A nationwide style guide for the statistical offices of Federal and State Governments
A uniform appearance for the Statistical Offices nationwide in partnership with Accso
The IT.NRW develops and operates joint IT procedures for the collection and processing of official statistics, serving the statistical offices of the federal government and the states (statistical network).
The aim is to improve the efficiency of the administration, provide high-quality statistical information and advance digitization in the statistical network. One of the tasks of the statistical network is, among other things, to compile the decentralized federal statistics on a legal basis. Each state office collects the data for their state and delivers the results to the federal office. There the federal result are then calculated. This procedure ensures the comparability of the individual state results. Examples include population statistics, consumer price statistics, wage and income tax statistics, as well as household and family statistics.
The web applications of the federal and state statistical offices vary significantly in terms of functionality, content, and target audiences. To ensure nationwide standardization, a cross-application style guide was developed for all future web applications. In addition to accessibility, the focus was placed on usability and user experience.
The style guide was designed to simplify the development of new web applications significantly. To achieve this, the various application requirements and the needs of a wide range of target groups had to be harmonized to create added value. Support for the nationwide implementation of the style guide was also an integral part of the initiative.
“The new style guide is a milestone for IT.NRW and the Statistical Association for barrier-free, user-friendly and future-oriented digital design in the field of official statistics.”Michael NoethlichsReferent Servicebündel IT für Statistik, IT.NRW
A new style guide – barrier-free, user-friendly and expandable
In collaboration with a cross-agency project group, we analyzed representative applications from all core areas of the statistical offices and conducted numerous user interviews to determine the requirements. Ultimately, the style guide needed to accommodate the development of all applications the statistical offices plan to use in the foreseeable future. This includes applications for collecting statistical data, processing it, and publishing it to meet the needs of various target groups.
Based on these requirements, we defined the design principles, developed and tested UIs, components and code snippets.
- Components and interfaces were tested as click dummies with users
- The code snippets were tested with developers for feasibility
- All design specifications were checked for conformity with BITV 2.0 (Accessibility Guideline) and then optimized
The style guide was created as a living document in Confluence, allowing for continuous updates and expansions as needed.
In collaboration with the authorities, we developed a cross-application style guide that significantly advances the harmonization of nationwide web applications. The cross-application style guide has become a valuable tool, providing significant benefits for statistical offices, developers, and ultimately, users. It enables future web applications to be developed more efficiently and quickly while ensuring they are intuitive, secure, and accessible to all users.
"All perspectives and stakeholders were included in the design process right from the start, which is why a style guide could be created that delivers real added value. We are pleased that the style guide not only standardized the applications, but also that we were able to anchor the design perspective and thus make a lasting positive change to development."Franziska Leis, Anna JähnigenAccso
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