introduction to gov.uk and user needs
DESCRIPTION
A presentation by Louise Russell and Abby Rudland from Local Direct. The presentation covers how GOV.UK was developed and how it puts user needs at the heart of content design.TRANSCRIPT
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