiences, history, and events, rather than forcing them to start from a location-based hierarchy.

Creative Design

The new visual design celebrates the Harbour Trust’s stunning foreshore assets, with full-bleed photography, clear typographic hierarchy, and intuitive CTAs.
The UI was built to be modular and scalable for future microsites or content streams.

Development

We selected Umbraco CMS for its open-source flexibility and government-grade scalability.
Key technical features included:

Custom responsive modules for self-managed content
ClickDimensions integration for email and subscription management
Dynamic form builder
CRM, event, and map API integrations
Full WCAG 2.1 accessibility compliance

Wireframes

Colour

THE SOLUTION

Backed by research and stakeholder input, Cypha delivered a complete redevelopment of the user experience (UX) and information architecture (IA) for both the Sydney Harbour Trust and Cockatoo Island websites.

Key design features included:

Large-format imagery to showcase the harbour’s iconic locations
Clear call-to-action buttons to guide user journeys
A redesigned universal mega footer for wayfinding across both sites
Consistent use of colour, type, and white space to create clarity and impact

Rather than structuring navigation by site or location, we guided users based on intent — whether they were looking to explore, book, learn, or plan an event.

The final build is fully responsive, WCAG-compliant, and powered by a modular Umbraco CMS, giving the Harbour Trust team flexibility to manage and grow content internally.

Results

+37% increase

in time on site

-28% reduction

in bounce rate

+41% uplift

in email subscriptions

WCAG 2.1

accessibility compliance

Winner

W3 Gold Award

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