GDS
Building Digital Identity for 67 Million People:
From Fragmented Research to Unified Strategy
The Challenge
The Government Digital Service tasked us with creating a centralised digital identity verification system for everyone in the UK. One of the biggest challenges was that different workstreams were solving similar user problems in isolation, creating fragmented experiences and duplicated effort across critical verification pathways. We lacked a shared framework to synthesize and communicate research insights, leading to inconsistent design solutions across teams.
What I Did & The Outcome
I developed and implemented a user decision-making framework that unified how all teams approached verification challenges. This framework distilled complex user journeys into 5 key decision stages and became the standard research lens across all product teams. The result: consistent designs, streamlined research operations, and the strategic formation of a central UCD team that I was invited to join as a lead researcher.
Approach
Identifying the Strategic Gap
I proactively surfaced this cross-team coordination challenge to the Head of User Research, positioning it as both a user experience risk and an organizational efficiency opportunity. I mapped the landscape of overlapping research efforts and conflicting design patterns.
Research-Driven Framework Development
Through analysis of existing research across all three verification routes, I identified that users consistently moved through 5 critical decision points:
01
"Is this right for me?"
Understanding and relevance
02
"Can I do this?"
Capability and eligibility
03
"Is it a lot of effort?"
Usability and friction
04
"Can I come back to this?"
Flexibility and recovery
05
"Are there alternatives?"
Options and pathways
Cross-Team Validation & Adoption
I mapped existing pain points and design challenges from all three routes against this framework, demonstrating its universal applicability. Then facilitated workshops with each team to validate effectiveness and secure buy-in for adoption as the shared research and design lens.
Presented the framework to leadership as a scalable methodology for future cross-team initiatives, positioning it not just as a research tool but as an organizational capability that could be replicated across other government services.
Impact & Results
Immediate Organizational Impact
Unified communication
All three teams adopted the framework as their standard research and design lens
Eliminated duplication
Teams could rapidly identify when others had solved similar problems
Consistent user experience
Design patterns became coherent across all verification routes
Accelerated insight synthesis
Research findings could be immediately categorized and actioned