Service Victoria Savings Finder 2.0

The design process for the Service Victoria Savings Finder was a professionally executed, user-centred journey, representing a significant uplift and improvement from its original iteration. It began with comprehensive discovery and research into existing government benefits and common challenges Victorians faced in accessing them, highlighting the critical need for a simplified, personalised pathway to financial assistance.

Design Process: Following discovery, the team engaged in iterative ideation, prototyping, and rigorous user testing. This feedback-driven approach continuously refined the platforms language, navigation, and overall user experience, with a strong emphasis on accessibility from the outset. This robust process laid the foundation for the enhanced capabilities introduced in Savings Finder 2.0.

Meeting and Exceeding the Design Brief: The project decisively met and exceeded the design brief. It directly addressed the core problem of fragmented information and low benefit uptake by creating a single, intuitive, and highly personalised digital tool. The Savings Finder goes beyond merely listing benefits; it actively guides users through a smart questionnaire to identify their specific eligibility. Savings Finder 2.0 significantly enhanced this, addressing key limitations by enabling rapid additions and edits to existing savings and automating the removal of expired benefits, ensuring information accuracy. It also introduced crucial new features like search capability and language translation services, greatly expanding accessibility and user control. The ability to save personalised results further enhanced its utility, transforming it into a practical, empowering resource.

Implementation: The final design was implemented as a responsive web application. Dynamically presenting and filtering information on over 90 benefits, ensuring accuracy and real-time updates, delivering a smooth experience across devices.

Service Victoria Savings Finder 2.0, exemplifies good design by excelling across fundamental criteria. Its functionality is paramount, effectively solving the complex problem of fragmented government benefit information by centralising and personalising access.

Accessibility was a core design principle from the outset, ensuring the platform is usable by all Victorians, regardless of ability, through adherence to WCAG standards and clear language. The aesthetics are clean, intuitive, and user-friendly, promoting ease of navigation and reducing cognitive load.

Quality is evident in its robust, reliable performance and accurate information delivery, while its digital nature inherently promotes sustainability by reducing reliance on physical resources. A holistic, high-quality, and fit-for-purpose user experience was central to the design solution. Extensive user research, iterative prototyping, and continuous user testing ensured that the final design directly addressed citizen needs and pain points. Savings Finder 2.0 significantly enhanced this by refining the personalised questionnaire, improving search capabilities, and integrating language translation services, making the process of finding savings even more effortless and empowering. The clear presentation of eligible benefits demonstrates a deep understanding of user journeys.

This project sets a new benchmark for design excellence in public service delivery, not just in Victoria but potentially for Australia and internationally. By demonstrating how professional design can transform complex bureaucratic processes into simple, impactful digital experiences, it clearly communicates the tangible benefits of investing in design. Its success in increasing citizen access to vital support services showcases how thoughtful, user-centred design can drive significant social and economic value.

Savings Finder 2.0 creatively solves the problem of Victorians struggling to access government benefits. It transforms a fragmented, complex landscape into a personalised, intuitive digital experience. Rather than merely listing available benefits, its core innovation lies in its intelligent, user-driven questionnaire. This system dynamically filters and displays only the benefits relevant to an individuals specific circumstances, eliminating the need for users to sift through irrelevant information. This personalised approach is a significant departure from traditional government information portals.

While "world-first" claims are challenging in the digital age, the Savings Finders holistic integration and scale within a state-wide government service is a ground-breaking outcome. It represents a leading example of how a government can proactively empower its citizens to navigate complex social support systems through a single, easy-to-use interface.

Savings Finder 2.0 further refined this unique approach by enabling rapid content updates and automated removal of expired benefits, ensuring consistent accuracy and relevance. The design process was inherently user-centred, ensuring the solution directly addresses individual needs and diverse circumstances.

Extensive user research revealed that the primary challenge wasnt a lack of benefits, but a lack of awareness and accessibility. The Savings Finder responds to this by speaking in plain language, simplifying complex eligibility criteria, and providing clear next steps for application. This empathetic design approach ensures the platform is not just functional, but genuinely empowering, making a tangible difference in the financial wellbeing of Victorians. It truly answers the individual needs of its users by bringing the savings directly to them.

Savings Finder 2.0 — has delivered significant and lasting benefits across social, environmental, and economic areas. Social Impact Savings Finder makes it easier for Victorians to access financial support when they need it most. By helping people find and claim savings theyre entitled to, the service directly tackles cost-of-living pressures. This not only reduces stress and improves household stability, but also empowers individuals and families by making government support clearer and more accessible.

Environmental Impact: As a fully digital platform, Savings Finder reduces the need for printed materials and cuts down on waste and emissions linked to traditional communication methods. It also supports circular economy principles by reducing duplication and outdated content. Savings Finder 2.0 makes it even easier to update and remove expired programs, keeping information relevant and useful — and avoiding digital clutter. Its streamlined, online format helps ensure a low environmental footprint from start to finish.

Economic Impact: By connecting people with benefits theyre eligible for, Savings Finder puts money back into local communities. This strengthens household budgets and supports spending in local economies — especially in areas doing it tough. The success of Savings Finder is a clear example of the value of investing in thoughtful, user-focused design. It shows how good design can turn complex government systems into tools that actually work for people — simple, practical, and impactful. Savings Finder 2.0 is more than just a digital upgrade — it’s a model for how government can use design to deliver real-world outcomes. It helps raise the profile of Victoria’s creative and design community and stands out as a best-practice example for other governments, both in Australia and internationally, looking to modernise public service delivery. Its setting a new benchmark for how digital services can better support people — and do so more fairly, efficiently, and sustainably.