Cat Lawson
28 September 2022
•2 min read
Our style guide offers a set of rules and principles for design, code, and writing. It also includes guidance on accessibility and user experience (UX). Reusable components and principles provide a shared language for designers and developers.
Turas is a well-established National Digital Platform service and is a familiar user interface for health and social care users. There are many benefits to using the Style Guide that was developed for Turas for your product development. Here are my top five.
1) Supports consistent product design
Products with familiar user interfaces increase efficiency and usability. A visual language takes time to design, develop and test, with Turas that professional visual language already exists. By keeping the experience consistent your user knows what to expect, making experiences more intuitive and user-friendly.
2) Allows more time for user centred design
If you think you do not have time to involve users, by using the Style Guide, you will save time on your project. Use this time to get to know your users.
You will know a lot about your product but there is a UX mantra: You are not your user.
“One of usability’s most hard-earned lessons is that ‘you are not the user.’ If you work on a development project, you are atypical by definition. Design to optimize the user experience for outsiders, not insiders.” Jakob Neilson
Understanding your user’s needs and goals takes time and effort. User research is an essential step in the design of successful products. By skipping user research you might release your product more quickly. But you run the risk of creating a product that is not relevant for your users. Without user research, you cannot truly meet your user’s goals and they may find your product difficult or confusing.
3) High-fidelity prototypes can be created quickly
An established style guide can assist you to create a high-fidelity, interactive prototype. High-fidelity prototypes closely resemble the design of the real user interface. When testing out features and functionality, a high-fidelity prototype can help people get a better sense of what the genuine experience would feel like. This means test participants are more likely to behave as if they were interacting with a real system.
4) Increases the speed of development and saves money
The style guide reduces redundant work for designers and developers. It means they do not need to spend time repeatedly creating the same components. Developers can copy HTML or .NET Core helper code. This frees up time, so problems can be considered more deeply. Ultimately improving the quality of the solutions as well as reducing development costs.
5) Improves accessibility
The components available in the style guide are all designed with accessibility in mind. They are compliant to WCAG 2.1 level AA accessibility guidelines. There is also helpful guidance on the implications of legal regulations for public sector bodies.
Explore our Style Guide to see how it could help you develop applications for Health and Social Care in Scotland.