Reference library

The library

Reference resources you come back to while designing: standards, design systems, tools and more. Every entry links to its original and shows a licence check. Nothing here is rehosted. It is a reference set, not a news feed.

Licence Free to share open licence or public material Licence not confirmed link out only until you have checked the source Link out only never host or copy

Showing 54 of 54 resources

Design systems 7

Component libraries and patterns you can build on.

Design system Licence not confirmed Apple Human Interface Guidelines developer.apple.com Apple's design guidelines for apps across its platforms, covering layout, controls and interaction patterns. The reference for native iPhone and Apple Watch health apps, and a source for what platform users already expect from controls and navigation. Patterns Checked Oct 2026 Design system Free to share GOV.UK Design System design-system.service.gov.uk The UK government's design system of styles, components and patterns for building consistent, accessible services. It is not health-specific, but it is the shared foundation for how UK public services are designed, which makes it useful context alongside the NHS design system. Patterns Checked Oct 2026 Design system Licence not confirmed Material Design (M3) m3.material.io Not health-specific, but the baseline most Android health apps inherit whether the team chose it or not. Useful as a reference for what accessible "default" behaviour looks like before deviating for clinical needs. Patterns Checked Oct 2026 Design system Free to share NHS design system service-manual.nhs.uk The most complete health design system in the open. Steal the content patterns before the components. Patterns Checked Oct 2026 Design system Licence not confirmed Nordhealth Design System nordhealth.design A health-specific design system with components built around clinical workflows rather than generic SaaS patterns. A more relevant reference than Carbon or Polaris for anything clinician-facing. Patterns Checked Oct 2026 Design system Licence not confirmed U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) designsystem.digital.gov The design system for US federal government websites: reusable components, design tokens and guidance, built to be accessible and work well on mobile. Relevant for teams building for US agencies or health programmes that follow federal design standards. Patterns Checked Oct 2026 Design system Licence not confirmed Why Accessibility Is An Operational Capability, Not A Feature Smashing Magazine Checked Oct 2026

Standards 17

The rules and specifications your design has to meet.

