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Blog Design in government
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Kara Kane - Head of Profession for Design, GDS

Progressing international design discourse in Helsinki, Amsterdam and beyond

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, International
“A conference room with attendees seated at tables, watching two speakers on stage. A large screen displays the presentation title, ‘Pushing the boundaries of design in government: systems change and futures,’ and photos of the presenters. The room has modern decor with a projector and a curtain-covered wall.”

After the success of the Helsinki Conference we’re preparing our next events for 2025. First off is the User Needs First International Conference in Amsterdam in April.

Updating design skills in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework

Posted by: , , , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, Design
image of the heads of design working group sitting in a group around small tables with our laptops smiling at the camera in a government office in Manchester.

How and why heads of design across government came together to update the design skills in the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework.

Coming together for international events and active collaboration

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, International
Three framed posters for the Helsinki Conference 2024 in a corridor – one showing the logo of the International Design in Government community, one saying ‘Systems change and futures’ and one containing a mission statement: “We want to bridge the gap between the practice of designing services and policies in government and the ideas of systems change and futures.”

The International Design in Government community is getting together in person this year for workshops and a conference in Helsinki in October.

Co-creating the most complete overview of international design in government work

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, International
An image of the conference in action on a laptop, there is an international community poster in the background. Kara, Martin, and Clara Greo are seen at the side of the screen presenting during the welcome kick off to the conference.

The International Design in Government ran the first ever 24-hour conference showcasing global public sector service transformation. Find out what the community is up to next!

How the International Design in Government community is coming together again

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, International
A group of 4 people with microphones and lanyards are sitting on stools, discussing. 4 more people who look at them sit behind them. There is a wall with graphical applications of logos of ‘Creative Bureaucracy Festival’. All people have lighter skin tones.

The International Design in Government continues to grow and convene — and we’re bigger than ever before. We have over 3,500 members on Slack and regularly have 40 to 50 people joining our calls. The last time we blogged, we …

The International Design in Government community is 5 years old!

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, International
Multiple stickers on a laptop computer, the one in focus says: International design in government

...members sharing work on and discussing service standards, service assurance and end-to-end service design case studies. Community members from Argentina, Norway and the Netherlands—Pablo Fernandez Vallejo, Tone Dalen, Synniva Larsen,...

What the user-centred design communities team achieved

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, Design
Design trainer Clara Greo in conversation with people attending training

...cross-government heads of design, we established cross-government design objectives for community members to add to their performance objectives, such as contributing to the GOV.UK Design System or becoming a design...

Take part in “Get Feedback” — weekly remote design crits

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, Design
5 people taking part in the first Get Feedback remote session on Google Meet

...Feedback sessions are designed to help people who work on service design, interaction design, graphic design, content design and tech writing work to get feedback from colleagues across government and...

Reflections on the user-centred design communities team

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, Design
A sheet of colourful circular stickers all saying: Communities are the glue!

From 2016 to 2020 the Government Digital Service (GDS) user-centred design (UCD) communities team worked to advocate for user-centred design in government, increase the UCD capability of the public sector...

How designers across government are working remotely

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: Community, Design
A visual representation of many connected nodes on a computer screen, most of them grouped together in one of five coloured clusters, a headline above the map reads: ‘Prison leavers communities and relationships’

...both facilitators and participants. Running a blueprint mapping session Ignacia Orellana – Senior service designer, Government Digital Service (GDS) Recently, I prepared and facilitated a blueprinting session with the GOV.UK...

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