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U.S. Web Design System
The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) is a set of design and development principles, components, and guidelines created by the United States government. It helps agencies and others building modern services for citizens to create consistent, accessible, and user-friendly websites and applications. The USWDS provides a framework for building digital experiences that prioritize usability and…
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U.S. Digital Services Playbook
The U.S. Digital Services Playbook is a set of guiding principles and best practices developed by the United States government to improve the delivery and effectiveness of digital services. It’s similar to documents published by other governments, but it’s well laid out, succinct and easy to read. If you are new to agile, open ways…
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WCAG Color Contrast Checker
Use this WCAG Color Contrast Checker to check your colour choices to make sure they pass WCAG accessibility standards. To check colors straight from your browser, download the free chrome extension. It allows you to check font and icon colour contrast, and verifies AA and AAA compliance! View the WCAG Color Contrast Checker
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Book: User Interface Typography
This is a free book by Alex Baránov. “This book is about how to do good user interface typography, from basic things and principles to building layout and various design elements. The book has hundreds of illustrations that explain every nuance and principle.” This is a resource to help you select fonts for readability and…
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Understanding Customer Needs with the Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework
The Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework is a powerful tool for businesses to gain deep insights into customer motivations, leading to more successful product development and improved customer satisfaction. By aligning products with the real jobs customers are trying to accomplish, companies can build stronger, more meaningful connections with their target audience. The framework…
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Re: Was Design Thinking Designed To Not Work?
I came across an interesting article recently called Was Design Thinking Designed To Not Work? by Debbie Levitt on Medium that asks if IDEO’s approach scales to other organizations (and posits they don’t). It’s thought provoking, but after reading it, I came away feeling that it misses the mark. Design Thinking isn’t supposed to solve…
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Service Design Methods
This website is a great resource for service design methods you can use for research, ideation, prototyping, facilitation phase activities. In their words, “In this library, you’ll find 54 hands-on descriptions that help you DO the key methods used in service design. These methods include instructions, guidelines, and-tips-and tricks for activities within research, ideation, prototyping,…
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Deceptive Patterns in UX – Don’t try to trick or insult your users!
Nielsen Norman Group (NNG) has a posting that resonates with me called Deceptive Patterns in UX: How to Recognize and Avoid Them. What is a deceptive pattern? NNG defines them as “A deceptive pattern is a design pattern that prompts users to take an action that benefits the company employing the pattern by deceiving, misdirecting,…
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Government Service Design Groups
A number of Government-focused Service Design Groups exist for government service design practitioners to to connect and share experiences and resources. I’ll add resources as I come across them.
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Error message interfaces that work for users
Vitaly Friedman posted a great article on LinkedIn about designing effective error messages. It’s a great resource for anyone in the UI/UX space, and I highly recommend it. He says, “When we design interfaces, we rarely think about error messages first. But a strategic and thorough design of these messages can be critical for businesses…