Case Study - From 200+ pages to one quick search
The first fully digital, public-facing version of federal policy and supporting positions — find what you need in seconds.
- Project
- Plum Reporting
- Year
- Service
- UX, Web development, CMS
Plum Reporting: A Public Tool for Public Data
The Plum Book is a comprehensive listing of policy and supporting positions within the federal executive branch. Traditionally published as a paperback (and static PDF), our goal was to transform it into a fully digital, searchable experience, making this critical data available to the public in a fast, intuitive format.
- Average engagment time
- 2m 30s
- Views/month
- 40k
- Users/month
- 13k
- Events/month
- 100k
My Roles
- UX Strategy
- User Research
- Prototyping
- Frontend (Knockout.js)
- Optimization
- Custom CMS
- Accessibility
- SASS
User Research & Insights
We conducted usability studies with the general public, federal agency users, and White House users. Through this research, we identified key user goals:
- Find a specific position, agency, or vacancy quickly
- Understand the scope of political appointments
- Compare roles across agencies or terms
Card Sort Study
Key findings, concepts and quotes from user studies were sorted into categories. After analyzing the results, consistent patterns and themes emerged. These insights directly shaped the interaction model, helping us prioritize speed and responsiveness over multi-step alternatives.
Design & Prototyping
I led the interaction design and prototyping, using iterative design cycles and usability testing to refine the experience:
- Built interactive prototypes to test filtering logic and layout clarity
- Tested with real users to validate assumptions about how filters should behave
- Iterated on field labeling and data groupings to support discoverability
One feature validated by users was the interdependent filtering system: when users make a selection, it immediately triggers relevant updates in other fields (e.g., selecting a position updates available agencies). This auto-execution model removed the need for traditional "submit" buttons.
Implementation
I worked closely with the lead developer to ensure the interface and backend worked in tandem:
- Optimized API calls to reduce payload size and prevent redundant data
- Created a just-in-time data strategy, so only the data a user requests is fetched and rendered
- Reduced load times significantly, improving responsiveness across the entire experience
This technical collaboration was essential for making the tool feel light, fast, and modern, even when interacting with thousands of records.
Results & Impact
I’m not meaning to geek out, but this site is really cool. It's going to save me a lot of time and effort.
- First fully public-facing, digital Plum Book
- Instant search and filtering across roles, agencies, archival data, and related options
- Dramatically reduced load times and improved UX
- Scalable filtering system for future data integrations
Analytics continue to show high engagement and usage, confirming the product meets real user needs.
