06. November 2025
author:
Charlotte Vorbeck |
Martin Jordan |
Stephanie Kaiser
Designing effective and efficient digital services with patterns and systems
We shouldn't reinvent the wheel when it's already rolling. However, when it comes to designing digital government services, this happens all the time. Few digital services look alike or function in the same way. Paying dog tax, applying for student loans, registering a car—each service is structured and designed completely differently.
At DigitalService, we do not want to contribute to the ever-increasing visual proliferation. Although we have developed our own component libraries and design systems in recent years, we are not continuing this work. Instead, wherever possible, we will use the KERN Designsystem in existing and new projects at DigitalService in the future.
In this article, we show how DigitalService teams came to this decision. We provide an overview of our work in recent years and how we use cross-cutting components and patterns in the development of new online services. Our goal is always the same: to build online services of consistently high quality with as little effort as possible.
Charlotte Vorbeck
is a UX Designer with a technical background. She spent the first ten years of her career as a front-end developer for apps, websites, and games before moving into the user experience field. She is passionate about building technology that solves real problems for real users by combining context, empathy, and design tools with the art of software development. In addition to technology, Charlotte loves to cook and bake for friends, dance in any way she can, or rediscover the world with her two daughters.
Martin Jordan
works as Head of Design at DigitalService. Previously, he was Head of Service Design at the Cabinet Office in London for over six years. There, at the Government Digital Service, he pushed forward the digital transformation of the British administration and its administrative services. In his private life, he loves porridge. His goal is to compete in the Porridge World Cup at some point and win the Golden Spurtle, the Scottish stirring spoon.
Stephanie Kaiser
is CPO at DigitalService. She previously made a name for herself as co-founder of three startups and has been a member of the German government's Digital Council since 2018. In 2015 and 2016, she was voted among the "50 most inspiring Women in Tech in Europe." When she's not working, you can find her cycling or scooting on Berlin's streets. To her own surprise, it's the place she's returned to again and again, although Paris, Ho Chi Minh City, Warsaw and Milan were also beautiful places to live.
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