GOV.UK Prototype Kit Training - DWP
2021
UX/UI Front-end dev
Whilst working as Lead Interaction Designer at the Department for Work and Pensions, I volunteered to take on the task of improving the GOV.UK Prototype Kit training materials available to the DWP design community.
The process
After running a number of workshops with members of the DWP interaction design and content design communities, it was established that the existing GDS documentation for the prototype kit was focused on users with a grounding in the basics of web development, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The resulting need was to create documentation that explained the kit in layman's terms, breaking down the necessary contextual skills in a more granular fashion, and finally identifying opportunities for free online training.
Early prototypes were tested with members of the design community, resulting in a number of iterations of both the content and the layout. A couple of designers with no coding experience used the early prototypes for their own training providing further feedback. I also collaborated closely with the front-end development community and GDS to review the content for technical accuracy.
The resulting documentation was integrated by myself within the DWP Digital User Centred Design Manual. In the process, I consolidated and refactored some the design manual styles (converting custom components to BEM notation for example).
The outcome
Training docs used extensively not just within DWP, but across government design communities.
Just thought you'd be happy to hear that 3 different people have forwarded the link to the prototype kit training pages you created and raved about how great they were!