Service Victoria Design System
Mobile app design system
Situation
At Service Victoria, I built a comprehensive design system for the Service Victoria mobile app, incorporating Apple and Material Design kits, app maps, and templated design patterns. It is a strategic move driven by several key factors arising from the app's current state, its significance, and the need for future scalability and consistency
The design system for the Service Victoria mobile app is driven by:
The app's critical role and high usage among Victorian citizens.
The diverse and expanding range of essential government services it provides.
The strategic need to deliver native-feeling experiences on both iOS and Android platforms.
The desire to improve design and development efficiency, consistency, and maintainability.
The paramount importance of providing a user-friendly and accessible experience for all users.
By investing in a comprehensive design system, Service Victoria aims to create a more robust, scalable, and user-centric mobile application that effectively serves the needs of the Victorian community now and in the future.
Tasks
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Establish a data-driven foundation for the design system. By understanding the existing design landscape and the real pain points of our users, we could ensure the design system directly addressed these issues and was built on a solid understanding of user needs and behaviours.
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Ensure a consistent and brand-aligned user experience across the entire Service Victoria mobile app, regardless of the specific service or platform.
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Significantly improve development efficiency and ensure consistent implementation of the user interface.
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Facilitate a smooth and successful adoption of the design system across the entire product and engineering teams while ensuring its long-term maintainability and relevance.
Actions
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We invested significant effort in designing and building a comprehensive library of reusable UI components for both iOS and Android, adhering to platform guidelines while maintaining brand consistency. Each component was meticulously documented with clear usage instructions, variations, accessibility considerations, and often code snippets. This library became the single source of truth for UI elements.
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We defined a set of core design principles that reflected the values of Service Victoria (e.g., accessible, trustworthy, efficient) and the desired user experience. We also created clear guidelines on how to apply these principles and the visual language (typography, colour, iconography) consistently across the app.
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Instead of trying to overhaul the entire app at once, we adopted a phased approach to integrating the design system. We started by applying it to new features and gradually migrating existing sections. We also emphasised an iterative process, continuously gathering feedback from designers, developers, and users to refine the design system.
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We recognised that a design system is a living product that requires ongoing maintenance and evolution. Therefore, we established a clear governance model with defined roles and responsibilities for managing and updating the system. We also formed a dedicated design system team responsible for its upkeep, documentation, and future development.
These designs are currently protected – if you’d like access, please contact me directly
Results
Reflecting on the implementation and ongoing use of the Service Victoria mobile app design system, we've observed several successful results that have positively impacted our team, our processes, and most importantly, our users.
The most noticeable success has been the enhanced consistency and overall improved user experience within the Service Victoria app. By adhering to the design system's standardised components and patterns, the app now feels more cohesive and intuitive. Users can navigate between different services and features with greater ease and familiarity.
The Service Victoria mobile app design system has yielded significant positive results, leading to a more user-friendly, efficient, consistent, accessible, and scalable digital platform for accessing essential government services. It has fostered better collaboration within our teams and strengthened the Service Victoria brand.
