Gamifying GOV.UK

Government services can be a bit dull, so let’s make them fun!

Note: This case study was created before the release of the GOV.UK One Login app and rebrand.

This case study began during a Community of Practice session I ran with colleagues, where we explored how gamification could improve everyday experiences. Since we all work with public sector clients, we initially asked: Could gamification make government services more engaging?

The session eventually took a different turn—we designed The Game of Life, a lighthearted challenge that encouraged people to gamify everyday tasks like washing the dishes or commuting. But I couldn’t shake the original idea.

As someone who designs for the public sector, I wanted to see whether gamification could make something like Register to Vote more motivating, without undermining its seriousness.

Here's how it went…

Why Gamify Register to Vote?

Voting is the foundation of democracy, yet many people (especially young voters) fail to register. Whether due to lack of awareness, disengagement, or thinking their vote doesn’t matter, this leads to low turnout and underrepresentation in decision-making.

Key Challenges:

📉 Young People Are Underrepresented: Voters aged 18-24 have the lowest turnout, meaning their concerns are less reflected in policy.
⚠️ Lack of Awareness: Many don’t realise they need to register, assume it’s complicated, or miss the deadline.
❌ Low Political Understanding: First-time voters may feel overwhelmed by jargon and misinformation, leading to disengagement.
🏡 Frequent Movers Struggle to Stay Registered: Students and young professionals who change addresses often may not realise they need to re-register each time they move.

The Opportunity:

Making voter registration more engaging and accessible can drive participation, create lifelong voters, and strengthen democracy. By removing barriers and improving the experience, we can encourage more people to take that first step toward having their voices heard

Principles of Gamification

🎯 Objectives

Creating clear goals allows us to set milestones for users. It provides them with a clear guideline regarding what they need to achieve to receive a reward.

🏅 Rewards

Positive reinforcement is a potent factor in human psychology. When rewarded, we feel happy and experience less stress due to increased activity in the brains’s dopamine circuit.

🏆 Competition

In a well-designed gamification experience, competitive interest pushes us to perform better. It has a powerful quality of engaging a person without willing to impede their opponents.

Gamification techniques and app features

Streaks

For each day you complete a mini game, you’ll add an extra day to your streak

Leaderboards

Add your friends and compete with them to see who can earn the most XP and rise to the top of the weekly leaderboard

Missions

Mini games where you can learn all about politics. Missions are short 1-3 minute games that earn you points. The better you do and the more games you play, the more points you earn

Progress bars

During sign up and throughout the missions, there’s a progress bar so you can see how far you’ve come and how much you’ve got left

Levels

Earning a certain number of XP will allow you to level up, unlocking more mini games and more features

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