DTA offers insights into design process

The Digital Transformation Agency has overhauled its web presence after testing found that 54% of visitors to its website were having problems finding what they wanted.

The agency conducted extensive user research with over 300 people, including 20 interviews, 11 card sorting sessions, 5 tree tests on the site map, two surveys and usability testing to determine peoples’ needs, according to the DTA’s content strategist Jonathon Roper.

Tree tests were conducted using the online tool Treejack, with five tests run over the course of the project. This strategy involves evaluating the findability of topics on a website by measuring how well users can find items within a large website’s hierarchy of topics and sub topics.

Early tree tests were conducted internally featuring level 1 categories, while the last three tests were conducted with external participants. Level 2 categories were introduced by test 3 and by test 5 the agency was testing the entire site structure. At each stage the site’s information architecture was adjusted.

Tree tests were used to generate a visual representation of user paths through a website. These tests enabled the agency to determine that the site structure was more successful with fewer entry points.

In addition to the tree tests, the DTA used a cloud-based tool that provides virtual sticky notes and infinite wall space to arrange them on to collate the results of interviews into a browsable and searchable format.

This was used to generate a visual story map of the project covering key points including who users of the website are, what outcomes they are seeking, their key tasks and other important information.

Meanwhile, Beth Dixon, an intern at the UK’s Home Office Digital, Data and Technology team, has written a blog post covering the lessons she has learned about designing digital services for government.

She said the office follows the UK’s Government Design principles, including starting with user needs, doing less to keep it simple, designing with data and understanding context.

“‘This is for everyone’ — one of the principles — struck me immediately,” she said. “Knowing the importance of designing for all users and ensuring that accessibility must always be considered has been a big part of my development.”

Agile design principles are also an important component, and Dixon frequently collaborates with interaction designers from the Home Office and other departments.

Dixon added that paper prototyping is often used at the design stage. “Using simple sketches and flat designs are just as useful at the start of the design process as prototyping is at the end,” she said.

“Paper prototyping is a great and rapid way to test simple designs to gain feedback. We can still user test designs that aren’t polished or fully functioning. Keeping things simple can save time in the long run.”

Prototyping is managed using the government’s own GDS prototyping kit, and regular research is conducted from the discovery phase to the continuous improvement of live services.

Image courtesy DTA.

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