Digital Stuff We Love platform for community organisations

NZ Navigator Trust focuses on helping community organisations across Aotearoa make better use of digital tools. This includes sharing resources, guidance, and practical support to help organisations work more effectively.

The idea behind Digital Stuff We Love was to create a place where useful tools could be shared, explored, and discussed. The challenge was not just building a directory, but creating something that felt relevant and genuinely useful to the sector.

It also needed to support community contribution over time, allowing organisations to engage with and shape the platform rather than it being a static list of tools.

The starting point was understanding what this could be, who it was for, and how it should work in practice.

The work began with a collaborative workshop, focused on exploring what Digital Stuff We Love could become and how it might work.

Through a series of exercises, including persona development, feature exploration, and prioritisation, we helped define the core concept and identify what would make the platform useful to its audience.

This process helped surface key questions, clarify priorities, and establish a shared understanding of what success would look like.

From there, we worked with the team to define next steps, including what to focus on for an initial release and how the platform could be tested and evolved over time.

As part of a wider suite of tools, we also considered how the platform would integrate with existing systems and maintain consistency across the ecosystem.

The initial phase resulted in a clearer understanding of the platform’s purpose, audience, and direction, giving NZ Navigator Trust a strong starting point for delivery.

Assumptive personas helped identify who the platform was for and how they would use it, informing both design and future research.

Key features and priorities were defined, allowing the team to focus on what mattered most for an initial release.

The work also identified gaps and areas for further investigation, ensuring the platform could continue to evolve in response to real needs.

Overall, the project helped move the idea from concept to a structured and actionable plan.