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.

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.

Meetup: Checks & balances

On 2 April, the ongoing ‘Öffentliches Gestalten’ series discussed ‘Checks & balances’ – how we apply healthy scrutiny to strengthen trust in democracy and our current form of government. Speakers included Dr Niklas Kossow from CityLAB Berlin and Ann Cathrin Riedel from NExT.

Meetup: Filling the gaps

On 5 November, the ongoing ‘Öffentliches Gestalten’ series discussed ‘filling the gaps’ – how engaged members of civic society step in when public sector organisations don’t do what’s expected of them. Speakers included Lilith Wittmann from Bund.dev and Nic from AllABoutBerlin.com.

Talk: The power of community

Opening the Helsinki Conference 2024 of the International Design in Government community, Kara Kane and Martin Jordan talked about the power of community and how communities help deal with the long slog of government transformation.

Meetup: Creating better policies

‘Creating better policies’ was the topic of the 6th meetup in the ‘Öffentliches Gestalten – shaping public sector’s future’ series. Three speakers, a lawyer, a service designer and a software engineer, shared how they support lawmakers and policy drafters to create better policies.

Talk: Designing good public services for everyone

Principal UX designer Charlotte Vorbeck took the iconic TEDx stage to talk about designing good public services for everyone. She positions the user-centred government transformation work in its larger context, describes the constraints and shares her wins.