DOL.gov Forms
Modernization Via Strategic Innovation
The forms page, consistently the top most-accessed page on DOL’s public-facing website, was failing users.
With an exhaustive, endless scrolling, unsearchable list of forms with long, opaque titles, organized by assumption, and buried in random accordions, users struggled to find what they needed and relied on calling the National Call Center for navigation help. The experience excluded those with accessibility needs and those who could only use a mobile device, offered little-to-no multilingual support, provided zero intelligent assistance and no user control or clear wayfinding.
I redesigned the experience from the ground up: introducing AI-powered faceted in-page search, agentic AI assistance, and a scalable content architecture that could finally serve the public effectively.
Project Summary
The Forms page was the most visited on DOL.gov — and one of the most broken.
No search, filtering, or user guidance
Forms grouped by internal logic, not public needs
WCAG/accessibility failures
No multilingual support
High call center volume due to confusion
This made it unnecessarily difficult to access critical resources for unemployment, benefits, wage recovery, and more.
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AI-Enhanced, Accessible, User-Centered Redesign
I prototyped a complete reimagining of the Forms page experience:
AI-Powered Faceted Search
Dynamic filtering by topic, agency, audience, and language.
Real-time results as users refine selections.'
"Smart suggestions" based on related forms and common paths.
Natural language search understanding user intent.
Agentic AI Way-Finding
Conversational AI assistant, to be trained in partnership with the NCC, helping users identify correct forms.
Personalized recommendations based on user scenario.
Multi-step guidance for complex processes (e.g., filing complaints).
Available in multiple languages with culturally appropriate support.
Metadata-Driven Architecture
Every form tagged with rich, searchable metadata.
Taxonomy aligned to user mental models and data-backed insights, not agency structure.
Multilingual content architecture enabling true language parity.
Scalable system supporting future form additions.
WCAG and Section 508-Compliant, Modern UI
USWDS 3.0+, Drupal-10 compliant components, used correctly and accessibly.
Keyboard navigation and screen reader support - High-contrast, readable design The result: A forms page that actually helps people, instead of hindering them.
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Before:
The wrong component with cruicial information revealed to be going unseen by the majority of users, and unnecessary white space within component was pushing page content below fold.
Exhaustive bullet lists with no structure.
Multilingual options buried and invisible.
No in-page search, filter, or sort capability.
Accessibility violations throughout.
After:
Prominent, AI-enhanced search interface.
Clean, scannable, sortable card and table-based layouts.
Dynamic filtering by multiple dimensions.
Agentic AI assistant for additional, personalized guidance.
Full WCAG compliance and multilingual support.
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Deliverables
✓ High-fidelity, interactive prototype with working AI search.
✓ Agentic AI interface demonstrating personalized assistance.
✓ Complete metadata taxonomy and tagging framework.
✓ Technical specifications for development implementation.
✓ Accessibility compliance documentation.
Organizational Impact
✓ Influenced DOL's agency-wide AI integration roadmap.
✓ Sparked discussions about search redesign across all DOL platforms.
✓ Referenced in budget planning for digital transformation initiatives.
✓ Established framework for multilingual content strategy.
✓ Demonstrated potential of AI to improve government service delivery
Stakeholder Response
Prototype received enthusiastic feedback from leadership and technical teams, with particular interest in the agentic AI approach and the potential to reduce operational burden on DOL call centers.
This work represents early-stage strategic innovation via prototypes and scalable frameworks, informing DOL's enterprise-level digital transformation roadmaps and modernization project planning.
Before/After
Strategic Modernization & Innovation in Action
The gallery below highlights some of the most urgent issues and how they were strategically resolved in the prototype
Original layout: Static accordion list with no structure or hierarchy.
Misused component: Critical instructions hidden or skipped by users, no other descriptive content or critically-needed user-support.
Presorted category accordions from original layout. Rendered invisible, and therefore useless, by both placement and design.
Limited multilingual options buried as sub-bullets in dense, crowded content.
New Layout: clean, increased user-control, and using a USWDS 3.0/Drupal 10 compliant page template and UI components.
New UI with correct components, readable user-need focused content, layout fitted to user's mental model, and implementation of context-aware chat trained on NCC knowledge base.
New layout with search and engagement data-based sorting and filtering functionality.
New search UI: Prominent, faceted, AI-supported and mobile-accessible, with increased and visible multi-linguistic support.
Key Takeaways
-> AI supports access.
When grounded in real needs, AI enhances discoverability.
-> Prototypes create momentum.
Functional prototypes aligned teams and decision-makers.
-> Metadata is UX infrastructure.
Structured tagging enables intelligent search, localization, and personalization.
-> Fast doesn’t mean messy.
Public-sector constraints can accelerate clarity and delivery.