Case Study - Large-scale web overhaul on a tight timeline

Overview

OPM.gov is the primary public-facing website for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, responsible for disseminating critical information to millions of federal employees, retirees, and agencies. With 40M users a year and a wide-ranging audience base, the site required a full modernization to align with updated brand standards and meet modern accessibility, usability, and maintainability benchmarks.

I led the UI/UX strategy and implementation for this high-visibility project, overseeing a comprehensive redesign and content refactor under an aggressive four-month timeline.

My Roles

Goals

• Align the site with updated OPM brand standards
• Refactor legacy templates and content into the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS)
• Improve editing and content management flexibility
• Enhance accessibility and searchability of core information
• Reduce support volume by empowering both editors and site users

Strategy & Execution

Full-Site Redesign & Refactor

We audited and modernized more than 10,000 legacy pages, refactoring them with USWDS. The result was a consistent, accessible, and responsive experience across the site.

• Visual and structural overhaul based on updated OPM branding
• Integrated USWDS v3 components across all templates and content types
• Performed extensive content QA and accessibility testing at scale using automated and manual methods
• Headlesss / client-rendered navigation, reducing server load

Custom CMS + Site Building Tools

To empower content owners and reduce developer bottlenecks, I extended the CMS with custom reusable design patterns and flexible layouts.

• Enabled editors to easily create interactive, accessible pages
• Developed CMS tools to enable content owners to convert dense PDFs into richly featured, indexable web pages, making information easier to find and navigate
• Built granular, role-based workflow tools tailored to specific program office needs
• Created a comprehensive training site, style guide, and help center for editors, significantly reducing CMS-related support tickets

Retirement Support Center

We launched a Retirement Services Support Center to increase retiree self-service and reduce support burdens:

• Conducted user studies to validate contact preferences and improve discoverability of key information
• Delivered plain-language answers to common retirement questions in an accessible, centralized format
• Offered multiple contact methods while guiding users toward a smart contact form, leading to reduced call center volumes
• Designed the form to require and validate claim numbers before proceeeding, significantly decreasing unactionable inquiries

Results & Impact

• Delivered a full-site refresh and refactor in just 4 months
• Increased CMS adoption and usage by non-technical staff
• Boosted access to high-value content through searchable, interactive pages
• Met federal accessibility standards across thousands of updated pages
• Reduced support requests via self-service options

Analytics showed substantial year-over-year increases in key metrics, including search engine referrals, device usage, engagement and users, validating the goals of the project.