Digital

We made a content design system in 4 weeks

March 18, 2025 by deborahamzil No Comments | Category Digital, Scottish Government Design System, Social Security Scotland, User-Centred Design

Guest blog post from Andy Robertson, Senior Content Designer, Social Security Scotland.

We built a design system for our intranet. It creates a consistent user experience for our colleagues processing benefit applications.

The design system is a library of reusable content and patterns.

Here is an overview of our approach to plan, write and build it.

The design system is for an intranet with 6000+ pages. With 14+ different benefits, products and teams publishing stuff on there. It’s our agency’s knowledge management system.

To quote a recent post LinkedIn post from Hinrich von Haaren “I’m beginning to wonder if the absence of a content design system is responsible for a lot of unnecessary work and stress.”

Our team had 3 content designers on this project including myself. And four weeks to get it done.

Purpose

We wanted to break down product silos. And help designers write and prototype quickly. The purpose of the design system is to:

• reduce decision making to focus on bigger user needs
• give clear best practice for faster prototyping
• create a consistent user experience

Contextual awareness

This is a textile design skill I’ve transferred to user centred design. Everyone on the team took an hour to:

• look very broadly at what else is happening out there
• find who else is making the stuff we’re interested in

This exercise gives you a sense of your own place in the wider design community.

We found very beautiful design systems from places like Nike. And very functional but purposeful ones closer to home in the public sector.

Use what already exists

We borrowed a lot from the GOV.UK and Scottish Government design systems. These are more for interaction design and developers.

But like, why does that matter? I’m a content designer who wants to make the stuff easier to read and use.

Our financial context is challenging. We must work innovatively and collaboratively across government.

Consistency trap

We design to meet user needs. But using the design system shouldn’t replace your critical thinking. We have to remember:

• never be consistent for consistency’s sake
• adapt to different user needs and contexts
• consistent does not mean identical

Community principles

A strong cross-government community ensures the design system includes the latest research, design and development.  And our request form lets content designers make suggestions or share what they’re learning. This lets us update the system using evidence.

Our community principles are:

• start with what exists
• share examples and research
• think beyond your product – across the whole user journey
• dignity, fairness, and respect

Yeah, but what actually is it?

It’s a publishing design guide. It looks like any other bit of guidance on the intranet.  So it’s there when you’re publishing content.

It’s broken up into four sections:

• Components – how to use things like accordions or inset text
• Patterns – best practice for user tasks and page templates
• Style – writing and formatting
• Community – ask for a change and share your findings

Hit me up

I’d love to hear if you feel the need for something similar in your platforms or projects. Or if you think we missed a bit.  Email us at contentdesign@socialsecurity.gov.scot to get in touch.

Tags: design-system, scottish government, Scottish Government Design System, Social Security Scotland, user centred design

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