The flow census

24 screens · 4 walks

Four public services walked end to end, reduced from the states that were captured to the screens they actually contain.

The finding. Forty-three captures are twenty-four screens: a form before and after it is filled in is one screen, twice. Twenty of the twenty-four offer a route the walk did not take — a postcode you do not know, an address not on the list, a nationality you cannot provide. Only four do not, and three of those are the screens that take one value and continue. The happy path is the smallest part of a real service.

43screenshots taken

24screens they are

20with a door not taken

4without one

Why the two numbers differ. A form photographed empty and then photographed filled in is one screen, twice. 13 of the 24 screens were captured that way, 3 of them three times over, and only 8 were photographed once. The count that matters for design is the one on the right: 24 things that had to be designed, not 43.

The four walks, drawn crudely

Boxes and arrows, one box per screen, in the order a person met them. The stub on the right of a box is a door — a control that was on that screen and led somewhere this walk did not go. It is drawn plainly on purpose: a flow diagram is a thing you argue with, and a tidy one invites agreement rather than argument.

Register to vote

16 screens · 32 captures · registertovote.service.gov.uk · walked 2026-09-01

1 Register to vote Explain the service and start it.

Register to vote - apply by post
2 Where do you live? Route the applicant to the right nation.

British citizen living in another country
3 What is your nationality? Establish eligibility to vote.

I cannot provide my nationality
4 What is your date of birth? Establish age eligibility.

I cannot provide my date of birth
5 What is your full name? Take the name that goes on the register.

no way off but forward
6 Have you ever changed your name? Find the applicant under a previous name.

Yes
7 What is your National Insurance number? Verify identity against existing government records.

I cannot provide my National Insurance number
8 What is your UK postcode? Narrow the address to one list.

I do not know which postcode to use
9 What is your address? Pick the exact property from that list.

I cannot find my address on the list
10 Do you also live at a second address? Catch students and second homes.

Yes, I live at 2 addresses
11 Have you permanently moved out of another address in the last 12 months? Remove the old entry from the register.

Yes, from a UK address
12 Decide if you want your details to appear on the ‘open register’ Explain two registers, then take a choice.

register to vote anonymously
13 Choose how you would like to be contacted Ask which contact details are worth collecting.

You can email me
14 What is your email address? Take an email address.

no way off but forward
15 What is your phone number? Take a phone number.

no way off but forward
16 Check your answers before sending your application Show everything given, let any of it change.

Change

Where the walk stopped. The walk stopped at the summary. Sending the application, the confirmation and every error state are uncaptured — submitting a real registration for a person who does not exist is an offence, and the service says so on the screen.

Find a GP

5 screens · 7 captures · www.nhs.uk · walked 2026-09-01

1 Find a GP Take a postcode.

Use your location
2 GP surgeries near E9 7HQ List every surgery, nearest first.

Filter by availability
3 LONDON FIELDS MEDICAL CENTRE Show one surgery, and whether it is open.

go to NHS 111 online or call 111, for urgent care
4 How to register with this GP surgery Check catchment, then explain how to register.

Check that you live in this GP surgery’s catchment area
5 Contact details and opening times Give the address, the phone number, the hours.

no way off but forward

News front page

2 screens · 2 captures · www.bbc.com · walked 2026-09-01

1 News front page Rank today, and show the ranking.

every headline below the lead
2 Lead story Give one story in full.

related stories at the foot

Where the walk stopped. Two screens only: front page and lead story. Section fronts, search and video are uncaptured.

Retail checkout

1 screens · 2 captures · www.screwfix.com · walked 2026-09-01

1 Product page Describe one product and let it be bought.

Check stock in your local store

Where the walk stopped. Incomplete. The walk stopped at the product page; no basket, delivery or payment screen was captured.

