This article is authored by Manuel Kilian, Managing Director, Global Government Technology Centre Berlin.

Too often, digital public services are confusing, inaccessible, and frustrating for the very people they are meant to serve. Poor user experience (UX) doesn’t just inconvenience citizens; it undermines trust, widens inequality, and reduces the effectiveness of public administration. UX must be at the core of how governments design and deliver public services.

Governments around the world are accelerating their shift to digital service delivery. From filing taxes to claiming benefits, citizens are increasingly relying on digital platforms to access essential public services. But despite significant investment in digital infrastructure, the user experience (UX) of these services often falls short of expectations.

Public websites and portals are often difficult to navigate, rely on outdated technologies and use language that is neither clear nor inclusive. Interfaces are inconsistent, forms are poorly structured and small usability issues add up to widespread frustration. These are not minor inconveniences. Taken together, they reflect a deeper systemic problem: a persistent failure to prioritise user needs in the design of public services.

This is not just a matter of aesthetics or convenience. Poor UX undermines trust in public institutions, restricts access for those who need services most, and ultimately reduces the effectiveness of public administration. When services are difficult to use, they become functionally inaccessible – to the detriment of citizens and governments alike.

What Is UX – and Why It Matters

UX refers to the overall quality of a person's interaction with a service, product or system, in this case, digital public services. It encompasses not only visual design, but also ease of use, accessibility, clarity of language, responsiveness and emotional impact.

Good UX ensures that users can intuitively find what they need, complete tasks efficiently and feel confident throughout the process. In the public sector, this means that a citizen applying for a permit, reporting a change of address or accessing social services can do so easily and without confusion.

Ultimately, good UX is about removing friction – not just in clicks, but in trust, understanding and inclusion. When designed well, it enables services to serve everyone fairly and effectively.

Bureaucracy by Design

A fundamental cause of poor UX is that many government services are designed from the inside out. Processes are shaped by institutional logic – policy requirements, administrative procedures, legacy databases – rather than the experiences and expectations of the people who use them. While this approach may meet internal compliance objectives, it often results in services that feel opaque, rigid and alienating to the end user.

The underlying mentality is clear: services are often built to meet bureaucratic requirements with little regard for usability. For example, many online forms are digital replicas of outdated paper documents, carrying with them decades of accumulated complexity. In some cases, the language is taken directly from legal documents, leaving citizens to decipher terminology that even experts struggle to interpret.

As one UX researcher working in the public sector described it to me, civil servants often approach digital transformation by asking, "What information do we need to collect for our internal systems?". Citizen needs – clarity, usability, accessibility – are secondary considerations, if they are considered at all.

This focus is understandable, but ultimately counterproductive. In the private sector, poor UX has immediate consequences: customers leave. But in the public sector, where there is no competition, the consequences are less immediate. The result is a culture where usability is not prioritised, and where complexity is passed on to the user rather than being solved at system level.

The Consequences for Trust and Inclusion

The quality of the user experience in digital services has a direct impact on public trust. Citizens form impressions of government competence and care through their daily interactions with public institutions, increasingly online.

When a website crashes, when a form resets halfway through, or when navigation is unintuitive, it sends a message that the institution behind the service is disorganised or indifferent.

This erosion of trust has wider implications. It can reduce engagement, increase scepticism about public initiatives, and discourage people from accessing services to which they are entitled. And for people with limited digital literacy, disabilities, or limited time and resources, poor design is more than an annoyance – it is a barrier to access.

The assumption that citizens will persevere through difficult digital processes because they have no choice is flawed. Many will simply disengage or turn to offline alternatives that are more costly to manage. Others may abandon their efforts altogether, resulting in unclaimed benefits, delayed renewals or unresolved issues. All of this creates avoidable burdens for both users and the public sector.

Governments Getting It Right: International Examples

Not all public administrations fall into this pattern. A growing number of governments have demonstrated that it is possible, and indeed essential, to put the user at the centre of digital service design. The following examples show that improving UX is not just a technical exercise, but a strategic commitment to public value and institutional trustworthiness.

