Project.
Nebraska: Integrated Benefits Platform
Combining multiple older benefits applications into a single unified modern platform.
Nebraska’s Department of Health & Human Services administers a range of important benefits programs for Nebraskans, including Medicaid and assorted kinds of economic assistance. For years, the state provided separate online applications for different but related benefits programs. This complexity contributed to a lot of user frustration and caused issues with data capture.
In 2021, Nebraska hired Nava to design an integrated benefits platform that would combine these separate online applications into a simplified, unified, user-friendly, and mobile-optimized platform where Nebraskans can apply to get help with food, utilities, healthcare, childcare, and other essential needs. I was brought on as a senior content designer and content strategist to help design the new integrated platform, which was given the name iServe Nebraska.
Some goals of Nava’s human-centered design approach:
increase user comprehension
reduce application time and complexity
streamline data capture
update copy with plain-language improvements
eliminate redundant questions
show only the questions each applicant must answer for the specific programs they’re applying for
Working iteratively with my Nava colleagues — especially user research — and Nebraska’s policy team and business analysts, I developed a detailed set of approximately three dozen question-flow drafts in Lucidchart, a web-based diagramming application. Together, these diagrams served as a complete draft of the entire combined question flow for the iServe Nebraska MVP, beginning with the initial start page and moving all the way through signature and application submission.
Each diagram showed the flow of questions for a particular part of the application. These diagrams included user-facing draft copy with plain-language improvements; flow diagram details such as decision points and loops, with notes to indicate flow behavior, basic validation rules, and so forth; and indications for the questions that should be asked for each application/program, sometimes globally for a whole diagram and sometimes question-by-question.
In addition to my work on the question-flow diagrams, I also provided strategic advice in some other areas, including plain-language guidelines and website copy.
Check my work.
