Capstone: Green Card application portal design

Transforming the immigration process with a user-friendly Green Card application portal designed to enhance clarity accessibility and applicant confidence

Role

UX/UI Designer

Industry

Government

Duration

Project Goal

Redesign the USCIS Green Card application portal to make the process easier to navigate, more trustworthy, and accessible—especially for users applying without legal assistance. Our team followed the Goal-Directed Design (GDD) methodology throughout the semester.

Research & Discovery

We began by understanding the users, the system, and the root causes of user frustration.

User Interviews & Surveys – We conducted interviews with real applicants and collected broader survey responses to understand pain points.
Heuristic Evaluation – We examined the existing portal using Nielsen’s usability heuristics.
Comparative Analysis – We looked at other government platforms like healthcare.gov, DMV sites, and international immigration portals.
Affinity Mapping – Our team synthesized all insights into clusters of user needs, fears, and frustrations.

Key Insights:

Users felt overwhelmed by legal language and unclear instructions
No progress tracking increased uncertainty
Layout and design lacked visual clarity or trustworthiness
Mobile usability was poor
Users often felt they needed outside help to complete their applications

Project Goal

Research & Discovery

We began by understanding the users, the system, and the root causes of user frustration.

User Interviews & Surveys – We conducted interviews with real applicants and collected broader survey responses to understand pain points.
Heuristic Evaluation – We examined the existing portal using Nielsen’s usability heuristics.
Comparative Analysis – We looked at other government platforms like healthcare.gov, DMV sites, and international immigration portals.
Affinity Mapping – Our team synthesized all insights into clusters of user needs, fears, and frustrations.

Key Insights:

Users felt overwhelmed by legal language and unclear instructions
No progress tracking increased uncertainty
Layout and design lacked visual clarity or trustworthiness
Mobile usability was poor
Users often felt they needed outside help to complete their applications

Modeling & Persona Development

From our research, we created:

Three detailed personas representing first-time applicants, returning applicants, and family sponsors
Empathy maps and user goal documents
A user scenario map to capture emotional and functional needs throughout the application journey

This kept our design decisions grounded in real user goals, not assumptions.

Requirements Gathering

We aligned on:

Experience Goals: Confidence, clarity, and accessibility
Functional Priorities:
- Step-by-step flow with clear milestones
- In-line guidance and tooltips
- Document upload previews
- Mobile accessibility
- Resource hub and glossary
Technical Constraints: We scoped features based on realistic government implementation standards

🧪 Wireframing & Low-Fidelity Design

Collaboration was key.

We worked together in Miro to plan our entire workflow using sticky notes, frameworks, and modeling templates. Once aligned, we:

Sketched low-fidelity wireframes for key user tasks
Collaborated in real-time to test layout and content hierarchy
Created detailed validation scenarios for each screen
Mapped task flows and refined them based on team critique

This phase allowed us to test and iterate rapidly before moving to high-fidelity.

Component Design & Prototyping

Once the structure was finalized, we moved into Figma for:

Component building for consistency and scalability
- Buttons, input fields, status indicators, tooltip modules, progress bar system, etc.
Designed using WCAG-compliant color schemes
Developed an intuitive navigation system with collapsible sections and progress tracking
Built a full interactive prototype, including hover/active states and error prevention cues

We designed with a modular structure to allow scalability for real government use.

Usability Testing

We ran usability tests with real users who matched our personas. Based on their feedback, we:

Clarified language in tooltips
Improved the visibility of help resources
Reorganized certain form sequences
Added reinforcement for completed sections (visual checkmarks)

Outcome

We showcased the final product at Kennesaw State University’s TCID Senior Showcase, receiving strong praise for clarity, care, and empathy in our design.

Component Design & Prototyping

Once the structure was finalized, we moved into Figma for:

Component building for consistency and scalability
- Buttons, input fields, status indicators, tooltip modules, progress bar system, etc.
Designed using WCAG-compliant color schemes
Developed an intuitive navigation system with collapsible sections and progress tracking
Built a full interactive prototype, including hover/active states and error prevention cues

We designed with a modular structure to allow scalability for real government use.

Usability Testing

We ran usability tests with real users who matched our personas. Based on their feedback, we:

Clarified language in tooltips
Improved the visibility of help resources
Reorganized certain form sequences
Added reinforcement for completed sections (visual checkmarks)

Outcome

We showcased the final product at Kennesaw State University’s TCID Senior Showcase, receiving strong praise for clarity, care, and empathy in our design.

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