Designing and delivering a new process for solicitors to apply to court
“Morgana is a self-starter who brings drive, enthusiasm, and expertise to every project. They’re able to take on the most complex briefs, and deliver on time and to the highest standards. At HMCTS, they were able to work from limited design artifacts to create a sophisticated end-to-end application prototype that tested well with users. Clients value them for their strategic insight, and they are always supportive of their colleagues. They are an invaluable member of our design practice at ENGINE, and I’m sure they will continue to impress in their future assignments”
-Content Design Lead
Skills Used
Design Systems
Figma
Government Digital Service (GDS) Use
Interaction Design
Interaction Design Review
Prototyping
Qualitative Research
Service Review
Sketch
User Group Analysis
User Interview Review
User Needs Analysis
Working with Developers
Working with stakeholders
Working with User Researchers
In Brief
From August 2021 to February 2022 I was the Interaction Designer responsible for redesigning the complete end-to-end solicitor application process for child arrangement orders with Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). The design team consisted of myself, the Content Design Lead and the Senior Service Designer.
When I joined HMCTS a rough sketch of a prototype for this service existed created by the previous service designer. This was a first draft from which many parts of the application process were missing, incomplete, inaccessible and incorrect.
Through an iterative process involving working closely with subject matter experts and user researchers I brought the prototype up to delivery standard for the first release and beyond.
Problem 1: Lack of Design Clarity
When I arrived the existing prototype draft was incomplete and contained many errors, unnecessary steps and usability problems.
Solution 1: Design Review & Redesign
Along with the Senior Service Designer and working with subject matter experts, I reviewed all screens and parts of the existing flow.
Outcome 1: Single Clear Design Plan
Through this process, I mapped out the whole flow for the service accurately, and fixed numerous accessibility and usability issues.
Problem 2: No Overview of Whole Application Process
Users did not know up front how long the application would be and could not see where they were in the application process during it.
Solution 2: Task List
I put in place the task list pattern used by many government services, which showed users all tasks like chapter titles, with links.
Outcome 2: Users Oriented Themselves
With the new task list, users could tell where they were in the application process and how much they had left to do.
Problem 3: Slow Solicitor Flow
Solicitors were power users who knew all the details required for a case. They did not want to go through a slow multi-page application process. They preferred to be able to put all information related to one topic in one place.
Solution 3:
I designed condensed pages where solicitors could put all relevant information in at once.
This enabled solicitors to complete more applications faster with less frustration.
In Depth — Child Arrangements
Child arrangements is the process by which disputes within a family about the children are addressed. This can be through child arrangement orders (determining who the child lives with or spends time with and frequency of contact), prohibited steps orders (stopping someone doing something in relation to the child), or specific issue orders (any other kind of dispute that cannot be resolved about the child).
Citizen-Facing Website
When I started my project with HMCTS there already existed a citizen-facing application process using standard gov.uk patterns. Any solicitors who were applying on behalf of their clients would have to go through these pages that were tailored for citizen, rather than solicitor, needs.
Above is a typical page from the citizen application journey. It contains additional explanations that expert solicitor users do not need, and only a single question is asked on the page. This is good for a citizen who is unfamiliar with the process but makes the process slow and cumbersome for an expert user, who would work more quickly and efficiently with a long page with multiple questions and options to answer in one go. In addition to the per-page issues, we also re-ordered the entire application process based on our user research, and rewrote, added and removed various questions and options based on specific solicitor needs.
Prototype Draft
In addition to the citizen application process there also existed a first draft solicitor application design. This was incomplete and contained many errors, unnecessary steps and usability problems.
Prototype Review
The first step in bringing the solicitor journey up to a high quality releasable standard was conducting a collaborative review of the existing prototype.
Led by the Senior Service Designer and working with subject matter experts, we reviewed each existing screen of the solicitor prototype and noted feedback and problems. You can see a snapshot of this process below. Text and screenshots have been removed in compliance with HMCTS data protection rules.
Current Citizen Apply Steps
The Senior Service Designer mapped out the existing citizen child arrangement process. This was a linear flow (again all text is removed for data protection).
Map of the existing citizen child application process.
The map of the process showed the main sections (grey) and subsections (light blue) in a “happy path” application process.
The Senior Service Designer then mapped out the solicitor prototype as far as it had been made. As I created or redesigned the relevant screens, I noted my progress, as well as parts that had been completed by our content designer on this map with orange-yellow tags. Part way through, the map would look like this:
This way we had a visual representation of our service in addition to the standard written kanban tickets, which meant that it was more obvious how far we were into the redesign process.
Redesigning and Completing the Prototype
My core work was then to redesign the entire solicitor application process to bring it up to service standard. The starting prototype contained 51 screens and was incomplete and contained many errors. Screens below are not to be read individually but give a snapshot of the scale involved in the first part of the designs.
Starting prototype. Content not visible for data protection.
By the time I had gone through an iterative design process with multiple rounds of user testing and subject matter expert feedback, I had been able to make at least some improvement on every screen, and I restructured the overall journey to be much more intuitive. I created all screens for the updated prototype in Figma where they could be viewed in a single master file.
All screens in the master prototype were updated.
I linked up the screens into a testable master prototype which I updated for each round of user testing.
Prototype with clickable links displayed.
Once the application journey was designed, I then worked on the case management system. This was the part of the service where solicitors and other service users could manage all aspects of the case. It included an area for managing all case documents, a messaging system, and systems for passing a case on to the next key person (for example someone working for the court)
Design Examples
Below I highlight three examples of my designs. All text is hidden to comply with HMCTS data rules.
Task List
Task list shown in red box
The task list is shown above in the red square. It is a master list of all tasks that the solicitor using the tool can refer back to. It functions like a contents page, with tags on the right indicating which chapters have been completed.
Respondent Details
This is the details page where a solicitor can fill out the details for those responding to the case. All details are filled out on one page, which is easier and quicker for expert users than the standard one-question-per-page for citizens.
Parties
This is the tab in which all information for all involved parties is shown in a series of tables. It allows solicitors to view relevant information in an accessible format.
Conclusion
The designs that I created ultimately became the newly created solicitor application process. The screenshots and quote from the content design lead demonstrate my commitment to high-quality designs that meet strict Government Digital Service standards.
For my part in this process, I was the sole interaction designer recreating the whole main application flow, and designing the case management system from the ground up. In this process I am grateful for the support of committed and friendly colleagues. I completed this rapidly and to high praise despite the ongoing challenge of remote working, and the overwhelming and sometimes contradictory demands of HMCTS.
If you want to find out more about my work as a UX consultant please visit my website.
