The UK has principles
In digging around on the internet this week, I ran across an interesting website which outlines design principles for digital public services of the United Kingdom. Knowing how big and cumbersome the U.S. government can be, I found it odd, interesting and geekishly exciting that there could actually be a government agency dedicated to “putting the public first, in delivering digital public services”. It’s amazing that they would actually use the word "design” to dictate a principle code of conduct for government services.
To start, the United Kingdom’s Government Digital Service is guided by 7 digital principles. They are as follows:
- Digital by default
- Putting users first
- Learning from the journey
- Building a network of trust
- Moving barriers aside
- Creating an environment for technology leaders to flourish
- Don’t do it yourself (you can’t)
In addition to that, they’ve released an Alpha page titled Government Digital Service Design Principles which offers up a list of updated design principles, all of which build on the original 7.
1. Start with needs* (*user needs not government needs)
“The design process must start with identifying and thinking about real user needs.”
2. Do less
“Government should only do what only government can do.”
3. Design with data
“Normally, we’re not starting from scratch — users are already using our services.”
4. Do the hard work to make it simple
“Making something look simple is easy; making something simple to use is much harder“
5. Iterate. Then iterate again.
“The best way to build effective services is to start small and iterate wildly.” I love the use of the word “wildly”.
6. Build for inclusion
“Accessible design is good design.”
7. Understand context
“We’re not designing for a screen, we’re designing for people.”
8. Build digital services, not websites
“Our service doesn’t begin and end at our website. It might start with a search engine and end at the post office.” and “We shouldn’t be about websites, we should be about digital services.”
9. Be consistent, not uniform
“Wherever possible we should use the same language and the same design patterns — this helps people get familiar with our services.”
10. Make things open: it makes things better
“We should share what we’re doing whenever we can. With colleagues, with users, with the world.”
It reads like the best practices list from every web/digital agency I admire or have ever heard preach at SXSW Interactive. This entire list suggests that the United Kingdom is open to exploring the possibility that it should be designing it’s systems to be flexible, user centric and open; that the Gov.uk website (and by extension, the government of the UK) actually sees the value in design for the betterment of society.
A list of U.S. agencies doesn’t seem to reveal any similar efforts that imply design is a key focus. However, building smarter systems that make local government more efficient is an idea that does actually exist here in the U.S.. I refer to Code for America which is being led by Jennifer Pahlka, who gave a great keynote at SXSW Interactive last March.
It is also fascinating that Gov.uk is in fact a test site and says as much right up front. No matter how big your budget is, the practice of user testing and research, before spending a lot of taxpayer money on building a full-fledged site or app, just makes sense.
Photo by Ben Terrett
