18F/18f.gsa.gov

---
agency: U.S. Web Design System
title: A design system for the federal government
subtitle: Building trust through consistency
permalink: /what-we-deliver/us-web-design-system/
excerpt: A library of design components that can help developers quickly make trustworthy, accessible, and consistent digital government services.
image: /assets/blog/web-design-standards/wds-home-new-2x.png
image_accessibility: Image of designed typography and headers 
image_icon:
project_weight: 7
tag: web design system
expiration_date:
github_repo:
    - "[Code for the Design System website](https://github.com/uswds/uswds)"
    - "[Documentation and research](https://github.com/uswds/uswds/wiki)"
project_url: "[U.S. Web Design System website](https://designsystem.digital.gov/)"
learn_more:
product_clients:
redirect_from: /what-we-deliver/us-web-design-standards/
---

Across the government, developers frequently have to tackle the same
design problems when creating a new website. What should the buttons
look like? How should the navigation work? Each time a federal developer
comes to a different solution, it creates a more fractured experience
for public users of government services.

Creating a more consistent feel across government websites can help
build trust with users, help people clearly identify official websites,
and make services easier to use — and saves the government time and
money.

<div class="small-caps">Approach</div>
### Create better experiences for the American public

The U.S. Web Design System is a library of design components that
can help government developers quickly make trustworthy, accessible, and
consistent digital government services. Originally developed as a
collaboration between the U.S. Digital Service and 18F, the Design System
is now a stable set of code and guidelines designed for the needs of
government.

Though the Design System is not required to be used for federal government
websites, they can help speed up the launch of a new site or bring a
modern, consistent look to existing websites and services.

The Design System is accessible, responsive, and designed for flexibility
and optimized for web performance right out of the box. You can just add
one of the components to update part of your site or the whole package
for a complete redesign. The Design System address a number of common design
elements, including:

-   Buttons
-   Tables
-   Navigation
-   Typography
-   Forms
-   Color

The Design System is open source and free to use, but the 18F team is also
available to help train federal agency teams on how to implement the
Design System or build custom design elements to meet an agency’s specific
needs.

*The U.S. Web Design System was previously called the U.S. Web Design Standards. [Learn more about the name change](https://designsystem.digital.gov/whats-new/updates/2018/01/17/changing-our-name/).