Standard Licence not confirmed ADA guidance on web accessibility ada.gov The US Department of Justice's guidance on how the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to the websites of businesses and of state and local governments. Useful background for seeing how accessibility obligations are framed for a health service in the US. Accessibility Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed EN 301 549 etsi.org The European standard that sets accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, and the technical document EU accessibility rules point to. Its web requirements follow WCAG, so it is the one to check when a health product is sold into European public procurement. This is a direct link to the PDF on ETSI's site. Accessibility Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed European Health Data Space Regulation (EU) 2025/327 eur-lex.europa.eu The EU regulation that creates the European Health Data Space: how people get access to and control over their electronic health data, and how that data can be shared for care, research and policy. It phases in over several years, so it shapes what patient-facing data screens for EU markets will need to offer. Service design Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed FDA guidance: human factors and usability engineering for medical devices fda.gov FDA guidance for manufacturers on applying human factors and usability engineering so a medical device is safe and effective for its intended users and use environments. Worth reading for any team whose product may count as a device, because it describes the usability work FDA recommends. AI & safety Checked Oct 2026 Standard Free to share FDA Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) fda.gov FDA's framework for when software itself counts as a regulated medical device — the line that decides whether a feature needs clinical validation before shipping. Read this before assuming a "just a recommendation" feature is exempt. AI & safety Checked Oct 2026 Standard Free to share GDPR (EU regulation text) eur-lex.europa.eu The full EU regulation text behind consent, data minimisation, and the right to erasure. The design implications (consent screens, data-export flows) trace back to specific articles here — worth reading Articles 6, 7 and 17 directly rather than a summary. Service design Checked Oct 2026 Standard Free to share HIPAA (HHS) hhs.gov The US federal rule governing how patient health information can be stored, shared, and displayed. Relevant any time a screen shows PHI to someone other than the patient — who can see what, and what has to be logged. Service design Checked Sep 2026 Standard Free to share HL7 FHIR hl7.org The interoperability standard most health systems use to exchange patient data between EMRs, apps and portals. Designers don't need to write FHIR, but its resource shapes (Patient, Observation, MedicationRequest) explain why some data is easy to surface and some isn't. Service design Checked Oct 2026 Standard Free to share ICO: What is valid consent? ico.org.uk The UK regulator's guidance on what makes consent valid under UK GDPR: freely given, specific, informed and an unambiguous choice. Useful when a consent screen has to be judged on how it asks, such as whether declining is as easy as agreeing. Trust, Ethics & Safety Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed ISMP Guidelines for Safe Electronic Communication of Medication Information home.ecri.org The Institute for Safe Medication Practices' guidelines for how medication names, doses and numbers should be shown on screens and in messages, so they are not misread. Relevant to any medication list, schedule or dose field. This links to the resource page, not the full document. Trust, Ethics & Safety Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert 50: Medical device alarm safety in hospitals jointcommission.org A 2013 alert on alarm-related harm in hospitals, describing how a high volume of alarms, many needing no action, can lead staff to miss the ones that matter. Background for any alert or notification design where too many signals is the risk. Link only; the publisher allows reproduction only in full. UX Patterns for Health Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities (W3C COGA) w3.org A W3C Working Group Note on designing content for people with cognitive and learning disabilities, with objectives and patterns for clear structure, familiar language and support with errors. A practical reference for screens that people use while unwell, stressed or tired. Design for Vulnerable Users Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed My Health Records Act 2012 (Australia) legislation.gov.au The Australian Act that sets up My Health Record and the rules for who may access and share what is in it. Read it directly when designing anything that shows, shares or hides record data for Australian users, rather than relying on a summary. Service design Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (HHS) hhs.gov The HHS Office for Civil Rights page on Section 504, which prohibits disability discrimination in programmes and activities that receive HHS funding. It is the reference point for accessibility duties on US health services that take federal money, beyond what a WCAG checklist alone says. Accessibility Checked Sep 2026 Standard Free to share Section 508 (US) section508.gov The accessibility requirement for US federal agencies and their contractors — effectively WCAG 2.0 AA plus procurement language. Relevant for any project selling into government health systems (VA, Medicaid portals). Accessibility Checked Oct 2026 Standard Free to share WCAG 2.2 w3.org The current W3C accessibility standard, extending 2.1 with nine new success criteria (focus visibility, dragging alternatives, target size, and more). WCAG 2.2 AA is the legal baseline in most jurisdictions this site covers — treat it as a definition of done, not an aspiration. Accessibility Checked Oct 2026 Standard Licence not confirmed WHO High 5s: Medication Reconciliation fact sheet cdn.who.int A two-page WHO fact sheet on the standard process for medication reconciliation: building one list of what a patient takes and checking it against new orders at each transition of care. Helps explain what an EHR medication-list screen has to support. Direct link to the PDF. Trust, Ethics & Safety Checked Oct 2026

Research 8

Studies and evidence to ground a design decision.

