Week #165 at the Digital Service: Notes for 23–27 June 2025

In week 165 at the Digital Service, Martin participated in a panel on accessibility, met with the Head of User Experience Design of the EU Digital Identity Wallet project, and celebrated the decision that the Service Standard receives its legal instrument.

Week #163 at the Digital Service: Notes for 9–13 June 2025

In week 163, Martin joined discussions with ministerial stakeholders on the ongoing Service Standard and the umbrella brand work. He participated in an expert interview with a former 18F researcher while his colleagues published a blog post about professionalising the user research profession at Digital Service.

Talk: Protecting our practice

At the 2025 User Needs First Amsterdam conference, Kara and Martin reflected on current events and discussed what the government design community can do to protect its practice. Their talk has been recorded and is available on YouTube.

Week #161 at the Digital Service: Notes for 26–30 May 2025

Working week 161 at Digital Service was a bit short for Martin. He welcomed a delegation from Jordan, who were interested in good public service development. Together with his colleague Sonja, he also shared how the user-centred design discipline grew in the past few years at Digital Service in a cross-government exchange format.

Conference: Amsterdam User Needs First 2025

Colleagues from the Digital Service were very much present at the Amsterdam User Needs First 2025 Conference, giving keynotes and talks and participating in panel discussions and podcast recordings. Various talks were recorded and are now available on YouTube.

Meetup: Accessible for everyone

On 15 May, the ongoing ‘Öffentliches Gestalten’ series discussed ‘Accessible for everyone’ on Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Speakers included Danny Koppenhagen from DB Systel and Marion Couesnon and Susanne Henatschel from Digital Service. They demonstrated the German public sector’s efforts to design and develop the most inclusive products and services.