Design standards checklist

Ensures Government of Alberta public websites and applications comply with our governance, user experience and content standards.

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Design standards checklist

Overview

Government of Alberta (GoA) public websites and applications must comply with the digital experience standard. All public websites and applications are reviewed for compliance against this web design checklist prior to launch.

We develop and ensure online content follows the visual style found in the templates and the checklist below.

We use the Government Identity Policy and the Web Governance Policy to develop and maintain compliance guidelines.

Compliance checklist

Category Criteria
Alberta signature logo All GoA websites should present the Alberta signature logo with black text and a blue square.

The logo should always display on a white header.
Colour GoA websites use blue as the primary colour palette, present in headers, bands and buttons.
Typography Alberta.ca uses Acumin Pro semi-condensed font. If this is not an option, substitute with a sans serif font.

Typography styles should closely align with Alberta.ca.
Icons Any icons used on a public website should resemble the line based icons found in Section 1.7 of the Government Identity Manual.
Clickable objects For consistency and ease of identification, display clickable objects, such as links, buttons, dropdowns or icons using the interactive colour palette. This ensures each state of the object is styled properly.
Responsive design People who need our content also need content delivered in a consistent quality and parity on all sizes of display. We recommend treating design elements as device agnostic, or using visual degradation as a guide for breakpoints.
Visual quality and grids Avoid any visual display or functional experience that could be interpreted as an error or bug. For example, misaligned visual elements or exceptionally poor colour combinations. Digital products should visually appear to be using an underlying grid for alignments.
Visually organize content with consistent use of margins, spacing and gutters.
Naming convention Names of websites and applications and their respective URLs should be simplified explanations of their function. New brands, system names, and acronyms should be avoided.

Examples: findhousing.alberta.ca, applychildcaresubsidy.alberta.ca.
Writing, voice and tone Content reflects the target audience and is developed with their needs in mind. All content must be written in plain language, making it concise, effective and more trustworthy for online audiences. Information about government policies, programs and services should be clear and easily understood.