1. Communication
• Users are often unaware when a message is waiting for them in their accounts
• The DOL is inconsistent in the modes of communication it uses
• The DOL’s contact information is difficult to find
• Users can not get through to a live person when they call the phone number listed
• Users do not know if their e-mails have been received or tasks have been completed

2. Functionality/Navigation
• Users are concerned that the site is not accessible for non-native English speakers or those inexperienced with technology
• Users called the tabs in the menu useless, inefficient, redundant, meaningless, complicated, and unclear and complained the tabs require multiple unnecessary clicks
• Red text, meant to draw users’ attention, is difficult to read
• Quick Links are not actually any faster than the main menu
• Users want Calls to Action (CTAs) such as “Certify Claim”

3. User Interface (UI)
• Looks “cluttered,” “clunky,” and “confusing
• Needs more images to balance out text
• Highly contrasting colors are difficult to look at
• “If it was too much in the other direction, I would wonder if I’m on the right site.”

4. Terminology/Content
• The website uses government jargon and other vocabulary that users are not familiar with
• Instructions should be listed in steps or bullets
• “Just the way it’s organized with so many words — It’s kind of like walking into a business with so many signs everywhere. No one is going to read them.”
• Red text draws the user’s attention but is difficult to read

• Length of waiting period for a claim to be approved - Users recalled their claims taking one to three weeks to be approved and thought that was a reasonable amount of time.

• Amount of time it takes to fill out a weekly certification - Most users reported spending under five minutes each week filling out their weekly certifications.

• Requirement to perform job search-related activities - Users thought it was reasonable for the state to require users to perform job-search related activities and that the activities themselves were achievable.

• Concerns about Covid-19 keeping users from working

Ultimately, form follows function on a website responsible for providing income to the unemployed. I chose to include a UI redesign of ReEmployME in my scope but prioritized UX and functionality over the UI. That is not to say one user’s needs are more important than the other’s, but I chose to continually check in with my research during the design process to make sure that all visual design decisions were in fact based on research and added to the functionality of the site instead of detracting from it.

1. Even though there was a tab “Weekly Certification,” many testers first chose the “Unemployment claim” tab next to it. After initial confusion, testers were able to file a weekly certification successfully.

2. Would you think your claim history could be found under “Inquiry”? Neither did the testers. 100% of testers gave up or asked for help.

3. Testers quickly saw the weekly certification status window on the home page. Finding more information on their account, however, was trickier. Testers knew they could find their claim history under “Inquiry,” but they did not realize an explanation of issues could be found by following a link at the bottom of the page called “Unemployment Verification.”

4. Some found the “Correspondences” tab right away, while others were unfamiliar with the term. The term “messages” was suggested instead. One user from Maine had noted that she often goes weeks or months without knowing she has a message from the DOL, because she forgets to check this tab. She requested a notification that a message is waiting.

5. Testers could not find contact information for the DOL on the site because it is not there. The email button in the footer gave users the option to sign up for email updates from the DOL, but it did not allow users to send emails to the DOL. To find contact information, the user had to leave the site, and even then, there was not a central page containing options of how to contact the DOL.

1. The “File Weekly Certification” CTA under Quick Links made the first task easy to complete. When using the main menu, testers chose either “My Claim” or “My Profile.”

2. Testers quickly found their claim history under “My Claim” in the main menu.

3. “Claim Status” in the Quick Links brought testers to the weekly claim status. They could also find their claim status under “My Claim.”

4. Users could easily see where to find messages from the DOL in the “Messages” tab in the main menu.

5. A “Contact Us” page under the “Help” tab will provide a thorough list of contact information for the DOL

• Creating the tabs “Help” and “My Profile” reduced the number of tabs from 9 to 5.

• Announcements remained on the left side of the screen, as they contain important information for users to read. However, the text changed to black in order to make it easier to readn, and the heading staid red to draw attention.

• A new resources section provided links to external sites found on maine.gov. Users said that these would be helpful but did not know that they already exist or did not know where to find them. Now, they are all in one place in order to make the experience of being unemployed as seamless as possible.

• The UI design was a bit of a process. I wanted to include a picture of Maine as well as the colors blue and green because of my research, but my first draft lacked green and fell flat.

• In the previous round of testing, one tester felt the main menu was simple enough that five quick links were not necessary. Because of this, I removed Quick Links and kept only the two most important CTA’s.

• “Report Fraud” and “File Appeal” were moved from the “My Account” tab to the “Help” tab, which helped to raise the navigation rating up to 4.5.

1. “File Weekly Certification” was now found in both a dark green CTA and under “My Claim" in the main menu.

2. Users expressed that initial confusion surrounding navigation was easily resolved and that the site is easily learnable. Still, some confusion remained around the terms “My Claim” versus “My Profile.” Users were split between whether or not to change “Profile” to “Account.” I would like to continue testing in this area.

3. A “Claim Status” page, found under “My Claim,” provided testers not only their claim’s weekly status but also comprehensive information about the account, including information on any issues.

4. In this iteration, “Messages” was moved from the main menu up to the top right corner of the screen near “Log Out” and “Home, per testers’ requests. If a new message was waiting to be read, the user was notified by a red alert icon. Now there were only 4 tabs in the main menu.

5. Though it was not built out yet, testers went straight to “Help” to find the DOL’s contact information.

• The final design included dark green CTA’s and a lighter green bar under the main menu. These, along with two shades of more saturated blue helped the new design pop.

• The new design scored either 4.5 or 5 out of 5 in all four categories, a big improvement over the current state.

I am excited by the improvements that my redesign brought to ReEmployME, but there is so much more to be done. Much of this work requires buy-in from the DOL, which I will continue to seek out. With their help, I would proceed with the following recommendations:

1. Continue testing the best terminology for the user’s account, whether that be “Account”, “Profile”, or something else.
2. Re-write weekly certification questions - I do not currently have access to all of the questions in the various weekly forms. I would also need to deepen my familiarity with the questions themselves and what they are trying to convey.
3. Add new user onboarding - A step-by-step tutorial could help new users through the stress of setting up a new account.
4. Continue to organize footer - Many of the links in the current footer do not work, and many just don’t belong. They add clutter to a site that needs the space for more valuable resources that it currently lacks. I would like to get input from the DOL on what is needed here.
5. Design new green and blue logo - Because ReEmployME is part of a larger ReEmployUSA, I held off on this for now.
6. Address Employer Services — As a claimant, I only had access to Claimant Services. If this redesign is well received, I would be thrilled to extend the design to Employer Services in the future.