Spreading the culture of design in the Italian public administration

Through co-design sessions, the UX@INPS group Manifesto was collaboratively created, defining their mission, vision and values, and the group name itself.

In the initial stages, UX@INPS defined a team working agreement composed of 11 guidelines for the team's work and designed a governance model that could help them guide the application of new practices and tools within the Institute, as well as spread the culture of design.

In cooperation with UX@INPS, we designed the I.E.S. (INPS Experience System) framework to define the design steps and activities projects development should be driven by. The main challenge was to adapt design best practices into the INPS’ context, adjusting to the complexity of the operating model and using a language accessible even to people less familiar with design.

Sirio is INPS' new visual and interaction language, a set of rules and guidelines that allow all the figures involved in developing INPS' digital channels to maintain consistency and continuity.

Sirio was published online with the help of a Design System Manager that allows its continuous updating and maintenance. The system is constantly evolving precisely to support the evolution of the services offered to citizens and the rapid transformation of technology and the market.

In addition, to strengthen a transparent and participatory relationship between citizens and institutions, it was decided to make the Design System (inps.design) public and open to anyone wishing to provide helpful feedback for improvements.

The quick and easy updating of Sirio's components is guaranteed by the availability of Design Tokens for each of them, which are sets of variables that identify each element's visual characteristics and interactive behavior.

Within the institute, Design Tokens have constituted a new visual communication standard, bringing countless benefits. For instance, they have made it possible to centralize design choices, make all citizen services consistent, facilitate communication between design and development teams, and speed up design updates and changes in services already online.

The INPS writing guide provides employees and suppliers with indications and rules on how to write simple, clear and accessible texts. It regulates the flow of content editing with the aim of making it clear and citizen-friendly.

With the introduction of the writing guide, essential issues are regulated such as: INPS tone of voice, limitation of bureaucratic language and inclusive writing.

There is also a check-list useful for organising and writing content, respecting the guidelines.