Design online applications for civil servants at DUO to organize the state exams and for citizens to apply for an exam
Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs ∙ UX / Interaction designer ∙ 3 years
Worked with
- Product Owner
- Business analysts
- Departmental staff
- Development team
Methods
- Requirement sessions with analists
- Workshops & interviews with end-users
- Wireframes and prototypes in Sketch
- Presentations to the client College voor Toetsen en Examens (CvTE)
Outcomes
A new application that automatically calculates whether an exam candidate receives a diploma. This means civil servants don’t need to know all diploma rules by heart anymore and, even more importantly, exam candidates get a more dependable diploma result. This turned out to be especially valuable in Corona times when diploma rules changed at the last moment.
A second new application that helps civil servants process the results of the state exams for 'Dutch as a second language' with fewer manual steps and more reliable data.
A third application (in the making) that allows citizens to apply for a state exam for 'Dutch as a second language'. This application replaces an existing one and helps people identify themselves and find an open exam spot more easily. No more dead-ends due to misspelt surnames or unclear available exam dates!
Besides these tangible outcomes, I also contributed to the professionalisation of the UX team. For example by co-organising weekly team catch-ups during which we addressed current design challenges. And by co-organizing team events and workshops.
Sidenotes
We should always tell a story in a simple, clear and in a tangible way.
The UX researchers and designers at DUO were amazingly good at telling the story simple and clear. Always sharing designs in context and starting the story at the beginning. Because starting at the beginning gives expert audiences time to switch their focus and beginner audiences time to understand the background. And with that in order, we can involve others so much better and retrieve so much more valuable feedback.
Not only did I learn a lot about storytelling from my DUO colleagues. Also, working for citizens with a limited grasp of the Dutch or English language helped me improve simple and clear communication, both in designs and in research workshops and usability tests.