Digital ID App Redesign
Overview
The brief
myID, formerly myGovID, is the Australian Government’s digital identity app. It offers a secure way for users to prove who they are online so that they can access needed services.
Following sustained negative feedback about usability and trust within myGovID, our goal was to redesign the home screen to feel more intuitive, welcoming and reflective of the app’s new brand direction.
My role
I led a team of four designers, guiding the end-to-end design process and ensuring alignment with the broader myID rebrand.
Discovery
Current state review
We began by analysing the existing experience, annotating usability issues and pain points identified both by the team and through Voice of the Customer (VOC) report insights.
What we found:
EMOTIONS EXPERIENCED
Confusion
Mental overload
Overwhelmed
Competitor analysis
To benchmark against best-in-class experiences, we reviewed a wide range of apps—not only digital identity products, but also ecommerce (Woolworths, Telstra), utility tools (Microsoft Authenticator) and dashboard-led apps (iOS Health, Fitbit).
From this, we then synthesised common patterns into four key design territories (see below).
These territories would help later down the track when it came to developing the IA and first UI iterations.
Stakeholder discovery
To understand the product’s history, constraints and strategic goals, we conducted interviews with key stakeholders including the project lead, product manager, product owner, business analysts, technical leads, solution architects and communications. This helped us establish design principles and success criteria for the redesign.
Define
Core Principles & goals
Seamless, straightforward, and clean interface
Educate, empower and guide the user
Adopt and align with industry standards
Design for inclusion and accessibility
Develop
Card sorting
We ran an open card-sorting exercise to understand how users naturally grouped core tasks and information, helping us define a clearer IA for the home screen.
AB testing
We tested two layout variations to validate which structure best supported clarity, confidence and ease of use.
These 2 tests, plus a 3rd session for usability testing helped to validate our last design iterations and to inform the final design.
Deliver
Final design
The new design improved both usability and perception. Users found it easier to locate key actions, understand their identity status and feel reassured about security. Internally, the redesign provided a clearer structure for content, reduced ambiguity around future feature placement and aligned with the broader digital identity strategy.
The work contributed to a more cohesive brand experience and supported the government’s goal of building trust in the evolving digital identity ecosystem.
Outcome
Impact at scale
15M+
Australians using myID
Over 15 million Australians have created a myID to securely verify their identity online, an increase of 3 million users since the launch of the new app.
80M+
identity verifications
In the 12 months following the rebrand, the system processed over 80 million identity verifications, more than 3× the previous year.
240+
government services connected
myID is now used to access 246 government services, including tax, welfare and business services
Reflection
Working on a government product also meant navigating strict privacy, security and policy requirements. Balancing user-centred design with these constraints, while working across multiple agencies and governance processes, made this a complex but rewarding project.
I was most grateful for the design team I worked with and I realised how crucial it is to have a shared vision and passion.