Every screen

Filter by screen or job

What the screen is for

Screen	Its job, in under ten words	A door this walk did not take	Shots	Height
Register to voteRegister to vote · explains before it asks	Explain the service and start it.	Register to vote - apply by post	2	4732–4897
Where do you live?Register to vote · asks for something	Route the applicant to the right nation.	British citizen living in another country	3	1308–1403
What is your nationality?Register to vote · asks for something	Establish eligibility to vote.	I cannot provide my nationality	2	1225
What is your date of birth?Register to vote · asks for something	Establish age eligibility.	I cannot provide my date of birth	2	1088
What is your full name?Register to vote · asks for something	Take the name that goes on the register.	none on the screen	2	1183
Have you ever changed your name?Register to vote · asks for something	Find the applicant under a previous name.	Yes	2	1110
What is your National Insurance number?Register to vote · asks for something	Verify identity against existing government records.	I cannot provide my National Insurance number	3	1213–1661
What is your UK postcode?Register to vote · asks for something	Narrow the address to one list.	I do not know which postcode to use	2	1048
What is your address?Register to vote · asks for something	Pick the exact property from that list.	I cannot find my address on the list	2	1048
Do you also live at a second address?Register to vote · asks for something	Catch students and second homes.	Yes, I live at 2 addresses	2	1345
Have you permanently moved out of another address in the last 12 months?Register to vote · asks for something	Remove the old entry from the register.	Yes, from a UK address	2	1240
Decide if you want your details to appear on the ‘open register’Register to vote · asks for something	Explain two registers, then take a choice.	register to vote anonymously	2	2161
Choose how you would like to be contactedRegister to vote · asks for something	Ask which contact details are worth collecting.	You can email me	1	1226
What is your email address?Register to vote · asks for something	Take an email address.	none on the screen	2	1148
What is your phone number?Register to vote · asks for something	Take a phone number.	none on the screen	2	1208
Check your answers before sending your applicationRegister to vote · shows it all back	Show everything given, let any of it change.	Change	1	2216
Find a GPFind a GP · asks for something	Take a postcode.	Use your location	3	1211–1464
GP surgeries near E9 7HQFind a GP · lists what was found	List every surgery, nearest first.	Filter by availability	1	27028
LONDON FIELDS MEDICAL CENTREFind a GP · shows one thing	Show one surgery, and whether it is open.	go to NHS 111 online or call 111, for urgent care	1	1683
How to register with this GP surgeryFind a GP · explains before it asks	Check catchment, then explain how to register.	Check that you live in this GP surgery’s catchment area	1	2659
Contact details and opening timesFind a GP · shows one thing	Give the address, the phone number, the hours.	none on the screen	1	2624
News front pageNews front page · lists what was found	Rank today, and show the ranking.	every headline below the lead	1	6069
Lead storyNews front page · shows one thing	Give one story in full.	related stories at the foot	1	7808
Product pageRetail checkout · shows one thing	Describe one product and let it be bought.	Check stock in your local store	2	2289–5589

Heights are CSS pixels at 1440 wide, cookie banner dismissed. The fifteen screens that ask a question run 1048 to 2161: about one screenful, because a screen that asks for one thing does not need two. The tallest thing in the census is GP surgeries near E9 7HQ at 27,028 — twenty-two times the form that produced it. Deciding is short. Listing is not.

The same wireframe, three times

Every card below is the same card: one heading in a 300px column, the width a wireframe box usually gets. The only thing that changes is what is in it. Switch between the three sets and watch the column, not the words.

—tallest card, px

—shortest card, px

—column height, px

—cards over one line

Set	Tallest	Column	Wrapping
One placeholder	—	—	—
Lorem, matched	—	—	—
The real headings	—	—	—

What the numbers say. With one placeholder in every slot, every card comes out the same height and nothing wraps: the column is a stack of identical boxes, and the layout has not been asked a single question. Switch to the real headings — which run from 9 characters to 72 — and the cards stop matching, the column grows, and the counter on the right stops reading zero. The line counts above are measured off the rendered cards at whatever width your screen gives them, so they will not agree with a screenshot of this page and are not meant to.

It is not the Latin

The usual form of this argument is that lorem ipsum is unrealistic because Latin words are the wrong length. That was measured here and it is false. Word for word, the passage used above averages 5.31 characters and these twenty-four headings average 5.38. Set the middle switch and the column behaves almost exactly as it does on the right.

The vice is the first switch, which is the one a wireframe actually uses: the same string in every slot. Placeholder text is not a lie about word length. It is a lie about variance — and variance is the only thing a layout is being tested for.

Which is why real content is a constraint rather than a detail, and why it is cheaper to find out at wireframe stage than at the stage where the heading is already in a design and the design already has sign-off.

Six to eight, each with a job

The reason to write the job column before the screen exists: if two screens share a job, you have one screen and a state. That is the whole of the collapse above — forty-three down to twenty-four — done in advance instead of discovered in a screenshot folder.

Every job here is under ten words, and the build fails if one is not. Ten words is not a style rule. A job that needs a sentence is two jobs, and the screen is about to become two screens whether it is drawn that way or not.

The three screens in the census with no door off them — full name, email address, phone number — are the three that take one value and continue. They are also the three a student would have drawn without being asked. The other twenty are the work.

What this cannot tell you.

One walk each, and one set of answers. Every branch recorded here is a door seen and not opened. A different applicant meets a different set of screens, and the census cannot say how many.
No screenshots are published. Showing captures of a live service to a class is one thing and putting them on a public webroot is another. What is here is the reduction: headings, jobs, counts and heights.
A screen is judged distinct by its own H1 and its form. Where a service reuses one heading for two different questions this undercounts, and where it changes the heading for the same question it overcounts.
“A route the walk did not take” is what was visible in the capture. A door behind a collapsed disclosure that was never opened is not recorded, so twenty is a floor.
Heights are the full-page height at 1440 CSS px wide, with the cookie banner dismissed. They move with content: a results page is as tall as its results.
The retail walk is incomplete — it stopped at the product page, and no basket or payment screen was captured. It is one row, and counted as one.
Nothing was submitted. The application was walked to its summary and abandoned there. Knowingly giving false information in a registration application is an offence, which the service says on the screen, so the test data went no further than the check-your-answers page.

Source. walked and captured for this site, September 2026 · headings quoted for identification · measurements this site’s own · retrieved 2026-09-01. This collection is derived · four walks reduced.

The documents. Register to vote (GOV.UK) · Find a GP (NHS)

The building

The desk