NSW design system launched
In December last year, NSW launched its new Digital Design . The system aims to ensure a consistent, user-centred digital experience for NSW citizens.
The four elements
The NSW Digital Design System is made up of four elements:
The Digital Design that focuses on six key user-centric guidelines — create with purpose; design with users for users; continuously improve; respect privacy and maintain security; reuse and repurpose; and be open, accountable and collaborative.
Design guidelines that look at colours, layout, typography and NSW logo placement.
that can be used to build digital solutions, specifically a user interface (UI) pattern library, reusable components (code) and an API store.
on best practice approaches, covering topics like planning a project, writing, user research, information architecture (IA), user experience, and testing.
It’s also expected that alignment with the design system will be mandatory from next month.
More on the pattern library
A UI pattern library is a great way to save time and development resources by reusing existing components/code while also ensuring a consistent digital experience across government (in this case, NSW Government). The NSW UI Pattern will grow, but it currently has code for components ranging from accordions and breadcrumbs to buttons and side navigation. The pattern library is based on the DTA’s UI library.
Inspiration for the NSW Digital Design System
An October Digital NSW blog titled Creating a Digital Design System for NSW , mentioned some of the design systems that were reviewed as part of the team’s research. These included some government design systems like the DTA’s Australian Government Design , the GOV.UK Design , and the U.S. Web Design ; as well as enterprise systems like Google Material and Lonely Planet . The NSW team also looked at industry and government design standards.
Design systems around Australia
More government jurisdictions around Australia are implementing design systems and reaping the benefits in terms of shared resources, best practices and reduced costs. In addition to the new NSW Digital Design and the DTA’s Australian Government Design , Victoria has also recently released its own pattern library and design system, Ripple.
