In the busy world of digital services, the Welsh public sector is facing a growing dilemma – how to tackle an increasingly disjointed digital landscape. Across the wide span of the Welsh public sector services, there are many different systems, created by different public sector organisations, not following the same design principles, and not always accommodating the bilingualism needs expected from Welsh services.
Users are trying to access services across different systems that don't work together and don’t look similar, while designers don’t have one single design source to refer to. Understandably, this fragmented digital landscape can cause confusion and frustration, for everyone involved.
The Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS) approached Perago to help, with a single mission to improve how things work digitally in Wales. With a vision for a simpler and more joined-up system, we've started an 11-week project to explore how we can make Welsh public services better for everyone.
Making a design system for Wales
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.
But how do you even start something so big?
The journey begins by really understanding what people need. We’re doing lots of research to find out what people in the Welsh public sector want and need from digital services. By understanding what each area needs, we hope to work out what the design system for Wales should include to be successful.
A team effort
Our team is made up of people from different backgrounds, each bringing a different set of skills and experiences. 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.
Progress so far
Our team is wasting no time getting started on the research project. We’ve planned things carefully and are already meeting with key people to discuss how to move forward.
In the first two weeks, we’re focusing on the planning and preliminary research, looking at which design systems are already available and accessible in Wales, and beyond.
What’s next
As the project continues, we’ll be doing a lot more research, both desk based and face to face, and getting ready for more updates to share with stakeholders.
We’re excited to support CDPS as we make a real difference to Wales’ public sector digital services.