Research Free to share A Remote Patient-Monitoring System for Intensive Care Medicine: Human-Centered Design and Usability Evaluation pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov A JMIR Human Factors study that designs a clinician-facing monitoring dashboard with users and measures usability before and after. A worked example of how a mixed-methods design process is reported. CC BY 4.0. Process & Research Checked Oct 2026 Research Licence not confirmed A Systematic Review of Patient-Facing Visualizations of Personal Health Data pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov A systematic review of studies on charts and other visuals that show patients their own health data, and what they found about understanding and use. A starting point for choices in a patient trend chart. Free to read on PMC, but no open licence is stated. Data Visualisation & Health Metrics Checked Oct 2026 Research Free to share Beyond Adoption: a framework for evaluating nonadoption, abandonment and scale-up of health and care technologies (NASSS) pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov An open access JMIR paper (Greenhalgh and colleagues, 2017) that sets out seven domains, from the condition to the wider context, that decide whether a health technology is taken up or dropped. Gives a designer a checklist of questions beyond usability. CC BY 4.0. Process & Research Checked Oct 2026 Research Free to share Consumers' Needs for Laboratory Results Portals: Questionnaire Study pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov A JMIR Human Factors questionnaire study of what people want from a laboratory results portal, such as how results are grouped, flagged and explained. Useful evidence for designing a list of many results rather than a single value. CC BY 4.0. Clinical vs Patient Interfaces Checked Oct 2026 Research Free to share Enhancing Patient Understanding of Laboratory Test Results (systematic review) pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov An open access systematic review of ways to help patients understand lab results, including how a value is placed against a reference range and explained in plain words. Evidence behind the choices in a result screen. CC BY 4.0. Data Visualisation & Health Metrics Checked Oct 2026 Research Licence not confirmed JMIR Human Factors humanfactors.jmir.org An open access journal on how human behaviour and design shape the usability, safety and effectiveness of health technologies. A source of published usability studies of health apps and clinical tools. Check each article's own licence line before reusing anything. Evidence Checked Oct 2026 Research Licence not confirmed Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) jmir.org A peer-reviewed open access journal on digital medicine, telehealth and health technology. A broad starting point for evidence on digital health before narrowing to a specialist journal. Check each article's own licence line before reusing anything. Evidence Checked Oct 2026 Research Licence not confirmed Patient experience measurement: a 2026 review PubMed Open-access review. Section 4 on longitudinal measures is the useful part for product teams. Evidence Checked Oct 2026

Pattern libraries 3

Reusable, tested design solutions.

Pattern library Free to share GOV.UK Design System: patterns design-system.service.gov.uk The GOV.UK Design System's patterns for collecting information from users, helping them complete tasks, and structuring common page types. Not health-specific, but questions, addresses, confirmation pages and error handling come up in nearly every health form too. Patterns Checked Oct 2026 Pattern library Free to share NHS design system: error summary component service-manual.nhs.uk The NHS component page for an error summary: a box at the top of a form that lists every problem and links each one to its field. Shows the pattern, its markup and when to use it. UX Patterns for Health Checked Oct 2026 Pattern library Free to share NHS design system: patterns service-manual.nhs.uk The NHS design system's catalogue of reusable patterns, split into task patterns (such as asking for an NHS number) and page-type patterns (such as hub and confirmation pages). Worth checking before designing a health service flow from scratch, because each pattern documents an approach already used across NHS services. Patterns Checked Oct 2026

Guides & methods 9

Process how-tos and method guides.

