Suzanne Best, user research intern, tells us how she swapped policy and operational work for a new career in user research
I’ve been a civil servant designer at Home Office Digital for nearly 8 months now and I'd like to recount my experiences.
There’s been a lot of talk about gender diversity in digital over the last few weeks and rightly so, but it’s not just gender, or ethnicity that are the issues we should be thinking about.
Interviewing people is a fundamental user research skill. As user researchers, we want to find out about people, what they think, how they do things, what they find easy, what they find difficult... We want to understand their experiences.
Trouble writing that pesky presentation? Want help wording a research survey? Just ask a content designer.
Content design is informed by user research findings. With all government services this is critical, as it’s the user that needs to carry out certain tasks to reach a successful outcome - for example provide their date of birth or …
A little known fact about designers is that they are herd animals. Not only do they like the company of their kind, but they can benefit from working together in a number of ways.
Many content designers come from editorial or journalistic backgrounds, and while digital continues to become the dominant force in those roles, an agile approach to working hasn’t been adopted by everyone.
Here at Home Office Digital, we are continuously trying to improve how we function as a team. One of the ways we do this is through our Organisational Sprint
Getting prototypes in front of users early is an important part of how we work in Home Office Digital (HOD). It means we can test our assumptions with real users and make improvements based on the findings.
The Government Digital Service (GDS) has produced guidance on writing for government services. While using simple vocabulary and short sentences is great advice, the guidance is written with native English speakers in mind.
GOV.UK
