UX/UI design for public bodies that people need to understand the first time
When residents need to find a service, a form or a contact, a confusing website only gets in the way. We create clear, accessible design so that public bodies’ websites are convenient to use, simple to manage and suited to people’s real needs.
In the public sector, UX/UI design must first answer one question: will people find their way here quickly? We work so that information can be found without needless wandering, staff can easily update content, and the website meets accessibility, GDPR and public-sector requirements. This approach is especially important when it comes to website development for public bodies, where every detail has practical significance.
The organisation gets an intuitive website that everyone uses with ease — including older people and people with disabilities — without additional training.
“Tobalt” is a reliable company that meets its commitments on time and honestly. We have worked together for 5 years and have renewed our website again with their help.
Most common problems
The most important information gets lost among other content
When services, applications, opening hours or contacts are placed in a confusing structure, residents start calling, writing or simply leave. Staff then become overloaded, and the organisation itself seems harder to reach than it really is.
Different people use the website in very different ways
At the same moment it is opened by a senior citizen, a parent with a phone in hand, a person with a visual impairment and a member of staff who needs to check information quickly. If texts are small, actions unclear and the path to the answer long, the website simply becomes inconvenient for some visitors.
Accessibility is left until the end of the project
When accessibility requirements are assessed only after the design is finished, it turns out that contrast is lacking, the heading logic is messy, and forms or keyboard use have not been thought through. Such shortcomings later cost time, budget and extra fixes.
It is hard to agree internally on how the website should work
A common problem for organisations is differing expectations between the administration, communications, IT and procurement teams. If it is not clearly shown what the user journey and content logic will look like, decisions stall and the project drags on.
What we do
Analysis of user needs and scenarios
We pin down which tasks people most often carry out on your website: looking for services, filling in forms, checking contacts, reading news or searching for documents. Based on this, we set priorities for the design and content structure.
Benefit: You will be able to make design decisions based on how people actually use the website, not on internal guesswork.
Information architecture and navigation model
We create a clear website structure: the main sections, menu logic, links between internal pages and routes to the key actions. This is especially important for organisations with many services, documents and different audiences.
Benefit: You will be able to organise content so that residents find the information they need faster and get in touch less often about things that are already published.
Interactive prototypes of pages and user journeys
We show how the main pages and scenarios will work before development starts: from the home page to services, search, contacts or forms. This makes it possible to see early on what is clear and what raises questions.
Benefit: You will be able to assess the future website before making final decisions and before technical implementation begins.
Usability testing with real scenarios
We check whether people actually find what they are looking for and whether they understand the buttons, forms, menus and sequence of actions. We test not an abstract design but the real tasks residents carry out on your website.
Benefit: You will be able to spot confusing areas in advance and fix them before launch.
Design ready for accessibility requirements
We prepare the design so that it follows the accessibility principles that matter to the public sector: a clear structure, sufficient contrast, understandable actions, consistent navigation and convenient use on different devices.
Benefit: You will be able to move on to implementation with a design foundation adapted to WCAG 2.1 AA requirements.
Book a free consultation
- First call
- Free
- Who it's for
- For educational institutions, Municipal bodies
Frequently asked questions
Can the UX/UI materials we produce be used in a public tender’s technical specification?
Yes. We prepare page types, user scenarios, functional expectations and accessibility principles so that they can be used directly when drafting tender documents or refining the project scope.
How do you make sure the design meets WCAG 2.1 AA requirements?
We assess accessibility from the very start, not at the end as a formal check. We look at structure, contrast, heading logic, form clarity, keyboard use and other elements that matter for a public-sector website.
Can you work with an existing website if we only want to review the user experience?
Yes. We can assess the current website, identify the main usability barriers, propose a new structure and prepare a design direction for updated pages without having to start everything from scratch.
What will our team receive at the end of the project?
Depending on the project scope, we hand over approved page designs, navigation logic, solutions for the main user journeys, accessibility guidelines and recommendations for the content team and technical implementation. This helps the move to the development stage go more smoothly and reduces the risk of misinterpretation.