US Digital Services Playbook Play 3

#Play 3: Make it Simple and Intuitive Using a government service shouldn’t be stressful, confusing, or daunting. It’s our job to build services that are simple and intuitive enough that users succeed the first time, unaided.

##Checklist

• 1. Use a simple and flexible design style guide for the service. Use the U.S. Web Design Standards as a default

Used a design style guide based on U.S. Web Design Standard, 18F Content Guide, and Usability.gov (Design Links). Our designs built upon the USWDS Illustratator files and our implementation uses the USWDS package from npm. By leveraging these as much as possible, we were able to expedite design & development while providing an experience consistent with other modern government web apps.

• 2. Use the design style guide consistently for related digital services

We consistently applied our design style guide throughout the prototype.

• 3. Give users clear information about where they are in each step of the process

Our modern, minimalist design clearly identifies where they are on each step of the process by clearly highlighting the page in focus. We made further refinements per the findings from user review of the high fidelity design.

• 4. Follow accessibility best practices to ensure all people can use the service

We made sure to comply with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act and WCAG 2.0, using tools like HTML_CodeSniffer and Chrome Accessibility Tools.

• 5. Provide users with a way to exit and return later to complete the process

Some examples of user stories following this guidance: user story Issue #49.

• 6. Use language that is familiar to the user and easy to understand

Per the 18F Content Guide we made sure to use Plain Language, and took user feedback to make sure we matched their understanding. Additionally, the prototype was developed with localization support in mind using pseudolocalization so that the team can test how the application will act when localized prior to translations being created. We also implemented Spanish translation.

• 7. Use language and design consistently throughout the service, including online and offline touch points

We consistently applied our design style and language throughout the prototype.

##Key Questions

1. What primary tasks are the user trying to accomplish?

We logged these as user stories on the Github Issues board as issues under the label “story”.

2. Is the language as plain and universal as possible?

Per the 18F Content Guide we made sure to use Plain Language, and took user feedback to make sure we matched their understanding. Additionally, the prototype was developed with localization support in mind using Pseudolocalization.

3. What languages is your service offered in?

English and Spanish, but with the foundation to expand due to our use of Pseudolocalization.

4. If a user needs help while using the service, how do they go about getting it?

We have created a PDF guides which the user can download to get additional help using the service (Admin User Guide and Authorized User Guide).

5. How does the service’s design visually relate to other government services?

Since we used a design style guide based on U.S. Web Design Standard, 18F Content Guide, and Usability.gov (Design Links) the visual design fits with any services that follow those same standards.

#US Digital Services Playbook

1. Play 1 Understand what people need
2. Play 2 Address the whole experience, from start to finish
3. Play 3 Make it simple and intuitive
4. Play 4 Build the service using agile and iterative practices
5. Play 5 Structure budgets and contracts to support delivery
6. Play 6 Assign one leader and hold that person accountable
7. Play 7 Bring in experienced teams
8. Play 8 Choose a modern technology stack
9. Play 9 Deploy in flexible hosting environment
10. Play 10 Automate testing and deployments
11. Play 11 Manage security and privacy through reusable processes
12. Play 12 Use data to drive decisions
13. Play 13 Default to open