Why we need a shared design system

Not everyone is able to use public digital services on their own. Insights from the project "Digital for Life with Better User Experience" have shown that one of the reasons is that the usability of digital services is not good enough. The project was commissioned by the government and led by Digdir.

High engagement

In the presentation, we talked about what we can do together to help more people master digital dialogue with the public sector. We covered specific challenges that cause many to be excluded today, and what a shared design system can solve. Finally, we invited all 220 participants into a Miro board to gain insight into what others think about a shared design system in the public sector.

The engagement has confirmed how important it is for us to explore a shared design system. In addition to more recognizable services across agencies, several point out that a shared design system will make it possible for smaller agencies and municipalities to create good solutions without using all their resources on work that could have been done collectively. A shared design system will make it easier for everyone to comply with accessibility requirements, as this is built into the components.

Some are concerned that branding will disappear, while others point out that public digital services can still have different sender identities even though they are based on the same design system.

Here you can see the compilation of the Miro board and all the challenges and benefits that were mentioned.

A shared design system is not a new idea

The benefits of having a shared design system have been a topic in many different forums for several years. In addition to making services more user-friendly, it will also contribute to more efficient service development. Today, we develop and maintain several design systems in the public sector. By collaborating on a shared design system, we can both save money and improve quality.

– There are great benefits to having a design system. But it becomes expensive if we envision ten different agencies each having their own design system and their own employees with quite similar tasks. The burden of investing in a design system should be shared, says Roy Halvor Frimanslund, User Experience Manager and Design Lead at Brønnøysundregistrene.

The way forward

Today, Digdir and Brønnøysundregistrene are already collaborating to establish a shared design system. The meeting showed that there are a number of others who want to join the collaboration going forward. Exactly how the further collaboration should be structured is something we need to explore.

You can watch the recording of the presentation here:

In the report "Digital for Life with Better User Experience" you can read more about what makes citizens find digital services difficult to use.