How centralized design systems help build trust in digital services
amenic181 via Getty Images
A new resource from the Beeck Center highlights how states can improve online experiences for residents by creating a standard design system for agencies to follow.
As governments strive to reduce administrative burden and enhance service delivery to residents, states are increasingly turning to centralized design systems to create streamlined and consistent web-based resources.
Design systems are a “digital toolkit” that help agencies create streamlined and consistent web-based experiences by offering guidance on elements like style, layout and accessibility standards, said Colleen Pulawski, senior manager of research and engagement for the Digital Service Network at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation.
For digital services like online benefits applications, payment portals or appointment scheduling, design systems help reduce the need for individual agencies to develop their own websites and resources from scratch, according to a new publication from the Beeck Center. The systems can also mitigate confusion, help with requests among agency staff and make it easier for staff and vendors to build digital products.
“[T]hat means less time inventing the wheel and more time solving real problems for people,” the authors wrote.
For instance, authors highlighted Pennsylvania’s design system, which includes suggestions on when and when not to use certain digital components to organize a website and its content. The state’s guide, for example, recommends the use of an accordion feature that can hide and expand large sections of content.
According to the design system, these components are useful for information that can be divided into separate sections that are relevant for different audiences, but they may not be helpful for critical content that should not be hidden.
The Beeck Center’s publication also includes a new data tool for users to monitor how states are developing their own design systems. The tracker can “serve as a regularly updated single source of truth” about states’ progress on developing design systems, which digital solutions they’re leveraging, what governance model they’re following and other information, Pulawski said.
Users can also access states’ open-source code for their design systems, if they are publicly available, and points of contact to support collaboration and information sharing among states.
The design systems tracker will help reduce duplicate research efforts among states, helping save time and resources for often short-strapped governments and agencies, Pulawski said.
State leaders can leverage the tracker “as a jumping off point for deeper peer-to-peer connection so that as states really start to dig into the work of developing and deploying their first design system or as they're maintaining and updating an existing design system, they can learn from each other's successes and challenges,” she explained.
According to the tracker, 17 states have adopted a centralized design system approach and three states are in the progress of developing one. A centralized model offers agencies a state-level resource that includes guides and standards for them to follow, instead of relying on departments to create individualized plans, Pulawski said.
The centralized approach helps prevent fragmented or inconsistent digital experiences across agencies or government services, leveling the playing field across agencies that vary in budget, staff or resource capacity, according to the publication.
She pointed to Iowa, which has developed a centralized design system that is optional for state agencies to adopt. In general, many states have made design systems voluntary for agencies, Pulawski added.
“Something that Iowa does, which we found compelling, is [track] uptake of their centralized design system across agencies,” she said. “By doing that, it reduces the perceived risk for agencies to opt into the system because an agency may perceive some risk of being … one of the early adopters of a new system.”
“By making public how widespread uptake is, a state can encourage more agencies to opt in to the use of the centralized design system, thereby continuing to capitalize on its benefits,” Pulawski explained.
A major benefit to a centralized design system, she said, is that it “helps residents have more trust in government because they’re more quickly and easily able to find information they need.”