What is expected from an Interaction Designer in Alpha

In the Alpha phase, the team aims to experiment, test and refine early versions of the product or service. As an Interaction Designer, your key responsibilities might involve:

• prototyping ideas, including both digital and offline/assisted support journeys where relevant, to test assumptions and explore solutions through rapid, low‑fidelity ideas
• progressing to high-fidelity coded prototypes once a direction is validated through robust user research and evidence
• attending and supporting usability testing sessions to gain firsthand insight into how users experience and respond to your designs
• developing an understanding of technical feasibility and design constraints by identifying potential risks, documenting them clearly, and collaborating with a technical architect to validate and address them
• collaborating as a UCD team on the to-be user journeys that are simple to use and understand, based on research
• understanding the context of each user group, for example, accessibility, assisted tech and english as a second language (ESL)
• understanding the technical feasibility and how the service will look and work on supported browsers or devices
• contributing to beta plans
• exploring operational or assisted digital models
• creating inclusive interactions that meet the latest published WCAG standards to ‘AA’ standard, so everyone can access and use the product or service confidently
• collaborating with cross-functional team members (user researchers, service designers, content designers, business analysts, technical architects, delivery managers, product owners, etc.) to refine service concepts based on user feedback
• working collaboratively across departments to refine technology and service processes ahead of delivery
• ensuring a consistent user experience aligned with other NHS and government services
• considering all user journeys into and out of the service, including effective signposting and clear end-of-service transitions
• understanding the context in which different user groups interact with the service, including primary, secondary and tertiary users and stakeholders
• maintaining a design history to document how the service evolves over time, capturing what was created, why decisions were made, and how changes responded to user and business needs
• working with other departments such as technical and procedural, comms, contact centre, print services and online teams to understand the capability and constraints of the ask as well as assessing needs of all parties for successful delivery of the service

What outputs are expected from an Interaction Designer in Alpha

Interaction Designer outputs should include the design artefacts appropriate to the phase and needs of the service, for example:

• low fidelity prototyping, to test assumptions and design ideas
• rapid, code prototyping to accurately simulate real world interactions and flows, enabling users to experience the design as they would in a live environment
• annotated user flow map
• technical feasibility risk log, as and when appropriate
• contribute to a risks and constraints log

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