The contact forms redesign was kicked off in September 2016 and its scope was to:
- replatform all forms across the website not in Discovery or legacy applications
- improve the user experience of these forms, including, where possible, getting rid of clunky corporate processes
We looked to a variety of sources, including GDS and GOV.UK for guidance, as well as accessibility criteria when designing the new forms.
The findings are summarised here, but do remember to check the GOV.UK design system before implementing any patterns shown here, as it is more regularly updated.
General points
All text should be in Plain English – this means it should be understood by a 9 year old.
Across the website the use of bold isn’t advised, but bold text can be used on the introduction page of a form to emphasise timescales or prices.
Heading
When deciding on the heading of the form, it may be helpful to think about how you would describe the service it is offering to a friend or family member.
- less than 8-9 words – shouldn’t go over 2 lines of a desktop screen if possible
- begin with a verb, so that it is active, eg ‘Request/Apply/Make’
- simple and Plain English as possible, so that it is accessible, eg ‘Request a search for a certificate of British citizenship’
- front-load: this heading may be indexed on a longer list of contact forms, so users need to be able to find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible, eg ‘Request a search/Make an enquiry’
- the same heading should appear on the service introduction and the form itself, unless there is a good reason otherwise
In WordPress, the heading is in a H1 font, so it displays in a blue banner.