Plain Language
2022 Federal Plain Language Summit
Join the best and brightest plain language practitioners from across the federal government.
2022
User Experience
User experience involves every interaction a user has with an agency.
More News and Events on User Experience
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USWDS Inclusive Design Patterns
USWDS Monthly Call - August 2022
Join us to learn more about design patterns and how they fit into the design system.
2022
DHS Usability Testing Kit
Usability testing is a way to learn how easy or difficult it is for people to use something by observing them actually using it. The resources provided in this kit can help you systematize the process, produce reliable findings, and generally expand your ability to test service materials (i.e., paper and digital forms, mobile applications, web pages, etc.) thoroughly with real users — before you launch them out into the world.
User Experience
2022 Government UX Summit
A two-day summit—June 7 and June 8—with experts who will share their experiences as UX practitioners in the federal government.
2022
IT Modernization
Technology-boosting TMF Investments Deliver Benefits for the American Public
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) is working to transform the way the government uses technology to deliver for the American public in an equitable, secure and user-friendly way. It strategically invests in priority IT modernization projects that are aligned with the fast pace of changing technology and agency needs. Here are a few examples of how the TMF has invested in multiple projects that are helping many agencies deliver what people need when they need.
USAGov Content Design Team: 2021 Highlights
USAGov Content Design Team: 2021 Highlights—Our mission at USAGov and USAGov en Español is to make it easy for anyone to find and understand the government information they need. We’re excited about what we accomplished in 2021; we connected with the public 117 million times through our websites, social media, email, and phone and chat contact center support. And with our “data first” mindset, we’re more confident that our content is addressing our users’ needs.— via USA.gov
Two Years of Federal Student Aid’s Virtual Assistant Lead to Lessons Learned and a Clear Vision of the Work Ahead
Education’s FSA team behind Aidan® shares what they’ve learned over the past two years to help drive improvements and expand the product to a wider range of users.
Our friends at Digital.gov will join us to talk through their experience migrating to USWDS 3.0.
2022
Why We Created a Troubleshooting Guide
Why We Created a Troubleshooting Guide—The Open Data, Design, and Development team at the U.S. Department of the Interior added a troubleshooting guide to accompany contact information on onrr.gov. This is their process.— via Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Creating a New Way for People To Discover Government Benefits
Creating a New Way for People To Discover Government Benefits—To make it even easier for everyone to find services and benefits without needing to understand government structure, we’re developing a new digital tool in partnership with 10x, GSA’s incremental technology fund. BEARS, the Benefits Eligibility Awareness Resource Service, is an important step forward in providing an integrated, simple solution for federal benefits to improve the customer experience and will eventually cover all federal benefits from all agencies.— via USA.gov
Lessons from the 2021 Federal Plain Language Report Card
During the Digital.gov and Plain Language Community event, Results of the 2021 Federal Report Card, speaker David Lipscomb gave examples of web content that received both high and low scores in the 2021 Plain Language Report Card. Here’s what we learned.
Plain Language
Plain Language + Compassion Help People in Crisis
Meet the content strategists who worked to transform FindTreatment.gov to connect people in crisis with the help that they need.
2022
From Fellowship To Full-time: How a CFPB Software Engineer Helped Protect Consumers and Built a Career in Civic Tech
Anselm Bradford, a front-end engineer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), is using his tech skills to protect American consumers.
Multilingual & Web Content
Language Connections: Tips to Create, Maintain, and Present Non-English Digital Content
Tips to help you improve access to your non-English digital content.
Watch Video
2022
User Experience
Call for Participation: 2022 Government UX Summit
Learn more about the User Experience Summit submission process, and submit your presentations for consideration!
Learn how to overcome resistance to data analytics and visualization, ask the right questions, and improve customer experience.
2022
User Experience
Open-source Information Architecture Design: Using the Tools You Have To Conduct Card Sorting and Tree Testing
Learn how we used GitHub to conduct a card sort and tree testing to improve the information architecture for onrr.gov.
Plain Language
Keynote Speaker Recap: Would More Plain Language Have Saved Us From the Worst of the Pandemic?
A summary of Cynthia Baur’s keynote at the 2021 Plain Language Summit.
Plain Language
Webinar Recap: Key Takeaways on Simplifying Hazard Communications With Plain Language
An overview of the presentation by Danielle Nagele of NOAA at the 2021 Plain Language Summit. Learn how she and her team used feedback to decrease confusion and increase impact.
Plain Language
Results of the 2021 Federal Report Card
David Lipscomb from the Center for PL will review the results of this year’s Federal Plain Language Report Card and answer questions.
2021
