Service proof
Pages with eligibility, documents, and processing time above the fold reduced abandonment by 28%.
Research report / public-service trust / Vellum + Notebook Tabs
A field report on where public-service websites earn trust.
Civic Signals studies 184 city service journeys across permits, benefits, housing, and emergency updates to show where trust is won or lost.
v1.2 - updated May 9, 2026
Civic Signals
PDF, CSV appendix, and HTML edition
Mira Chen, David Okafor, and Public Pattern Lab184journeys
12cities
v1.2report
Key findings
Research pages need evidence trails, not just a PDF gate.
Mira Chen, David Okafor, and Public Pattern Lab. PDF, CSV appendix, and HTML edition.
Emergency clarity
Emergency banners performed best when timestamp, source, and next update were visible together.
Language access
Machine-translated pages failed most often at application checkpoints and document upload labels.
Method and data
Make the sample, limits, sources, and revision history visible before citation.
Chen, M., Okafor, D. Civic Signals Report 2026. Public Pattern Lab.
184 service journeys across 12 mid-sized US cities
184 service journeys across 12 mid-sized US cities
Task walkthroughs
Task walkthroughs, mobile screenshots, content inventory, accessibility heuristics
No private resident data collected; logged-in portals were reviewed only with public demo states
No private resident data collected; logged-in portals were reviewed only with public demo states
City service pagesPublic alert archivesAccessibility statementsOpen data portals
Decision path
Read report
Download PDF before you commit.
A research-report sample with methodology, findings, data sources, contributors, revision history, citation format, and HTML/PDF reading paths.
Research report / data publication site