Designing for a Regulated, State-Specific Senior Audience
I helped redesign multiple state Medicare experiences at a time when more older adults were relying on digital channels for plan information, eligibility, and enrollment support.
The work required careful attention to readability, navigation, accessibility, content hierarchy, and the differences between state-specific offerings. Usability was especially important because people often arrived while making consequential healthcare decisions, sometimes with limited time, limited digital confidence, or accessibility needs. It also meant working within strict legal and compliance requirements without allowing the experience to become dense or intimidating.
ADA compliance was treated as a core product requirement rather than a final review step. I completed multiple accessibility trainings, and we routinely ran designs through contrast-ratio, readability, and related usability tools to validate hierarchy, legibility, and interaction patterns before handoff. Accessibility reviews continued through implementation so the shipped experience remained aligned with enterprise standards.
The design challenge was to simplify the experience without simplifying the decisions people were being asked to make.
