UX Case Study

Enhance the Life Experience of Massachusetts Constituents

Research and set up a pilot project

Team Project

Mass Digital-Life Experience Team

My Responsibility

  • Participate in In-Depth Research

  • Created Visual Tools for Understanding

Tools

  • Miro

  • Figma

  • Adobe Illustrator

Overview

Government agencies offer a wide range of services, but their complexity often makes it hard for people to find and access what they need. Interactions with these services should be simple, consistent, and easy to understand—even for those unfamiliar with the system.

The Life Experience team is launching a pilot project to create a model for a more intuitive and accessible government system. The project aims to improve collaboration between state agencies, redesign key touchpoints, and remove unnecessary barriers, making services easier to use.

I joined the team during the early stages of this long-term project. My role was to support research at various stages, apply visual design skills to help the team understand the challenges people face in accessing government services, and emphasize the project’s importance to potential collaborators.

Problem Statement

For constituents who have trouble navigating the complex web of government services, finding an answer to a simple question like,“What do I need to do to complete my teacher certification evaluation?” can be difficult. My challenge was to clearly demonstrate why interacting with the government is challenging for constituents and highlight the value of working together to improve their experience.

Goal

  • Learn how complex processes can make it difficult for constituents to navigate life experiences involving multiple government agencies.

  • Identify a feasible life experience to focus on as a starting point for improvement.

  • Develop a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by government agencies.

Understanding Life Experiences & the Need for Government Collaboration

To illustrate the need for cross-department collaboration to potential partners, I designed graphics and slides showcasing the contrasting approaches of governments and constituents in navigating the pandemic.

I used visuals to show that during the pandemic, constituents had many questions about disease trends, where to get vaccinated, and more. They often didn’t know which government agency was responsible for answering specific questions, and no single agency could address all of them. To help people navigate this difficult time more efficiently, government agencies needed to collaborate behind the scenes, provide answers through multiple channels and resources, and support the public as effectively as possible.

I developed an ecosystem map to help the team better understand the constituents' perspective on life experiences.

Early in the project, the team needed to develop a shared understanding of the complexity of life experiences. For a team familiar with government services, interactions with each department might not seem too complicated. However, when we place an individual, like someone facing eviction, at the center of an ecosystem map, we see that they may need to interact with the court system, mediation services, housing departments, local administration, and more, which is not a straightforward process. This ecosystem map reveals that government departments and programs are scattered around individuals. When these services and departments are not closely connected, constituents must spend significant time figuring out where to seek help, which can negatively affect their perception of government.

How to identify a practical life experience?

The extension of my internship allowed me to participate in the next phase of the project. With a shared understanding of the complexity of life experiences and the importance of collaboration, we needed to select a life experience as a pilot project that would have a meaningful impact on constituents and provide a strong opportunity for success with our partners. To do this, we developed criteria, identified potential candidates, and defined hypotheses to guide the selection of the right pilot life experience.

Using group scoring to analyze the feasibility of different life experiences

To help the Life Experience team select the most feasible life experiences and the best partners for the pilot project, I created ecosystem maps and journey maps for various scenarios and also participated in designing Miro templates for interviews with potential partners. Ultimately, the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) was chosen as the pilot partner because it aligned with our goals, had a significant impact, and operated within a relatively independent and complex system.

Deepen our understanding of the partner

By converting the website's information into structured diagrams, I showed the team the challenges educators face when navigating large amounts of complex information on government websites.

EEC’s mission is to support the healthy growth and development of all children by providing high-quality programs and resources for families and communities. Since the end of the pandemic, the demand for early childhood educators has risen dramatically, prompting EEC to collaborate with the Life Experience team to improve the journey for educators and those entering the education field.

To support this effort, I mapped the educator resources available on the Mass.gov website. The map revealed how the site’s complex structure, outdated content, and multiple application portals make it difficult for educators to find answers on their own. As a result, many educators turn to EEC staff for help, adding significantly to their daily workload.

Through meetings with EEC staff, we learned that the Professional Qualifications Department alone handles nearly a thousand emails per month, covering general inquiries, application tracking, complaints, and more. Although staff recognize recurring issues, limited resources and urgent tasks prevent them from addressing these problems at their source.

What People Are Saying About Becoming an Educator

“The process to upload certification became troublesome. I am still having a hard time making sure files are in the appropriate size and format.”

— Educator 1

“There needs to be a way to still mail in the certification paperwork if the online submission is not going to be successful/easy to be done.”

—Educator 2

Current Progress

I am currently helping analyze emails received by the EEC and feedback from educators on the ServiceNow platform to summarize the specific pain points they face. Meanwhile, other team members are continuously improving the prototype to test the teacher certification process. As my internship comes to an end, my final contribution to the project will conclude here. However, the team will continue moving forward, with the short-term goal of delivering a minimum viable product by early 2025 to help educators address the challenges of the certification process.