“Intro to Alpha” is a series of posts designed to introduce details of the City’s redesign of phila.gov, and the philosophy behind it. Some posts are detailed in nature and intended for technologists, while others are intended for a more general audience.
A New Approach
In redesigning phila.gov, our team knew we would need to use a new approach if we wanted to build a municipal website that worked for the public, not just the government. But what does that look like? Where should we even begin?
Design Principles
In early 2015, I took a page out of the playbook of several federal agencies (like GDS in the UK and USDS here in the US) and started by drafting the City of Philadelphia’s first set of design principles. The goal is to articulate our team’s values and make it easier for us to make decisions, both large and small.
- Start with user needs
- Build iteratively
- Test assumptions
- Be consistent
- Default to open
- Keep it simple
Our design principles are a work in progress and will become more robust as we continue to work and learn. It is important to allow ourselves the space to evolve, both through our work and the values that drive it. It is through the lens of these principles that we will dig into the details of alpha.phila.gov in the following posts in this series.