5 Changes the UX Team Made for Beta
The USAGov UX team has made improvements to beta.usa.gov in new ways. See the five changes that help us understand user needs and pain points. — via USA.gov
Design
Resources on Design
Introduction to design systems —If your organization needs to ensure compliance with a design standard or align to a brand, a design system can help you achieve those goals …
Lessons from the 2021 Federal Plain Language Report Card —This event recap highlights best practices, a short case study video, and examples of federal web content that received both high and low …
Multilingual Huddle: Designing for Translation —In this webinar, Laura Godfrey and Fedora Braverman share tips for translating content in the digital context.
Deceptive Design: How to Identify and Combat Consequence Design —Consequence design is part of everyday life. Deceptive techniques like “dark patterns” and “hostile design” trick people into taking …
Privacy-Preserving Collaboration Using Cryptography —In conjunction with her May 2020 presentation, Dr. Emily Shen outlines her work on Secure multi-party computation (MPC), a type of …
Addressing Barriers to User-Centered Design —An overview of the most common barriers and how federal agencies might address them.
The basics of human-centered design in government —How the Lab at OPM drives innovation through design education
An Introduction to USWDS 3.0 —A design system for the federal government that makes it easier to build accessible, mobile-friendly government websites for the American …
18F Accessibility Guide —A resource for developing accessible products.
Accessibility for Teams —A guide to making products more accessible for everyone.
USWDS Maturity Model —How to adopt the design system incrementally and design and build better digital experiences.
Best Practices for Writing for the Accessible Web —Tips for making online information accessible for those with auditory and visual needs.
18F Guide to Product Management —Best practices on doing product management well
18F Methods —A collection of tools that describe how teams can put human-centered design into practice.
Tools and Services
18F —We help government agencies fix technical problems, build products, and improve how government serves the public through technology.
Presidential Innovation Fellows —We help government agencies fix technical problems, build products, and improve how government serves the public through technology.
U.S. Digital Service —We deploy small, responsive groups of designers, engineers, product managers, and bureaucracy specialists to work with and empower civil …
10x —Provides funding for new technology projects or products across government, from the TTS office of investments.
DotGov Registry —We make it easy to register and manage a .gov domain for US-based government organizations.
The Lab at OPM —A team of designers with diverse backgrounds that help agencies address complex challenges and build human-centered design capacity across …
U.S. Web Design System —A toolkit of principles, guidance, and code that helps agency digital teams build accessible, mobile-friendly government websites for the …
Directory of services, tools, and teams —Free and low-cost shared services and tools offered by the GSA and other agencies.
Join a Community of Practice
U.S. Web Design System —A community for anyone building federal websites with the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) or considering it for a future project.
News and Events on Design
168 posts
Call for participation: Government UX summit 2023
The UX Summit will be a one day virtual event on June 14, 2023. New and experienced UX practitioners are encouraged to participate.
Building Beta: The Foundation
The USAGov program has been developing a new iteration of our bilingual sites, USA.gov and USAGov en Español. In the process of building beta.USA.gov and beta.USA.gov en Español, we’ve been rethinking our work style and priorities. Follow the “Building Beta” series to learn how we’re reimagining the way we approach product management, usability, accessibility, content creation, analytics, and outreach. — via USA.gov
Understanding design in 10 questions
How the discipline of design can help your agency improve customer experience.
The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) and onrr.gov
The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) includes five design principles that facilitate human-centered design. In this post, we look at the work our team does to make sure we’re meeting each principle. — via DOI Revenue Data
Three Tips for Using Facebook and Instagram Stories
At USA.gov and USAGov en Español, we’re always looking for better ways to connect people to government information through social media. Using stories has helped us increase our engagement rate and our number of followers as we deliver helpful information to people. Stories may be a good addition to your agency’s social media strategy, too. These three tips can help you get started. — via USA.gov
We asked our design team: What did you learn in 2022, and what are you looking forward to in 2023?
The beginning of the year is a good time to hunker down, reflect on the past, and envision the future. We brought some of that reflection into a design chapter meeting, where we asked the team: “What did you learn in 2022? What are you looking forward to in 2023?” Here’s what some of our team members had to say. — via 18F
How to manage a federal website
Managing government websites is a targeted exercise. Here are 5 steps to help you build and maintain a successful one.
Bringing design in-house
What is design, who are designers, and how can they help your agency? Learn how to build a design team that can help your agency solve “wicked problems” and be more innovative.
Revisiting who uses ONRR.gov: refining personas
We’ve conducted several studies where we’ve noticed gaps in our onrr.gov personas, so we decided to revisit them. — via DOI Revenue Data
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Equity-Centered Design Guidelines
This guide contains initial steps for designers, researchers, and developers at the CFPB to help give the communities we design greater power and authority in the design and research process. — via CFPB
Accessibility Testing for onrr.gov
How do you make sure a website is accessible? This blog post outlines the four steps the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR - pronounced like "honor") at the U.S. Department of the Interior took to verify accessibility. — via DOI Revenue Data
Latinx Identity in Design, Tech, and Government
TTS highlights Latinx employees in civic tech by outlining how ethnicity is defined and reported, and its importance in designing better products and services.
Sunrise to Sunset: Building a Customer-centric Digital Ecosystem
GSA has developed the Digital Lifecycle Program, with tools and guidance to help teams manage a compliant, customer-centric digital property from ideation through sunsetting.
Taking a Design-led Approach to Digital Modernization
Learn how GSA uses collaboration, empathy, and existing expertise to modernize their digital portfolio and improve customer experience.
GSA Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) Program
GSA Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) Program—Since 2012, over 200 Presidential Innovation Fellows have supported initiatives at more than 50 agencies, providing expert advice in specialized disciplines such as artificial intelligence, data strategy, product management, human-centered design, software development, and digital strategy. These efforts have enhanced agencies’ abilities to provide the best customer experience for their stakeholders and the public. The PIF program plans to celebrate the anniversary over the next year with activities to highlight the program’s impact and community since it launched. — via General Services Administration
Measuring and Justifying the Government Experience
Measuring and Justifying the Government Experience—Private sector organizations use revenue as the primary measurement to justify improving experiences. Many government services don’t have revenue as a lever, so how can we justify work to improve experience? The Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) leveraged a few metrics on their team that fall into three categories: laws and regulations, improving the experience for users, and saving time for employees. — via DOI Revenue Data
What Agile Looks Like at the Office of Natural Resources Revenue
What Agile Looks Like at the Office of Natural Resources Revenue—Agile at the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) started with 18F. They reflect on where they are today, five years later. — via DOI Revenue Data
Content Design for beta.ADA.gov: Writing for Action and Flexibility
Content Design for beta.ADA.gov: Writing for Action and Flexibility—18F worked with a team at the Department of Justice to redesign ADA.gov. They helped them launch beta.ada.gov, and designed new content for some of the most sought-after ADA topics. — via 18F
