Plateform

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Executive Summary

Plateform is a community platform designed for the London Borough of Hounslow, built to connect residents with local resources, services, and each other. The project ran over 3 months and involved end-to-end UX and UI design, from initial discovery through to a live deployed product. The platform was designed around the needs of a diverse public user base where accessibility, clarity, and inclusivity were non-negotiable requirements.

Plateform

Challenges and Responsibilities

Challenge

Hounslow residents had no single digital space to discover local services, connect with community initiatives, or engage with their borough. Existing council tools were fragmented, outdated, and difficult to navigate.

Opportunity

Create an accessible, community-first platform that brings residents, local services, and the council together in one unified experience.

Timeline

3 Months

Disciplines

  • User Experience Design
  • User Interface Design
  • Accessibility Design

Responsibilities

  • UX Research
  • Information Architecture
  • UI Design
  • Prototyping
  • Live Development

Tools

  • Figma
  • Replit
  • Claude Code

Our Vision

To give every Hounslow resident a digital home — a place where finding support, discovering community events, and connecting with neighbours feels effortless and welcoming. The platform was built with the belief that good civic digital design should serve everyone, not just the digitally confident.

The Process

Initial Problem Discovery

Hounslow is one of London's most culturally diverse boroughs, with residents spanning a wide range of ages, backgrounds, and digital literacy levels. Existing digital touchpoints were fragmented — residents had to navigate multiple council pages, social media groups, and third-party sites to find basic community information. There was no single trusted space. Our objective was to design a platform that felt welcoming, easy to navigate, and genuinely useful for the full breadth of the community — not just the most digitally active residents.

Post Designs Outcome

Market Validation

  • Platform launched as a live web product accessible to Hounslow residents.
  • Designed with WCAG accessibility standards at the core of every decision.
  • Received recognition as a government-facing civic design project.

Product Development

  • Built and deployed using Replit and Claude Code for rapid iteration.
  • Information architecture designed to support future expansion of services and content.
  • Component system built for consistency and ease of maintenance.

Key Takeaways

  • Civic design requires a higher accessibility bar than most consumer products.
  • Designing for diverse users means removing assumptions about digital confidence.
  • A clean, calm visual language builds trust with users who may be sceptical of government digital tools.

Next Steps

  • Expand service directory with deeper council integration.
  • Add multilingual support to serve Hounslow's diverse linguistic communities.
  • Conduct further usability testing with older and less digitally confident residents.