Design your service using GNWT components, patterns, and styles

The GNWT Design System helps teams deliver services that are clear, consistent, and rooted in best practices.
Use it to build on proven solutions and focus your efforts where they’re needed most.

Explore the Design System

Components

Build government services efficiently with reusable, tested UI components like form elements, calls to action, alert banners, or collapsible elements designed specifically for GNWT digital services and citizen interactions.

Patterns

Guide citizens through government information and services with proven page layouts and content structures for basic informational pages and comprehensive landing pages that serve as entry points to GNWT services.

Styles

Make GNWT services accessible and consistent with foundational design elements including typography, colors, spacing, and visual guidelines that reflect Northwest Territories government branding and ensure accessibility compliance.

Feedback and Support

The GNWT Design System continues to evolve through collaboration between departments, developers, and vendors. If you have suggestions, spot accessibility issues, or want to propose new components, use the feedback form found at the bottom of each design system page.

Content Guidance and Standards

Clear, consistent, and accessible content is essential to delivering trustworthy GNWT digital services.
The GNWT Design System provides shared content standards to help teams write in a way that is inclusive, accurate, and easy to understand across all government websites.

The Content Guidance section outlines principles for writing and structuring content so that residents can quickly find and act on information. It covers topics such as plain language, clear headings, and the use of descriptive links and alternative text for images.

Writers and editors can also reference two supporting pages for detailed standards:

Content Style Guide — Guidance on tone, grammar, and formatting to ensure GNWT communications remain consistent across departments.
Multilingualism — Requirements for delivering content in both English and French, aligning with the Government of the Northwest Territories’ commitment to accessible bilingual services.

By following these guidelines, GNWT teams can maintain a unified voice, improve comprehension, and ensure all residents can access and understand government information regardless of language or ability.

Key Principles

The GNWT Design System is built around the needs of the people it serves: residents of the Northwest Territories. Every component and guideline is designed to make government services more user-centered, focusing on clarity, simplicity, and inclusivity. Accessibility is a core principle, with all elements meeting WCAG 2.2 AA standards to ensure equal access for all users, regardless of ability or device.

By promoting consistency in design, interaction, and language, the system helps establish a recognizable and trustworthy GNWT digital presence. It also supports collaboration across teams and departments, ensuring that everyone, including designers, developers, content authors, and vendors, works from the same foundation of tested, reliable, and maintainable design patterns.