User-centred design: training and events
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-16)

Training and events for practitioners and people interested in design, accessibility and user research.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is committed to user-centred design (UCD) as the best way to do digital transformation in government. As the UCD community has matured and grown in scale, we are looking at new, more sustainable models of how we work together across government.

We are identifying different ways for providing support focussing on standards and guidance, supporting departments to deliver their digital transformation programmes.

Service Design Case Studies

Over the years, we’ve gathered service design case studies from various public sector organisations. Previously, we ran monthly online sessions to hear from teams on how they’ve developed their services called Service Thursdays. All sessions were recorded and they are available to UK Public Servants only. Links to the recordings are shared in the #servicedesign channel on cross-gov Slack (https://ukgovernmentdigital.slack.com/archives/C06GG0NNS) and #design channel on the local government Slack (https://app.slack.com/client/T02E44UQ5/C3AQZTCLD) under bookmarks.

Capability

The design team at GDS used to meet monthly to discuss a design challenge around a particular topic. Links to the recordings are on the #servicedesign channel on cross-gov Slack (https://ukgovernmentdigital.slack.com/archives/C06GG0NNS).

Heads of Design across government meet monthly to share challenges, work on shared objectives, and support each other. If you are a head of design in government, Parliament or the NHS you are eligible to join. Email Government Heads of Design (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) to be added.

Heads of design across government regularly iterate the design skills in the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/role/graphic-designer). The framework is used to guide the recruitment of designers and to assess capability levels.

Get feedback sessions

These are remote design critiques with the cross-government UCD community. They are held in small groups and in a safe and inclusive environment. They take place every Wednesday from 11am to 12:30pm.

Join these sessions if:
- you would like service, interaction, content or graphic design feedback on your work
- you would like to give feedback to help fellow cross-government peers
You do not have to be doing a user-centred design role to join these sessions. For example, they could be helpful for you if you’re on a project team without design help.

Information about how to join these sessions is shared on the Padlet ‘Get feedback sign up board’ (https://padlet.com/getfeedback/get-feedback-sign-up-board-sxqycc6t51o6gy5a).

Services Week

Services Week is an annual cross public sector event. The aims are to showcase good practice and case studies, upskill public servants in user-centred design, and increase service literacy. The event usually runs in February or March. Any public servant can get involved by running an event, workshop, or show and tell, running training, or blogging.

Find out more on the #servicesweek channel on cross-gov Slack (https://ukgovernmentdigital.slack.com/archives/CFFU401M3).

Get involved with the user-centred design communities

You can find out more about the:
- design community (/service-manual/communities/design-community)
- user research community (/service-manual/communities/user-research-community)
- content community (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/communities/content-community)
- accessibility community (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/communities/accessibility-community)
If you’re interested in learning more you can read updates on the community blogs:
- Design in government blog (https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/)
- Services in government blog (https://services.blog.gov.uk/)
- User research in government blog (https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/)
- Accessibility in government blog (https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/)