Wales’ Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS) has launched a project exploring the potential for a single design system for the public sector.
It said this is aimed at developing a more consistent and joined up approach to digital public services in the country.
The organisation has begun the planning and preliminary research with consultancy Perago, looking at design systems that are already available.
CDPS – the Welsh Government backed body to promote digital services – said the move is aimed at overcoming the inconsistencies and duplication of effort, and the subsequent costs in time and money, that result from public sector bodies developing their digital services independently.
It defined a design system as a set of practical tools that can be used in designing and building a service, citing features such as guidance, styles, components such as usable code and drag and drop assets, patterns for user journeys and flows, and prototype kits.
Starting point
Its pre-discovery research has indicated that the best place to begin the effort may be with patterns and components, complimenting its development of Digital Service Standards for Wales and a service manual.
The 11-week discovery will focus on the shape of teams for building services, how they approach the effort, user needs for a design system, how to build on existing good practice, the similarities between the needs of different public bodies, and recommendations for an alpha phase.
Owen Burgess, delivery manager at Perago, said: “At the heart of this big project is the idea of a single design system for Wales. Instead of lots of separate solutions, CDPS wants to understand if there is a need to create one system that works for everyone in Wales, specifically focusing on the need to build systems that work for future generations.”
He added: From design to user research and communications, we have a multi-skilled team focused on this project. We’re working together with the CDPS team using agile, breaking down the project into smaller chunks to make it easier to manage.
“We also believe in being open about the project’s progress, sharing updates regularly with stakeholders so everyone can see how the project is going.”
