introduction to gov.uk and user needs

How did we get here?

In 2004 the government web went from a loosely coordinated collection of websites...

to something a bit simpler...

Directgov

Business Link

A tremendous achievement, which brought enormous benefits, but it’s time to move on again

Directgov

Business Link

The web is now mainstream

Users expect high quality service experiences

And businesses know how to deliver them

Revolution not

evolution

They went from this...

directgov

businesslink

Directgov

Business Link

...to a single domain

Mainstream Users & Needs

Specialist Users & Needs

GOV.UK

Focused on user needs,

not government needs

Simpler

Clearer

Faster

SimplerClearerFaster…….

SimplerClearerFaster…….

…..and loads cheaper

It’s saved money..

£42 million(2012/2013)

by replacing Directgov, BusinessLink, departmental sites and related

organisation sites with GOV.UK

E.g.

Online: 22p

Phone: £4.11

Post: £6.62

Digital by default 20 x cheaper than phone, 30 x cheaper than

post 50 x cheaper than face-to-face

It does less

It does less

It’s focussed on tasks - getting to the “quick do”

It optimises for the common case but doesn’t ignore the edge case

GOV.UK is big…

It’s won awards

Design of the Year2013

D&Ad Awards2013

What does this mean for local government?

There are 134 journeys from GOV.UK to local government

Let’s talk technical

But not for long!

Small teams of world-class developers, designers and managers

Tight control of experience design

Iterative, agile, user-focused product development

They’re building GOV.UK the way Google build Google and Amazon build Amazon

They’re using open source and making that source freely available

GOV.UK is being extensively and continuously tested and improved so it works better for users

GOV.UK –

putting user needs at the heart of content design

What is auser need?

Who’s the audience?

What’s the action?

Why do they want to do it?

Defining the user need

“As a _______ I want to ________so that I can ________”

Defining the user need

“As a self-employed person I want to file my tax returnso that I can avoid nasty fines.”

“As a self-employed person I want to file my tax return

so that I can avoid nasty fines.”

Designing Content

Content should be as short, simple and specific as possible

Users won’t read your content - so don’t make them!

Front-load sentences with the important stuff

If it’s not essential, leave it out

Break it up. Use- short sentences and paragraphs- subheads- lists- active voice