Designing for Service: A Mobile-First Veteran Benefits Calculator
Simplifying the path to government benefits by bridging the gap between complex legal algorithms and human-centered design.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Industry
Healthcare Service
Scope
A high-impact, standalone tool designed
In December 2022, I was tasked directly by senior stakeholders with building a calculator to help veterans navigate the often confusing world of government benefits.
The Team: A high-ranking stakeholder, Head of Product, PM, myself as senior product designer, and a dedicated dev team.
The Mission: Take a complex calculation algorithm and turn it into an accessible, digital tool.
The Scope: Full end-to-end product design, from the first "How does this math work?" conversation to the MVP launch and session tracking.
The Challenge
Initially, the request was for a "simple calculator." However, the systemic challenge was deeper: The veteran benefits landscape is a high-friction environment characterized by dense medical jargon and cognitive overload. The lack of an intuitive digital interface for these complex algorithms meant that veterans were either abandoning the process or flooding the support team with manual inquiries. The system needed to bridge the gap between government complexity and user-centric simplicity while scaling across devices.
Strategy: Mobile-First & Multi-Step Flow
Diagnosis: Discovered that a "one-page" tool would fail as the scope grew. The density of data required a multi-step mental model to prevent user fatigue.
Proposal: Pivot from a "simple tool" to a structured, multi-step flow that functions as a guided service.
Cross-functional Alignment: Navigated the shift from a static calculation to an interactive report-generation tool. I aligned stakeholders on the move away from "Chat UI," proving it would increase time-to-completion and potentially spike bounce rates by 20-30% due to the sheer volume of data inputs.
Trade-offs: We prioritized Mobile-First constraints (designing for the lowest common resolution) over desktop aesthetics to ensure 65% of our primary traffic had a seamless experience.
System Work: Building the Flow
Instead of focusing on individual screens, I designed a modular interaction framework:
Information Architecture: Transitioned from a two-column desktop-centric layout to a vertical, linear progression.
Component Strategy: Built a library of "Smart Inputs" that handled medical terminology and video hints natively, ensuring the UI remained clean despite the heavy data requirements.
Flow Logic: Implemented a branched logic system where user inputs dictated the subsequent questions, reducing irrelevant fields and shortening the "Time to Value."
Design System Integration: I translated our concepts into hi-fi screens using our existing design system, ensuring that the new "Progress" and "Summary" components felt like they belonged to the brand.
Delivery & Collaboration
I didn't want us to build on guesswork. We used Maze to run mission-based tests on the prototype.
What we tracked: We looked at exactly where people abandoned the session and how long they spent on each screen.
The Human Touch: Open-ended questions in the tests helped us find the "pain points" where our language was still too formal.
The Handoff: Once we delivered the designs, we didn't just "finish." We connected the MVP to session-recording tool (Sentry) so we could watch how veterans interacted with the tool in real-time.
Testing the MVP
After delivering Hi-Fi designs based on our internal design system, we launched an MVP. However, my work didn't stop at handoff.
The 1,500 Recording Audit: We connected session-tracking tools to the MVP. I personally analyzed over 1,500 recordings, grouping conclusions by priority to create a comprehensive User Journey Map.
Rapid Iteration: We found a critical drop-off point where the bounce rate hit 71%.
Outcomes & Impact
By focusing on the stages that frustrated users most, we implemented systemic improvements that directly impacted the bottom line:
Bounce Rate Reduction: By adding automatic change-saving, improved question logic, and "blocker" explanations (why a user couldn't proceed), we dropped the bounce rate from 71% to 49%.
User Experience: Transitioned from a formal, intimidating medical tool to an accessible service that veterans felt comfortable using on their phones.
Continuous Growth: The project established a permanent feedback loop where session recordings continue to inform our prioritization for future updates.
What I learned
Design for the Extremes: Starting with the lowest possible mobile resolution ensured the tool was robust for everyone.
Data Silences Opinions: Analyzing 1,500 recordings allowed us to stop "guessing" what users wanted and start "solving" what they needed.
The System is Never "Done": The jump from Concept 1 to the current iteration taught me that a product must be built to absorb growth. By using a modular multi-step system, we could add new features without breaking the core experience.
1500+
analyzed user session recordings
49%
to this we dropped the bounce rate
2
applications used for user testing
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