In 2017, the Government Digital Service established a community of international designers working in, for and with governments across the world.
The international design in government community has grown to over 650 members from over 47 countries over the past year. The community has developed online via the mailing list, Slack and monthly calls.
But strong communities are built through meeting in person, so we’re running a conference. We can’t wait to meet everyone face-to-face, exchange ideas, create connections, and find opportunities for collaboration.
July 17/18
On July 16 One Team Gov Global will also be running an event. More details on this can be found in the agenda below.
Mary Ward House Conference Centre
5 – 7 Tavistock Place
London, WC1H 9SN
United Kingdom
+ other venues around central London!
The International Design in Government Conference is free to attend. However attendees (including presenters) will need to cover all expenses including accomodation, travel, food and drinks.
There will be afternoon coffee and tea on 17 July, however no other refreshments will be provided at the International Design in Government Conference.
The One Team Gov movement started in May 2017. It's a movement about public sector reform to collectively create more effective government. The one day unconference will bring together 700 people from across the world who are passionate about building better public services to improve people’s lives.
This is a separate event from the International Design in Government Conference. Remember to sign up for a ticket.
09:30 | Arrival and check-in |
10:00 | Welcome and introduction, Lou Downe, head of design for UK government |
10:15 | Keynote 1: Lauri Lugna, Secretary General, Ministry of the Interior, Estonia |
10:45 | Keynote 2: Hefen Wong, Deputy Director, Co-Lab - Ministry of Manpower, Singapore |
11:15 | Keynote 3: Chris Govias, Chief of Design, Canadian Digital Service, Canada |
12:00 | Breakout sessions 1 and 2 (workshops and talks) |
13:10 | Lunch break |
14:00 | Workshops |
15:30 | Coffee break |
16:00 | Panel discussion |
16:30 | Closing remarks |
Option 1 – Usable, understandable and responsible: designing government services that are fit for the future
Rachel Coldicutt, CEO, Doteveryone, UK | @rachelcoldicutt
Option 2 – A four-part accessible design strategy
Alistair Duggin, Head of Accessibility, Government Digital Service, UK | @dugboticus
Option 3 – Being a Multiplier: Why Government Designers Need to Do Less & Lead More
Michelle Thong, Service Innovation Lead, City of San Jose, USA | @michellethong
Option 4 – Setting up a government-wide UX movement: lessons learnt
Edo Plantinga, co-initiator of the Gebruiker Centraal community / Entrepreneur, The Netherlands | @edoplantinga and Victor Zuydweg, co-initiator of the Gebruiker Centraal community / Interaction designer at ICTU, The Netherlands | @VZuydweg
Option 5 – The Service Design Cycle
Vimla Appadoo, Service Designer, FutureGov (Previously, Service Designer, Department for Work and Pensions), UK | @ThatGirlVim
Option 6 – Breaking the Cycle: Creating change in government organizations when they don’t want to change
Rachel Kroft, Senior User Researcher and Strategist at CivicActions, USA | @kroft1
Option 7 – Putting 55 million vulnerable Americans first: user-centered policymaking at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Ivana Ng, Senior Product Manager, Nava Public Benefit Corporation, USA | @ngivana and Mari Miyachi, Engineering Lead, Nava Public Benefit Corporation, USA
Option 1 - Designing for a safer Scotland
Jane Reid, Lead user researcher, Disclosure Scotland, UK | @janereid73 and Stephanie Holland, User researcher, Disclosure Scotland, UK | @HollandSteph_
Option 2 - Scaling Design Methods in Government: Insights from Leading 20 HCD Workshops across an Agency
Arianne Miller, Managing Director, The Lab at OPM, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, USA | @aheienmiller @LABopm and Matthew Ford, Deputy Chief Customer Officer, Office of Customer Experience, U.S. General Services Administration, USA | @matthewdford
Option 3 - How the UX maturity score can help you
Margot Lagendijk, Consultant Communication Research at the Dutch Ministry of General Affairs, Action team member of Gebruiker Centraal, The Netherlands and Charlotte van Lijnden, Usability Analyst, UX designer at the Dutch Ministry of Justice, Action team member of Gebruiker Centraal, The Netherlands | @mlagendijk
Option 4 - Making things Better... Without a Mandate
Beth Fox, Service Designer, Province of Nova Scotia, Canada | @firebethfox
Option 5 - User-centered innovation on the ground: field notes from the challenge of tackling complex problems through design in Argentina
Pablo Fernández Vallejo, Service Designer, Argentinian Government Laboratory, Ministry of Modernisation (LabGobAr, Ministerio de Modernización), Argentina | @pablitofv
Option 6 - Designing for Disaster Recovery
Laura Kadamus, U.S. Digital Service, USA | @laurakadamus
Option 1 - A design inspired cross-ministerial collaboration model to impact trust building and policy making
Fang-Jui Chang, Service Designer, PDIS (Public Digital Innovation Space), Taiwan | @FangJuiChang, Joungmin Yoo, Royal College of Art alum, UK/Taiwan and Shuyang Lin, Co-founder, PDIS (Public Digital Innovation Space), Taiwan | @shuyanglin
