Voyager
Making the immigration process easier with better UX

Case Study By John Lattanzi - 11/18/2021

Overview

Project Summary:

The goal of this platform is to offer users a better experience when seeking a visa. The process to getting a visa is very long, strenuous, and really important for people to do correctly. So, our client wanted to build a platform to ensure that everyone is kept up to date with the status of their case, what steps are next, and what is required of them. Our client wanted to offer their users more peace of mind, ease, and transparency than other firms could offer. With that, it became a bit complicated because there are many different types of users on this platform with their own levels of visibility and security. There are 3 types of users: the individual seeking a visa, the employer offering a visa, and the law firm helping facilitate this process.

Product: Immigration Platform for Meltzer Hellrung

Tools:

• AdobeXD - Creating wireframes and clickable prototypes working with Material UI to create a unique design library

• Figma - Crafting lower fidelity wireframes and brainstorming activities

• Miro - Brainstorming activities

• Coda - Organizing team’s work into one document and utilizing kanban board feature

My Role:

I was the lead designer for this platform and created designs from the discovery phase through MVP and through Alpha and Beta testing.

Responsibilities:

UX Research

• Facilitated user interviews and created interview scripts

Information Architecture

• Utilized Material Design to establish a unique design library for this platform

• Created site maps for each user type to ensure each group had everything they needed while maintaining privacy for each user

Problem Statement:

The goal was to provide users with a more transparent platform while going through the process of getting a visa, where you feel informed and supported each step of the way. The concept is to apply easy navigation, clear direction, and an understanding of timeline to ensure every user is as informed as possible.

Business Requirements:

The MVP must be something that our client can share with their clients to start transitioning into. There are future updates that will happen, but our MVP needed to ensure a user could get through the process, upload all necessary documents, and communicate with their case team.

Research

Much of the research for this project was done by another member of my team, but what I contributed to the most was with conducting user interviews and with weekly meetings with stakeholders.

Takeaways from those interviews and meetings

• Internal users felt very scattered by how many platforms they were using

  • They had one platform for emails, another for documents, another for forms, and another for organizing them all. So, they wanted to have it all consolidated into one platform

• People seeking visas are very concerned with where they are in the process and their current platform doesn’t keep them updated on their status, so they field many calls about their status and that takes up a lot of time in their day

  • The goal of transparency on this platform will be very useful in order to save everyone time

• A focus on making people feel welcome is very important to the stakeholders

• Many users desired quick snapshots of information so they could view their status and notifications at a glance

I took that information and started creating wireframes and devoted a lot of time to helping build a design library. To build that library, we utilized Material Design and fused them with our client’s marketing materials to ensure their brand was shown throughout this platform.

Ideation

The next step in this process was to start wireframing and coming up with ideas about how to solve our users’ problems. I specifically used Figma for some lo-fi wireframes and then moved them into Adobe XD, where I could include the design library we were building.

Wireframes

There were many features attached to our project, but the main categories were:

• Dashboards (home screen and case dashboard)

• Case Management screens

• Individual profile and client profile screens

• Resource screens

• Messaging capabilities

Visual Design

Design

The color scheme we went with looks like this. We used their brand’s colors to ensure everyone felt:

• Welcomed

• At ease

• Informed

• Trusted

Typography

Moving into Typography, I utilized Material Design and their typography to ensure everything was readable, had the right hierarchy, and was usable for all people.

Specifically, we wanted to make sure that every letter was readable for people where English was not their first language due to how this is an immigration platform; we wanted to cater to all people with this platform.

Moving forward with this information, we took steps into creating a full clickable prototype.

Mockups

Once the prototype was finalized, I worked hand in hand with the engineers and product owners to ensure a smooth launch. Here were a few quick mockups we made for the app store and as a proof of concept to see how it would look in the hands of users.

Success?

This product offers a lot of comfort to users who are at a very stressful time in their life. From the reaction the users have had to this so far, the time we’ve saved, and the overall feeling our clients have, I would mark this as a success. Sure, there’s more to do and improvements that will happen; however, this first step in the process worked very well and users gravitated towards it easily.

Conclusions and Future Recommendations

There is a lot more that can be done with this product and some features that were released right after Alpha and Beta testing:

• Adding a more succinct version of how to get through the case management section of this platform (using tasks, calendars, etc.)

• Adding an internal messaging feature rather than relying on comments left on cases

• Having a specific build for mobile devices

I am very excited to see where this product goes next. This offers users at a very difficult time in their life a feeling of control, comfort, and stability. I am very proud of this product and I feel like we made something really valuable as a team.

Personal Findings

For this project specifically, I learned so much. It was really interesting focusing on building a design library utilizing Material Design and I had an excellent team helping me. This was my first project that I saw the full lifecycle of a product and I am so grateful that I had such a wonderful team at Vokal that is so focused on my personal and professional development. They provided excellent mentorship, advice, and more; I am truly grateful that they taught me so much through this process and I’m excited to see what’s next!