Lebanon’s E-Government UX/UI Assessment
E-Government Mapping: Lebanon’s E-Government UX/UI Assessment
Skeyes
Under the flagship of our series of E-Government Mapping reports, this research is an in-depth assessment of the User Experience and User Interface in the Lebanese government platforms as an essential pillar in e-government development.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to the importance of government sites and services that are easy to navigate, provide clear information, and offer reliable service as the massive digital revolution has become inseparable from our daily lives. The ongoing pandemic created a momentum for digital transition in Lebanon and led to the launch and growing use of no-touch tech solutions such as IMPACT, DAEM, and COVAX to better serve the constituents. Not only are these emerging digital services increasingly safer and more convenient for citizens, they are a great indicator that digitalization is not just a “nice to have” for governments, as they also lay the foundation for more essential digital services.
With the majority of the Lebanese population being frequent internet users, specifically the younger generation aged less than 24 years old and accounting to over 44% of the total, people quickly became very dependent on digital platforms and familiar with their services. Noting that user experience/user interface (UX/UI) designs also progress with societal changes, our report here assesses and questions if the Lebanese government agencies are able to fulfill citizens’ emerging needs, keep pace with digital waves, and raise their standards to prevent frustration and exhaustion by users when surfing into the government platforms.
As digital platforms, which emerged amid the pandemic, made the majority of citizens look for information or make transactions online, the interaction with these platforms indicates the tremendous potential the digital transition can have on citizens’ life and satisfaction.
Since the government provides vital information and services that affect people’s daily lives, they have the responsibility of responding to citizens’ needs, running as effectively and efficiently as possible, and being timely and accurate with information, accessibility, usability, and information architecture. By putting people first and embracing a user-centric approach, public agencies must improve the quality of their information and services, making them more useful and usable, and saving money in the long term through iterative improvements.
Government is one of the sectors where user experience/user interface design can have the most significant impact on the digital experiences of a large portion of the population. This is because government agencies need to serve all citizens, which means that their websites and platforms must be accessible and usable regardless of the end-user’s tech-savviness, disability status, gender identity, or digital literacy.
The work of e-government UX/UI design goes beyond choosing fonts, typography, and aesthetically pleasing web design. UX design is tied to user understanding and quality of service; and a strong design can result in fewer points of friction, intuitive navigation, and a greater experience that leads to helping citizens and residents access the information and services they need. It’s a role that equally requires design acumen, problem-solving skills, and user empathy. This is why the research, testing, and iterative work of UX/UI designers is so important in the government sector.
Our report shows that the most popular government websites fail to meet basic standards for security, UX/UI design, speed, mobile-friendliness, or accessibility.