United Kingdom: From Fragmentation to Consistency

Over the past decade, the UK has become a global leader in public sector digital transformation. The launch of the Government Digital Service (GDS) in 2011 marked a shift in the way services are designed, delivered and maintained. At the heart of this transformation was a clear principle: start with users' needs and build services around them.

The GOV.UK platform replaced hundreds of disconnected departmental websites with a single, unified platform designed to be simple, accessible, and consistent. A central design system was introduced, providing standardised components and guidelines for clarity, usability and inclusivity. The content strategy emphasised plain English and all digital services were required to meet rigorous service standards, including accessibility compliance and evidence of user testing.

In addition to interface improvements, GDS introduced structural reforms. Departments were encouraged to embed service designers, UX researchers and content specialists within their teams. Services were assessed not just on technical completion, but on user success - whether citizens could easily and independently complete their intended tasks.

The impact has been measurable. In the 2013-2014 financial year alone, the UK government reported savings of £210 million thanks to reduced duplication of services and improved digital adoption. More importantly, it has made services easier to use for millions of people. The UK's current efforts to implement a universal 'one login' system to access all government services reflects a continued commitment to improving the user experience through simplification and integration.

Denmark: Digital by Default, Designed for People

Denmark has long been at the forefront of digital government. By the early 2010s, it had implemented a 'digital by default' strategy that required most citizens to access government services online. Initiatives such as mandatory digital mail and electronic identification systems (e.g. NemID and later MitID) enabled secure, consistent access across services.

However, Denmark also encountered the limitations of digitisation without design. Early implementations revealed significant differences in usability across services. While some portals were intuitive and citizen-friendly, others were difficult to navigate, leading to frustration and inequality of access.

Recognising this, the Danish government invested in better UX design practices. A central agency for digitisation was tasked with developing guidelines to ensure user-centred design across government. Legal frameworks were also adapted to remove barriers to digital usability, such as the requirement for physical signatures.

The focus on UX has paid off. Today, Danish public services are not only digital, but largely coherent and user-friendly. Citizens can manage their taxes, apply for housing benefits or register life events online with minimal effort. The lesson from Denmark is clear: large-scale digital transformation will only succeed if usability is treated as a primary concern, not an afterthought.

Estonia: A Fully Digital State Built Around the User

Estonia is perhaps the most ambitious example of user-centred digital government. By 2024, the Estonian government has announced that 100% of public services will be available online. Citizens will be able to register businesses, sign contracts, vote and even initiate divorce proceedings electronically - all from a single secure platform.

Estonia's success is not simply a matter of putting services online. It is the result of a deeply integrated and user-centric infrastructure. The 'once-only' principle ensures that citizens never have to provide the same information twice. Government databases communicate via a secure digital backbone (X-Road), eliminating redundant paperwork and streamlining transactions.

Instead of building siloed services, Estonia designs around life events. For example, when a child is born, parents are guided through a series of pre-populated forms that automatically link healthcare, civil registration and benefits. Tasks that in many countries would involve multiple agencies and office visits are completed online in minutes.

Underlying this approach is a clear philosophy: public services should be as simple and intuitive as the best consumer platforms. Estonian officials have emphasised that citizens should not have to understand the inner workings of government to get what they need – the system should be built to accommodate them, not the other way around.

UX is Infrastructure, What Governments Can Do

As these examples show, UX is not simply about user satisfaction – it determines whether government services work, and for whom. Well-designed digital systems reduce operating costs, improve efficiency and widen access. Poorly designed ones do the opposite.

UX is also about democratic legitimacy. If services are inaccessible or alienating, the public's ability to engage with governments is diminished. Trust is not built through slogans or social media campaigns; it is earned through consistent, reliable and respectful interactions.

To realise the potential of digital government, institutions must treat UX as a core competency. This requires embedding design professionals within public sector teams, commissioning user research and usability testing, and developing shared design systems to promote consistency.

Procurement processes should be adapted to prioritise usability. Training programmes must ensure that civil servants understand the principles of human-centred design. Above all, leadership must recognise that design decisions are policy decisions – and that the way a service is delivered is inextricably linked to the impact it has.

In short, user-centred design is not a luxury. It is public infrastructure for the digital age.