The secret to gov.uk’s near perfect UX: Content Design
The Gov.uk website stands out because of its simplicity and timelessness. But its no-frills design and content didn’t come easy. Just try and strip down thousands of pages of content to the very core, leaving only what’s necessary to help its visitors to get the information they need, and to complete their goal. All the while dealing with many different stakeholders (and their politics). But that’s exactly what Sarah Richards did.
What should it look like, that bit of information that people in a particular situation, really need? Sarah Richards and her content and design team at GDS (Government Digital Services in the UK) asked that question, hundreds, perhaps thousands of times, for just as many situations and pieces of content.
They found most of their answers by going after and using the data that was available to them, and by creating user stories and job stories. This is a practice also used in software development, where you create a little story to tune into the particular need you would need the content for. It creates space for different forms and formats of content, by not assuming that the solution would, for instance, be a web-text, per se. It could be an image, a flowchart, a video, a map, a calculator, or something completely different than that.
Sarah named their practice ‘Content Design’.
In her book, also titled ‘Content Design’, she shares its core approach and tactics. I really enjoyed reading Sarah’s book and attending her workshop on content design. I learned a lot of new skills that I have already put into practice in a few of my projects. I’m sure those skills could be helpful for you, as well. So, have a listen to this episode and our conversation. You’ll hear what it was like to work on gov.uk during the first few years (spoiler alert: it was not completely void of stressful situations), how Sarah and her team implemented their methods and what content design entails.
Links:
- Gov.uk
- Content Design London
- Sarah’s book: Content Design
- Sarah’s colleague Tom Loosemore
