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Design

The documentation on this page is considered legacy.

We will be updating this content to our new principle-based format in the near future.

Start designing with a Design System from the Royal Navy

Welcome to the Royal Navy Design System! We are here to help you build thoughtful, user-friendly digital experiences.

Here’s a checklist of everything you need to get started:

1Design libraries

We provide three Axure libraries which contain all Royal Navy Design System components. Using our libraries saves you having to design components from scratch and, when handing off to your developers, there won’t be confusion about the components and their behaviour.

Getting started with the Axure design libraries

A short document to help you

  • Install, use and keep our libraries up to date

  • Understand which library to use when

  • Discover tips and tricks for working with Axure

Download our Getting Started Guide

Static Axure library

Current version: 3.2

Changes from previous version:

  • New component: Classification bar (for Masthead and Sidebar)

  • Tabs: Updated design to match new v3 design

  • Masthead: Updated design to match new v3 Tab Nav design

  • Date picker, Time picker: Minor update to mask text style

  • Number input active state: Fixed buttons z-index

  • Select: Updated sheet to v3 design

  • Tertiary button: Visual updates to button style (buttons may need to be re-aligned when you import library styles, as the default state now includes Padding)

  • Buttons: added icon-left and icon-right variants

  • Buttons: updated designs to match new v3 design

  • All components: Titles changed from "Active" to more accurate "Focused" where appropriate

  • Components with Sheets: Updated drop shadows for improved consistency with live components

  • Checkbox: Added 'no container' variant

  • Range slider: 'Error' icon replaced with 'Dangerous'

  • All components: Component-specific information and warnings moved to yellow box notes for easier reference; these will appear every time a component is used in a design

Download our static Axure library

Interactive Axure library

Current version: 3.1

Changes from previous version:

  • New widget: Classification bar (for Masthead and Sidebar)

  • Tabs: Updated design to match new v3 design

  • Masthead: Updated design to match new v3 Tab Nav design

  • Date picker, Time picker: Minor update to mask text style

  • Drawer: Background colour fixed to white (instead of transparent)

  • Select: Updated sheet to v3 design

  • Tertiary button: Visual updates to button style (buttons may need to be re-aligned when you import library styles, as the default state now includes Padding)

  • Number input: Added small size

  • Buttons: added icon-left and icon-right variants

  • Buttons: updated styles to match new v3 styles

  • Buttons: removed dynamic light blue border for hover/focussed/pressed states, in order to simplify aligning and editing

  • Components with Sheets: Updated drop shadows for improved consistency with live components

  • Checkbox: Added 'no container' variant

  • All components: Component-specific information and warnings moved to yellow box notes for easier reference; these will appear every time a component is used in a design

Download our interactive Axure library

Icons Axure library

All icons available on the Design System are in this searchable Axure library and can be dropped directly into your designs.

Current version: 3.0

Changes from previous version:

  • First Axure icons library

Download our icons Axure library

Legacy Sketch design library

If you are still using v2 of the MOD.UK Design System (now renamed Royal Navy Design System), you should use our legacy Sketch library. Please note that this library is not maintained any longer and you should transition to our Axure libraries where possible.

Download our legacy Sketch design library

2Foundational guidance

Read about our Tokens to understand how elements like colour, typography and spacing work, especially if you need to create a new component or pattern.

3Guidance on individual components

We provide guidance on how to use each individual component and its variants, including any applicable Standards you may have to adhere to.

The Royal Navy Design System provides guidance and tools for building high–quality Services within the UK Ministry of Defence. This project is open source and its source code is available on GitHub.

All content is available under the Apache 2.0 licence, except where otherwise stated.

© Crown copyright