We are exploring what creating a design system for all of government would take,and how it would resonate. This work would ultimately streamline user experiences across various government platforms, fostering trust and efficiency.

Our digital services often suffer from a lack of cohesion, creating friction for users wanting to get things done. This inconsistency is evident in the multitude of interface elements across different New Zealand government applications, each with different visual styles, compositional flows.

The power of patterns

To address these challenges, we are exploring the development of a common pattern library as a first step towards a possible all-of-government design system. This approach offers several benefits:

1. Consistent user experience: By implementing familiar patterns across services, users can navigate, get things done more easily.

2. Improved UI quality: Standardised design elements ensure a consistent level of quality, accessibility, and usability across all government digital platforms.

3. Standardised terminology: Clear, consistent wording reduces user confusion and improves transparency.

Benefits for government teams

The design system initiative isn’t just about improving user experience. It also offers significant advantages for government digital teams:

• Efficiency: Reduces the need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ for common interface elements, saving time and resources.
• Quality assurance: Incorporates accessibility and semantic code standards, meeting both legal obligations and user expectations.
• Faster development: Enables quicker prototyping and deployment of new services.
• Focus on innovation: Frees up resources to concentrate on ‘bigger’ challenges.
• Smoother onboarding: Simplifies the process of integrating new team members into government digital projects.

Looking ahead

While the project is still in its early stages, there’s already significant interest from various government agencies looking to leverage this work. The next steps may include:

1. Expanding the current subset of patterns on govt.nz
2. Continued workshops with agency and vendor digital teams
3. Promoting and sponsoring the use of the design system across government agencies

Crucially, this initiative emphasises collaboration with active communities across government. The ultimate goal remains clear: to ensure that users can access, use, and engage with government services easily.