User-focused Website Redesign for Improved Accessibility

The Washington Department of Licensing (DOL) website, crucial for services like driver's licenses and ID cards, grappled with a dated website platform and accessibility challenges, resulting in dissatisfaction among its 40 million annual customers. DOL partnered with us, Anthro-Tech, to revolutionize the website, prioritizing customer experience and accessibility.
Our Human-Centered Design (HCD) process engaged 800 customers and 25 DOL experts, facilitating valuable feedback through prototypes, interviews, and usability studies, with 30% of those sessions involving individuals with disabilities. Informed by research-driven user personas, card sorting involving 170+ participants, and tree testing with 375+ participants, we refined the information architecture, successfully reducing the content from over 1,400 pages to a more concise 1,100. The adoption of the U.S. Web Design System ensured a consistent, mobile-friendly interface.
Iterative design and usability studies, with a focus on digital accessibility, catered to the diverse needs of all customers, including testing with modern visual assistive technology devices and an expert accessibility review that identified and resolved 30+ opportunities for improvement before launch. In addition, we implemented organizational change management strategies to ensure stakeholders were brought along for the journey and in support of the HCD process. Furthermore, training and mentoring in HCD were provided to guarantee that website improvement did not stop with the closure of the project. A customer-friendly content management system streamlined updates, contributing to the project's success—within scope, under budget, and launching two weeks ahead of schedule.
Post-launch, the revamped site exhibited a 5% increase in mobile customers and a 9% improvement in content readability. The system's ease-of-use score surged by 21 points, reflecting the positive impact of the transformation. Beyond customer-facing improvements, streamlined business processes and the new content management system enhance DOL's website maintenance, optimizing time and resources.
Our collaborative, human-centered approach not only addressed the website's challenges but also exemplified a successful model for improving essential government services. By prioritizing user experience and accessibility, the DOL website transformation stands as a testament to Anthro-Tech's commitment to delivering effective solutions that positively impact millions of Washington residents.