Guide / Method Licence not confirmed Classification of digital interventions, services and applications in health (2nd edition) who.int A WHO publication (2023) that sorts digital health tools into a shared set of interventions and services, so teams describe what a product does in the same words. Useful when writing a product brief or comparing tools, because it names the user group each intervention serves. Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO, so link only. Process & Research Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Licence not confirmed Easy Checks: a first review of web accessibility w3.org A W3C guide to a quick first accessibility review of a page: titles, image alternatives, headings, contrast, keyboard use and forms. A fast way to spot obvious problems in a prototype or portal page before a full audit. Not a substitute for a full review. Accessibility & Regulation Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Free to share GOV.UK Service Manual: Making your service more inclusive gov.uk GOV.UK's guidance on designing services that people with different needs and circumstances can use, including those who are not confident online. A method-level companion to accessibility standards for health services. Design for Vulnerable Users Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Free to share GOV.UK writing guidelines: Use clear language guidance.publishing.service.gov.uk GOV.UK's guidance on writing plainly, including limits on sentence and paragraph length and advice on word choice. Transfers directly to patient-facing copy, instructions and error messages. Health Literacy & Plain Language Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Free to share Health Literacy Online odphp.health.gov A research-based guide from the US Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (3rd edition) on writing and designing digital health content for people with limited literacy or health literacy. Covers involving the audience, scannable layouts and simple navigation. Apply it when drafting patient-facing screens and instructions. Health Literacy & Plain Language Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Free to share NHS digital service manual: Accessibility service-manual.nhs.uk The NHS service manual's accessibility guidance, with what each role (product, design, development, content, research, testing) should do to meet WCAG. A method-level companion to the standards, useful for planning who checks what on a health service team. Open Government Licence v3.0. Accessibility & Regulation Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Licence not confirmed Principles for Digital Development digitalprinciples.org Nine living principles for people building digital tools in development and health settings, covering human-centred design, inclusion, data practices and doing no harm. A short reference for framing design decisions when a product will reach people with varied access and skills. Design for Vulnerable Users Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Licence not confirmed RE-AIM re-aim.org The home of the RE-AIM framework, which plans and evaluates a programme across reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance, with planning tools and survey instruments. Handy when a digital health project has to say how it will be judged after launch, not only how it will look. Process & Research Checked Oct 2026 Guide / Method Licence not confirmed WHO SMART Guidelines who.int WHO's approach for turning its clinical and public health recommendations into structured, machine-readable requirements for digital systems. Shows designers where the logic behind a clinical screen can come from and how a guideline is broken into data and decision rules. Page is copyright WHO, so link only. Trust, Ethics & Safety Checked Oct 2026

Tools 7

Things you use while designing and testing.

Tool Free to share CDC Clear Communication Index cdc.gov A scoring tool for plain-language health communication, built by CDC for public health materials but directly applicable to patient-facing copy and error messages. Score a screen's copy against it before assuming "we simplified it" is enough. Accessibility Checked Oct 2026 Tool Licence not confirmed Figma figma.com The design tool this site's own mockups are built in. Not health-specific — listed because it's the one tool almost every other entry in this library assumes you already have. Checked Oct 2026 Tool Licence not confirmed Lyssna (formerly UsabilityHub) lyssna.com Rebranded from UsabilityHub in 2024. Runs five-second tests, first-click tests and preference tests — good for checking whether a clinical dashboard's most important number is actually the first thing people see. Checked Oct 2026 Tool Licence not confirmed Maze maze.co Unmoderated usability and prototype testing. Useful for running a quick comprehension test on a patient-facing flow before it ships, without booking a full research session. Checked Oct 2026 Tool Licence not confirmed WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool wave.webaim.org A tool from WebAIM that flags accessibility errors on a web page; the online version is free. A fast first pass on a prototype or a patient portal page, not a substitute for a full accessibility audit. Accessibility Checked Oct 2026 Tool Free to share WCAG 2.2 quick reference w3.org The checklist I actually keep open. Filter to Level AA and treat it as a definition of done. Accessibility Checked Oct 2026 Tool Licence not confirmed WebAIM Contrast Checker webaim.org A free tool that checks the contrast ratio of a foreground and background colour against the WCAG thresholds. Quick to use for status colours, alerts and chart labels on a health screen. Accessibility Checked Oct 2026

Examples 3

Real products and published work to learn from.

Example Licence not confirmed My Health Record (Australia) digitalhealth.gov.au The public page for Australia's national health record, described as a place to keep key health information, available to the person and their healthcare providers, including in an emergency. A real Australian example of how a national record explains what it holds and who can see it. Service design Checked Oct 2026 Example Licence not confirmed MyChart mychart.org Epic's patient portal, used by many health systems to let patients book appointments, see test results and medications, and message their care team. A common portal to study for how these everyday tasks are laid out. Service design Checked Oct 2026 Example Licence not confirmed NHS App nhs.uk The NHS's app and website for managing healthcare from a phone, tablet or computer. A national patient-facing product whose screens and flows can be studied as a real example of a public health service interface. Service design Checked Oct 2026