So we built a design system rather than a website.
The header and footer are fixed nationally; everything below them is a module each state can edit, reorder or remove. Brand consistency comes from the visual language and the tone of voice rather than from locking the pages down.
The instinct in that situation is to standardise, and standardising is usually the thing that kills it — states stop using a site they weren't allowed to shape, and within a year you're back to six. So nothing below the header was locked. States choose their own layout, imagery and messaging; the framework carries the brand. Where a state wanted the illustration layer stripped out entirely, it could switch it off.
One design system running six sites — Foodbank Australia and five states Every module below the header editable by the organisation that owns it, without going back to a developer One journey for donors and for people needing food, across every state.
