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1. Start with user needs

Service design starts with identifying user needs. If you don鈥檛 know what the user needs are, you won鈥檛 build the right thing. Do research, analyse data, talk to users. Don鈥檛 make assumptions. Have empathy for users, and remember that what they ask for isn鈥檛 always what they need.

• by John Waterworth
• by Kieron Kirkland

2. Do less

Government should only do what only government can do. If we鈥檝e found a way of doing something that works, we should make it reusable and shareable instead of reinventing the wheel every time. This means building platforms and registers others can build upon, providing resources (like APIs) that others can use, and linking to the work of others. We should concentrate on the irreducible core.

• by Tim Paul and Dean Vipond
• by Jen Allum, Nick Tait and Alan Wright

3. Design with data

In most cases, we can learn from real world behaviour by looking at how existing services are used. Let data drive decision-making, not hunches or guesswork. Keep doing that after taking your service live, prototyping and testing with users then iterating in response. Analytics should be built-in, always on and easy to read. They鈥檙e an essential tool.

• by Haur Kang and Louise Petre
• by Louise Petre

4. Do the hard work to make it simple

Making something look simple is easy. Making something simple to use is much harder - especially when the underlying systems are complex - but that鈥檚 what we should be doing. Don鈥檛 take 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been that way鈥� for an answer. It鈥檚 usually more and harder work to make things simple, but it鈥檚 the right thing to do.

• by Gabrielle Acosta and Sam Dub
• by Katie Bates, Lewis Dunne and Till Wirth

5. Iterate. Then iterate again

The best way to build good services is to start small and iterate wildly. Release early, test them with actual users, move from alpha to beta to live adding features, deleting things that don鈥檛 work and making refinements based on feedback. Iteration reduces risk. It makes big failures unlikely and turns small failures into lessons. If a prototype isn鈥檛 working, don鈥檛 be afraid to scrap it and start again.

• by Chris Thomas
• by Mark Mcleod

6. This is for everyone

Accessible design is good design. Everything we build should be as inclusive, legible and readable as possible. If we have to sacrifice elegance - so be it. We鈥檙e building for needs, not audiences. We鈥檙e designing for the whole country, not just the ones who are used to using the web. The people who most need our services are often the people who find them hardest to use. Let鈥檚 think about those people from the start.

• by Anika Henke
• by Mehmet Duran

7. Understand context

We鈥檙e not designing for a screen, we鈥檙e designing for people. We need to think hard about the context in which they鈥檙e using our services. Are they in a library? Are they on a phone? Are they only really familiar with Facebook? Have they never used the web before?

• by Amy Everett
• by Sam Dub and Mark Hurrell

8. Build digital services, not websites

A service is something that helps people to do something. Our job is to uncover user needs, and build the service that meets those needs. Of course much of that will be pages on the web, but we鈥檙e not here to build websites. The digital world has to connect to the real world, so we have to think about all aspects of a service, and make sure they add up to something that meets user needs.

• by Stephanie Marsh
• by Gabrielle Acosta and James Butler

9. Be consistent, not uniform

We should use the same language and the same design patterns wherever possible. This helps people get familiar with our services, but when this isn鈥檛 possible we should make sure our approach is consistent.

This isn鈥檛 a straitjacket or a rule book. Every circumstance is different. When we find patterns that work we should share them, and talk about why we use them. But that shouldn鈥檛 stop us from improving or changing them in the future when we find better ways of doing things or the needs of users change.

• by Rob Rockstroh
• by Amy Hupe and Alice Noakes

10. Make things open: it makes things better

We should share what we鈥檙e doing whenever we can. With colleagues, with users, with the world. Share code, share designs, share ideas, share intentions, share failures. The more eyes there are on a service the better it gets - howlers are spotted, better alternatives are pointed out, the bar is raised.

Much of what we鈥檙e doing is only possible because of open source code and the generosity of the web design community. We should pay that back.

• by Ignacia Orellana and Amy Hupe
• by Paul Smith

11. Minimise environmental impact

We need a large amount of energy, water and materials from the real world to build and run digital services.

Even a small improvement to a service will help reduce its environmental impact, including climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Follow sustainability best practice to reduce the environmental impact of your service across its lifespan.

What we do today has a lasting impact on our planet.

• by Chris Howes
• by Ned Gartside