Tom Loosemore

Last autumn we shared early results of testing various versions of the GOV.UK ‘Thank You’ page. First introduced a year ago, people see this page once they’ve bought their tax disc via GOV.UK. People are generally more open to trying out new stuff after completing a successful transaction, so we’ve been using this page to encourage as… — read more

Government services have been getting a growing number of complaints from people who feel misled by websites which charge for access to public services that are either free or much cheaper when accessed via the official GOV.UK website. Examples include people trying to renew their passport or driving licence, book a driving test or apply… — read more

My first visit to meet DVLA in Swansea back in the summer of 2012 filled me with hope. I met Carolyn Williams MBE, who runs DVLA’s tax disc service. She showed me a wonderfully well-categorised list of feedback sent in by users of her very popular online service; tens of thousands of comments each year.… — read more

(Image courtesy of  Guy Moorhouse) Earlier this month I dug into the analytics data to better understand what devices people are using when visiting GOV.UK.  I thought I’d also quickly share headline data on what browsers, operating systems and screen resolutions we’ve seen over the past month across the whole site. I hope it’s useful. Rank… — read more

Yesterday the BBC published data showing more people accessing iPlayer via tablet than via computer. This prompted me to update some of the data I gathered for the government’s agreed approach to mobile last this time last year. The objective of the UK government’s digital strategy is to make sure our  digital services that are so straightforward and convenient that all… — read more

Some user needs are easier to meet than others. It doesn’t take much research to confirm that most people searching for ‘bank holiday‘ care most about when they can next enjoy a long weekend. But what if a user needed an organ transplant? Amongst many other priorities, they’d want as many people as possible to… — read more

Earlier this week the the final ministerial department joined GOV.UK. This isn’t the end of the GOV.UK story; in fact it’s barely the end of the beginning. But today is still a big moment, the result of commitment and collaboration from  hundreds of civil servants all across government. So to mark the occasion I thought I’d gather… — read more

I’ve just got off the phone after talking to Andrew Simpson, the civil servant leading the redevelopment of the DCMS intranet. I’ve never met Andrew face to face, but I look forward to doing so, because he and his tiny team deserve a big thank you. They have just created the exemplar for a government… — read more

We’re in the middle of a significant change in how people use digital services. Use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is exploding. People should be able to use digital services wherever they are, on the device of their choosing (see Design Principle No.7 Understand Context). Users now expect to be able to change… — read more