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Design system statuses

Every building block on the MoJ Design System has 1 of 4 statuses. This is to help you know how to use them. The statuses are:

  • Experimental
  • To be reviewed
  • Official
  • Archived

The Design System team is working to bring everything to the ‘official’ status. Building blocks will move between other statuses when the team develops them. They can also be archived.

Learn how you can help develop design system building blocks.

‘Experimental’ status (for all community components)

The experimental status will be launched later in 2025.

When the experimental status launches, anyone will be able to add a building block to the Design System. All of these community components will start as ‘experimental’. They’ll have had a brief sense check from the MoJ Design System team, and then no more involvement.

An experimental building block can be anything from a screenshot with very brief documentation, to something more developed (with code and a Figma design). They can be used as a starting point, concept or idea.

They’ll be early in development and may not have been considered (or accessibility tested) for use beyond a particular service. They’re only to be used in alpha and beta phases.

This user-led involvement in developing building blocks enables people to share their designs, collaborate and work in the open.

‘To be reviewed’ status

Building blocks with a ‘to be reviewed’ status were added for use by everyone at MoJ, possibly a long time ago.

They have not been reviewed recently and the work to develop them is not known.

‘Official’ status

When an ‘experimental’ or ‘to be reviewed’ building block gets a full review by the Design System team it becomes ‘official’.

This review includes an organisation-wide discovery and multi-disciplinary team input (including accessibility testing). Usage is thoroughly documented.

‘Official’ status building blocks can be used in every product phase. They’ll be supported and maintained in the long-term.

‘Archived’ status

Sometimes a building block is no longer needed. This is usually because the need has been met by the GOV.UK Design System (which we do not want to duplicate).