Option 2 - Outcome-based service mapping
Marie Cheung, Service designer, Department for Work and Pensions, UK | @mariecheungsays
Option 3 - Passion and patience - making service design work in a world of silos
Ingvild Sundby, Head of design, Program of digitalization, city of Oslo, Norway | @Ingvild_S
Option 4 - Visual metaphors of #govdesign work
Richard Hylerstedt, Unit for Idea Development and Innovation, City of Helsingborg, Sweden | @RchrdHy
Option 5 - Designing Infographics
Vosnier Cambeses Polanco, Web designer at the Council of the EU, Belgium | @vosnier
Option 6- Exploring social service patterns
Genevieve Gaudet, Xena Ni, Sneha Pai, Designers, Nava Public Benefit Corporation, USA | @genevievegau @msknee @snehapie
Option 7 - Get started with design thinking in government
Maike Klip, Lead user researcher, Education Executive Agency (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs), The Netherlands
We’ve booked space at the The Marquis Cornwallis pub. Join us for drinks, chats, and some food. The address is 31 Marchmont Street, London, Greater London, WC1N 1AP.
Various locations around London
Option 1 | Policy Lab – How can we use design to tackle complex government policy problems? |
Option 2 | HM Revenue & Customs – Content strategy as part of service design in government |
Option 3 | Government Digital Service – From regulation to service – exploring service implications and ways of implementing an EU directive |
Option 4 | Snook – Developing shareable strategies for inclusive design |
Option 5 | Ministry of Justice – Policy design on the inside |
Option 6 | Transport for London – The city as a journey |
Option 7 | Citizens Advice – Co-designing solutions for real-world assisted digital challenges |
Various locations around London
Option 1 | FutureGov – Establishing human centred design and agile thinking inside public sector organisations |
Option 2 | Home Office and Inland, Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) – Mapping immigration – Co-creating an overview of global immigration work |
Option 3 | Parliamentary Digital Service – Journeys when you don’t have journeys |
Option 4 | Government Digital Service and Digital Transformation Team, Italian Government – Building Design Systems for Government |
Option 5 | Department for Work and Pensions – A policy design challenge: How might we reduce loneliness in society? |
Option 6 | NHS Digital – “It’s only design, no-one’s going to die... right?” |
Government Digital Service, 10 Whitechapel High St, London E1 8QS.
Let’s come back together to wrap up the conference. We’ll be hosting a public Gov Design London Meetup at the Government Digital Service with talks from the international community members.
Gov Design London aims to connect designers working in, for, or with government to exchange knowledge, share experiences, and support each other. The organisers are excited to have an international themed meetup during the International Design in Government Conference.
In order to get a ticket to the conference you must be a member of the international design in government community. A link to Eventbrite will be circulated to the community and tickets will be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis.
Here is a letter to help you get approval to attend the conference.
Copy the justification letter from Google Drive.
There are many airports to fly into:
From the airports you can take a train, bus or taxi into the city.
Airport guides on getting into central London:
If you’re attending One Team Gov Global too, you might want to stay near Westminster:
Here are some neighbourhoods to stay in that are close to the conference venue. All are easy to get to the venue by bus, tube, bike or taxi.
Use Citymapper for planning how to get around the city.
Use the London Underground - also called the tube! Use contactless payment, buy a ticket for the day, or buy an Oyster card for £5 and top it up as needed. Underground stations no longer have staffed ticket offices, so you can only buy an Oyster card at the airport or certain bigger stations. There are electronic ticket machines at all stations.
Bus - London buses are well connected and really easy to use. Use contactless payment (or an Oyster card) to use the bus. No cash is accepted!
Santander Bikes - Hire a bike from £2. There are lots of bike stations around the city and the system is really easy to use.
Find step-free journeys on the Transport for London website.
All London buses are wheelchair accessible with automatic ramps and designated wheelchair spaces.
Is there anything we can do to enable you to be able to fully participate in this conference? If so, contact ucdcommunity@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk
I’m arriving the night before everything starts. What’s going on the evening of July 15?
There might be something organised by One Team Gov Global, but nothing has been planned yet.
I'd like to stay and work remotely the rest of the week. Where can I work?
Join the #intl-conference channel on Slack.
Email the community - international-govdesign@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk
Email the organisers - ucdcommunity@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk
Get in touch with other people attending on Slack - #intl-conference