Context
For many Hungarian families, access to public support depends on one decisive step: finding trustworthy, comprehensible information about what they are eligible for and what to do next. Hungary’s family support landscape is inherently multi-layered, combining cash benefits, leave-related allowances, tax allowances, and subsidised loan schemes, each with distinct eligibility rules and life-stage triggers. Recent policy updates and new instruments have further increased the need for clear, situation-based guidance.
Over time, csalad.hu, the national family support portal, had evolved into an administratively structured collection of pages that did not match how citizens think. Web analytics and UX audit inputs (2022–2024) indicated weakening task orientation, while IdomSoft’s research identified recurring confusion about entitlements, unclear next steps, and high cognitive load. This was therefore a governance problem, not a cosmetic design issue: the state’s entitlement access logic was not aligned with citizen intent.
Under Hungary’s DÁP system, life-event-based organisation is being institutionalised as a core principle for citizen-facing public services. The project operationalised this policy direction by introducing a life-event-based, measurable access logic, applying the government design system, and embedding standardised analytics, creating a reusable model for life-event-based entitlement access governance.
Objectives
The project aimed to transform a fragmented, policy-centred portal into a citizen-oriented entitlement access gateway, while strengthening data-driven public administration under DÁP. At project inception, the assumed solution was the development of a new stand-alone mobile application. A central objective of the research phase therefore became validating whether channel expansion was justified, or whether structural reform of entitlement access logic was the actual need. Research findings demonstrated that the primary barrier was not access to a new digital channel, but cognitive overload caused by administratively structured information. The objective was consequently refined: align information architecture with citizens’ mental models.
Key objectives were to:
- replace programme-centred categorisation with a validated life-event model;
- improve citizens’ ability to identify relevant benefits and next steps, verified through behavioural pathway measurement;
- reduce comprehension barriers through plain language and accessibility remediation;
- institutionalise monitoring via the DÁP analytics measurement methodology;
- deliver a cost-effective structural reform within the existing platform, avoiding unnecessary infrastructure or channel proliferation;
- serve as an example of cost-effective, agile implementation that can be replicated across other public information and service journeys.
Concrete solutions included life-event landing pages, redesigned guidance journeys, harmonised DÁP design system components, and analytics instrumentation enabling iterative optimisation.
Implementation
The project was delivered over seven months through coordinated collaboration between four institutions under agile governance.
IdomSoft Ltd., a 100% state-owned digital solutions company under the Digital Hungary Agency, designed and executed the full user research programme, defined the life-event model and benefit mapping, implemented the technical renewal of the portal, activated analytics instrumentation, and managed the project end-to-end.
The Ministry of Culture and Innovation provided strategic oversight and funding, while Családbarát Magyarország Kft., a state-owned non-profit organisation, acted as domain owner and content steward. PwC delivered UI and interaction design planning aligned with national standards.
Design and delivery followed an evidence-to-implementation pipeline:
- baseline web analytics review and UX audit inputs
- social listening and qualitative research (including in-depth and guerrilla interviews)
- life-event modelling and benefit mapping
- content restructuring and plain-language rewrite
- DÁP design system-based UI integration
- agile technical delivery on the existing platform
- activation of the DÁP analytics measurement methodology