Public software platforms should be inclusive and accessible to everyone, where people feel comfortable using them. Aleksandra Osińska and Natalia Sidor gave a talk about crafting public platforms at ACE Conference.
It’s a big challenge to design a platform for everyone, from digital newbies to natives, with varying knowledge and experience of administrative processes, Osińska said. Users can have diverse needs and life situations, for example, a teenager applying for their first ID has different needs than someone doing it for the second or third time.
We should understand that while we can design anything we want and the wireframes can handle our ideas, the actual government platforms cannot. We must explore what’s possible, Sidor said. She mentioned data connection as an example:
Depending on the country’s government system, connecting data from different platforms may be easier or more complex, which affects design and development.
Osińska suggested providing services categorisation by life events with easy navigation. When designing government platforms, we should focus on a content-first approach, hence designing them as an open knowledge hub is crucial, she added.
Government platforms must ensure their users’ trust so that they feel safe using government services online, Osińska stated. More and more public platforms offer a convenient single sign-in. At the same time, they enforce multi-step verification during the logging-in process, such as confirming the user identity through a bank application, SMS, or email.
In terms of public platforms, inclusive design means ensuring everyone feels comfortable using them. The interface should adapt to accommodate all users, regardless of their circumstances, Sidor mentioned.
Accessibility is important for everyone, not only people with disabilities, Sidor said. Everyone benefits from fully accessible products:
For example, we can all experience temporary difficulties, such as a broken arm, conjunctivitis, or simply entering a website on our phone in a crowded bus with our other hand busy. Accessible products mean that all of us can use them, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in.
When creating a public platform, Sidor advised prioritising simple design and interface. There’s no such thing as making the interface too easy, she said; everything should be well-explained and easy to access.
InfoQ interviewed Aleksandra Osińska and Natalia Sidor about designing inclusive platforms.
InfoQ: What can be done to create an inclusive online experience?
Aleksandra Osińska: An inclusive platform should encourage users to find information about services and perform the necessary actions online. You can use a life-event-centric approach to address different needs and situations. Aside from standard categories (e.g. service names), we should also have categories that correspond to life events, like getting married or looking for a job. This way, we meet everyone’s needs, even those who do not know legal or administrative procedures.
Natalia Sidor: For example, when creating a form, we must consider various life situations, e.g., including the possibility of selecting a gender identity in our forms. There are also local and foreign users who have different experiences and legal documentation. We can’t exclude people who, for example, don’t have a PESEL number (an identification number in Poland). Instead, we must address their situation, explain what they can do, and provide alternative identification methods.
InfoQ: What’s your advice for increasing accessibility?
Osińska: I’d advise everyone to test and validate designs and flows with users who have diverse needs to see whether they can easily find needed information and complete a required process successfully. This is the best way to ensure our platform is accessible and user-friendly.
If possible, we should test the product on ourselves, using various methods known to people with disabilities. If we want to test whether a product is accessible to visually impaired people, let’s test it with a screen reader and see if we can use it. This approach validates the designs and empowers us to better cater to the users’ needs.
Sidor: Certain rules ensure a great user experience: appropriate contrast, font sizes, and responsive design elements. But we shouldn’t simply follow the rules; we must empathise with our users and consider their different needs. Accessibility should come first and visual aspects second.