Moving Is a Mess — Rethinking Public Services Around Life Transitions

Client: Digitaliseringsstyrelsen (Danish Agency for Digital Government)

Role: Lead Design Researcher (Designit)

Year: 2017

Overview

Moving home is one of the most complex transitions in people’s lives — and yet public services often fail to support that reality. As part of Denmark’s 2016–2020 Digital Strategy, this project aimed to rethink how the state could support citizens navigating change across authorities, systems, and responsibilities.

Key insights

• Citizens don’t just move their address — they rebuild their lives.

• Lack of overview is the most widespread pain point across all age and income groups.

• People don’t understand the system — because the system doesn’t understand them.

• Success depends not on motivation, but on knowing the rules and timelines.

• Public communication is alienating, inconsistent, and hard to act on — especially in stress.

• Trust is eroded when systems fail to provide feedback, consistency, or space for collaboration.

Strategic direction

We conducted deep qualitative research with first-time movers, families, and pensioners. Through journey mapping and co-creation, we developed new experience principles for public-sector digital services — emphasizing timing, tone, transparency, and coordination. We prototyped future-state flows and concepts to support a smoother, more humane experience of moving.

Impact

Our insights and frameworks were used to guide the development of more coherent cross-agency digital solutions — and helped shift the conversation from individual “self-service pain” to collective service responsibility. The work seeded future improvements in the Digital Post system and broader cross-agency platforms.