Problem

Following the success of the work carried out for Equiniti, another department managing their product for the civil service pension scheme came to us to help solve a similar problem; users of the platform are voicing their displeasure with the platform and they are at risk of losing the contract with the department if they aren’t showing to be addressing the issues users are facing. 

Solution

Integrate the platform into their current website, where all traffic is driven from - and provide the content users expect. 

Process

Unlike our previous project, we had very little, to begin with, other than the current digital collateral and the platform in its current state. Therefore I proposed a cycle consisting of; exploratory user interviews, a themes and recommendation workshop, a creative prototype, user testing, final themes & recommendations workshop and the creation of a design system. 

Working collaboratively with our Experience Director and two stakeholders from the client, we recruited a collective of platform users at various stages in their careers; early in their career, mid-way through, nearing retirement, retired and retired but still working. This gave us a glimpse of how these types of people interact with the platform in their own way. I facilitated each session by allowing users to explore as they normally would, asking questions along the way, to get an understanding of their issues and requirements. 

Following these sessions, I then facilitated our recommendations and themes workshop where we collectively reviewed our findings, prioritised them objectively and defined our recommendations to take forward. 

Once approved, I was then able to iterate through a series of options - beginning with hand-drawn scamps and finishing with high-fidelity designs - to share for feedback before building out a series of prototypes aimed at our two key user types: active and retired. 

We conducted our second round of user testing with our prototypes to learn if the options created served them better and delivered all the information they required. 

In our second themes and recommendations session, I facilitated the review of all the feedback and outlined any outstanding actions to take forward in the design system. 

Once approved by the stakeholders and the minister of the department for work and pensions, I compiled our assets from the prototypes into a working design system that also applied to all the clients digital touch points and prepared the files for handover to their internal development team. 

“…we presented the work George and Chad have done to Cabinet Office yesterday. Short version: they loved it. Long version: they loved it so much they asked if they could pay us to deliver it sooner.
IT are also on board – with no major issues with anything so far from a technical perspective. We’ve also gained the attention of our Strategy Director, who is keen to do what he can do to help us accelerate the next stage (actually building this).
So good news and credit to you guys for all your diligent research, insight and design work. Thank you!”