Content patterns, standards and design systems

We have supported local government organisations to develop collaborative content patterns, standards and design systems that improve consistency, accessibility and usability across digital services.

One of these projects involved helping to develop the Croydon Council Design System, which has since gone on to become a reusable approach adopted by other councils.

Rather than creating a static style guide, the work focused on building a living design system that could evolve through collaboration, practical use and continuous improvement.

A collaborative approach

The design system was developed through regular workshops held every two weeks with the core content team.

These sessions created space for content designers, editors and digital colleagues to work together to establish shared approaches to content design and publishing.

The workshops focused on helping teams:

• agree how language, text styles and components should be used across services

• create consistency across website content and digital products

• ensure content meets accessibility and style standards

• build shared guidance that supports teams to design content in the same way

• continuously improve patterns through discussion, feedback and iteration

The aim was to create a design system that could be actively used by teams and shared with stakeholders — something practical, collaborative and continually evolving over time.

Embedding standards into everyday work

A key part of my approach is ensuring standards are not left sitting in documents that quickly become outdated.

Instead, I help organisations embed standards and content patterns into everyday workflows so teams can apply them consistently across real services and publishing processes.

This approach helps organisations:

• improve content consistency across departments and services

• reduce duplication and conflicting approaches

• build confidence within content teams

• strengthen accessibility and usability standards

• create shared ownership of content design practices

Supporting other councils

Following the success of this collaborative approach, similar workshops and design system thinking have since been supported with:

• Westmorland and Furness Council – Design and content guidelines

• Cumberland Council – Design and publishing guidelines

These sessions continue to focus on creating reusable patterns, collaborative governance and practical content standards that evolve alongside user needs and organisational change.

Creating living design systems

I believe effective content standards should be treated as living systems rather than static guidance documents.

By working collaboratively with teams and embedding standards into everyday practice, organisations can create design systems that remain useful, practical and responsive to user feedback over time.