Digital GI Bill (DGIB)

The Digital GI Bill (DGIB) is a Veteran Affairs (VA) initiative to modernize the processing and delivery of education benefits to veterans and their families.

I was involved in this project as a design analyst and interaction designer from July 2022 to October 2023. My duties included:

Project and sprint planning, and translating design requirements
Designing lo-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes and presenting the work to stakeholders.
Collaborating with Developers
Conducting user research with prototype walkthroughs, surveys, and prompted scripts.

Deliverables

01 Collection: Search Criteria

The DGIB search tool allows users to find education providers based on specific criteria.

Project Context

The existing search criteria panel was cluttered and confusing. Users struggled to apply search filters effectively due to unclear labeling, poor grouping, and a lack of guidance. The overwhelming interface often resulted in errors or incomplete searches.

As I worked on this redesign, I collaborated cross-functionally to improve clarity and usability while preserving the tool’s logic of a simple and advanced search.

Design Solution

The search experience was improved by:

Introducing context to explain each filter’s purpose
Using progressive disclosure to reduce visual overload
Grouped related filters for better legibility

Key Takeaways

Progressive disclosure is powerful for simplifying complex tools

Guidance for a tool can live on the same page as the tool
Even small layout and labeling changes can have a big impact on usability

02 Collection: School Certifying Official (SCO) and Plans of Care (POC) Tab

The SCO/POC tab in the Digital GI Bill Approval Manager feature manages School Certifying Officials’ access and certifications, and tracks veterans’ education Plans of Care for compliance and benefit processing.

Context

Users on the DGIB platform needed a clearer, more efficient way to manage SCO and POC. The existing interface was cluttered and confusing, making it difficult to add, edit, and confirm records.

This led to user errors and uncertainty about whether changes were saved correctly. The redesign of this interface calls for better usability and accessbilty compliance.

Impact and Solutions

By introducing the following changes, the redesign resulted in a smoother, more intuitive experience with fewer errors and increased user satisfaction.