Pre-study & strategic direction for Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten

How do you make complex legal information understandable, actionable, guiding and accessible, for everyone?

In this project, I was the lead UX, leading the work in research and accessibility, as well as supporting the UI-work in a large-scale pre-study for IMY. By combining user insights, accessibility analysis, and business goals, we created a strategic direction for the next generation of imy.se, a website designed not only to inform, but to guide.

My Role

I worked as the lead UX designer. I was primarily responsible for research and accessibility, driving large parts of the project from insights to strategic direction as well as supporting the UI work.

My responsibilities included planning the project and structuring the process, research approach, facilitating workshops, conducting accessibility analysis, and transforming insights into concrete recommendations and strategic direction. I worked closely with stakeholders throughout the project and played a key role in communicating findings and recommendations to the client organization.

I was also involved in the procurement process, supporting strategic discussions and helping shape the overall direction and scope of the future project. As part of the final delivery, I was heavily involved in producing and presenting the final report and recommendations to IMY’s top management.

My role included both strategic and hands-on work:

  • Led the UX work throughout the project

  • Main responsibility for research and accessibility

  • Planned and facilitated workshops

  • Conducted user interviews and surveys

  • Conducted and analyzed user research

  • Conducted accessibility analysis based on WCAG

  • Worked with:

    • benchmarking

    • impact mapping

    • personas

    • usability goals

    • heuristic evaluation

  • Presented insights, recommendations, and strategic direction to stakeholders and top management

  • Supported procurement and strategic planning discussions

  • Co-authored and structured the final pre-study report

  • Worked with UX design while supporting UI design efforts

Background

IMY’s website had evolved over time without adapting to the growing complexity of the organization’s mission and content. The structure had become difficult to navigate, while the content itself was increasingly extensive and legally complex.

This created challenges for several target groups. Users struggled to find the right information, understand what applied to their situation, and know how to act. The website functioned as an information source — but not sufficiently as practical guidance.

Challenges

The analysis identified several recurring issues:

  • Unclear navigation and inconsistent structure

  • Fragmented information architecture

  • Legally correct but difficult-to-apply content

  • Users leaving the site when information became too complex

  • Accessibility issues, especially related to documents

  • Limited ability to measure and evaluate user behavior

Goals

The goal of the pre-study was to establish a clear strategic direction for a future website that better supports both users and the organization.

Key focus areas included:

  • Making information more understandable and actionable

  • Creating a clear and scalable structure

  • Ensuring accessibility for all users

  • Delivering a strategic decision-making foundation for the future website

Process

The project followed an iterative process in close collaboration with IMY, balancing user needs with organizational goals.

Research & strategy

I planned and led the research efforts to ensure that all decisions were grounded in real user needs and behaviors. The work combined qualitative and quantitative methods with strategic UX frameworks.

Activities included:

  • 20 user interviews

  • Survey with 73 responses

  • Workshops with stakeholders and internal teams

  • Benchmark analysis of 17 government websites

  • Impact mapping workshops

  • Persona creation

  • User goals and needs analysis

  • Heuristic evaluation based on Nielsen Norman principles

Through this work, we identified patterns in user needs, behaviors, motivations, and pain points, creating a shared understanding of what the future website needed to solve.

Accessibility

I was responsible for the accessibility analysis and ensured accessibility was integrated throughout the entire project — not treated as a separate track.

The work included:

  • Accessibility analysis based on both legal requirements as well as recommendations up to WCAG 2.2 AAA

  • Identification of issues related to:

    • structure

    • navigation

    • keyboard accessibility

    • content and documents

    • readability and comprehension

Accessibility became a key foundation for several strategic recommendations and design principles.

Key Insights

Several insights shaped the future direction of the website:

  • Users need guidance — not just information

  • The same user can have different needs depending on context and situation

  • Complex structures cause users to abandon the experience

  • Explaining “what applies” is not enough — users also need to understand how to act

  • Accessibility and clarity improve the experience for all users, not only those with disabilities

Solution

Based on the insights, we developed a strategic direction for a completely new website.

Information architecture

We proposed a new structure moving from:

  • overview → in-depth content → legal sources

This made it possible for users to access information based on their knowledge level and current needs.

Guidance-oriented content

The content strategy shifted from simply presenting information to actively supporting users in taking action.

Examples included:

  • Guides

  • Checklists

  • Step-by-step support

  • More contextual and audience-adapted content

Accessible design

Accessibility was integrated into structure, language, and design decisions:

  • Clearer and more adaptable language

  • Structures supporting comprehension

  • Inclusive user experiences across different needs and abilities

Strategic recommendation

One of the key conclusions was that the existing platform and structure had too many limitations. The recommendation was therefore to build a completely new website.

Key learning

Accessibility and research are not separate activities added at the end of a project.They are foundational to creating digital services that truly work — for everyone.

Due to confidentiality considerations, I’m unable to share all sketches, design concepts and deliverables from this project. However, I’d be happy to discuss the process, approach and outcomes in more detail. ♡

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