User research - Government Digital Service

User research

You can find more information about user research on the dedicated User research in government blog.

Can GOV.UK Notify help the public sector write better emails, text messages and letters?

Karl Chillmaid, 18 August 2020 - GOV.UK Notify, User research

The GOV.UK Notify team wants to use content design to save the public sector time and money. We’re looking for volunteers to help us work out how.

What do we mean when we talk about services?

Stephanie Marsh, 4 April 2018 - Service design, User research

To a user, the definition of a service is simple. For those of us who work in government, though, it can be more complex. Before updating the Service Standard, we need to settle on a cross-government definition of an end-to-end service. So we carried out research to do this.

A user research lab for all of government

Jonathan Rodriguez, 14 November 2017 - User research

GDS recently moved to a new office, which gave us the opportunity to redesign our user research lab. We use it to carry out research into all the things we deliver, from guidance and standards to common components. Our lab is open to the rest of government so that they can carry out research into their own projects and services.

Developing the DfT Digital Data Index

Alan Rider, 29 August 2017 - Data, Transformation, User research

Alan Rider from the Department for Transport (DfT) talks about developing the DfT Digital Data Index and how the team went about determining its users' needs.

Finding things: how we’re breaking down the silos on GOV.UK

Holly Garrett, 29 June 2017 - Content design, GOV.UK, User research

We worked with the Department for Education and its agencies to make it easier for GOV.UK users to find the content they need. The results of this work are now starting to become visible to users.

Angling to meet user needs at Defra

Sally Meecham, 21 March 2017 - Transformation, User research

Defra's new online fishing rod licence service recently moved from private to public beta. Head of Digital at Defra, Sally Meecham, explains why it's so simple, a child can use it.

What you can learn from making data user-centred

Kieron Kirkland, 31 January 2017 - Data, User research

Data infrastructure is about building the foundations for the way government uses data. This work deals with some very technical, system-level infrastructure. So we did some user research.

Why showing the thing to everyone is important

Kate Towsey, 31 May 2016 - GDS team, User research

A few years ago, when I was organising finance and procurement for the GDS user research lab I was gung-ho and eager to get everyone involved and enthusiastic too. It proved a very good move.

Guest post: looking at the different ways to test content

Christine Cawthorne and Emileigh Barnes, 6 April 2016 - Content design, User research

Today we hear from two content experts about testing content (don't worry, the Yoda will make sense if you read on).

Notes from a Swedish explorer

Lars Boström, 9 February 2016 - GDS team, People and skills, User research

Lars Boström is a Team Leader and Web Coordinator at the Swedish Consumer Agency. Here, Lars talks about his experience of job shadowing user researchers at GDS.