Problem: Michigan's child support system was experienced by low-income families as opaque, adversarial, and disconnected from their actual circumstances — because it had been designed around legal and administrative processes rather than the needs of the parents and children it was meant to support.
Role: As lead service designer, I conducted discovery research with parents, caseworkers, and system administrators, produced journey maps documenting the family's experience across touchpoints, and developed a UX Discovery Report with ecosystem analysis and prioritized design opportunity areas for a more family-centered service model.
Impact: The report identified high-leverage, low-cost design interventions — particularly in language, framing, and communication sequencing — that have the potential to meaningfully improve family engagement with a system that affects the financial stability of hundreds of thousands of children.
Problem: Michigan's child support system was experienced by low-income families as opaque, adversarial, and disconnected from their actual circumstances — because it had been designed around legal and administrative processes rather than the needs of the parents and children it was meant to support.
Role: As lead service designer, I conducted discovery research with parents, caseworkers, and system administrators, produced journey maps documenting the family's experience across touchpoints, and developed a UX Discovery Report with ecosystem analysis and prioritized design opportunity areas for a more family-centered service model.
Impact: The report identified high-leverage, low-cost design interventions — particularly in language, framing, and communication sequencing — that have the potential to meaningfully improve family engagement with a system that affects the financial stability of hundreds of thousands of children.