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AboutThe Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) aims to improve the health and nutrition of vulnerable populations by providing nutrition education, healthy foods, breastfeeding support, and healthcare referrals to low-income pregnant women, postpartum women, and children under the age of five.
Agency partnersUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA)↳ Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)↳ Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
See it liveWIC Online Application Toolkit
Agency partnersUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA)↳ Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)↳ Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
See it liveWIC Online Application Toolkit
Problem
In 2023, an estimated 11.8 million children and their caregivers were eligible for WIC. In an average month, around 5.2 million of WIC-eligible individuals weren’t participating. 1
WIC’s federal office partnered with 18F for help advising their state agencies on how they might increase participation by making improvements to the application process so families can get the food, formula, and support that they need.
Solution
At the end of our engagement, we delivered a comprehensive, thoroughly tested application template that local agencies can easily adapt and implement. It struck a balance between what applicants and staff need in the long run and what the WIC federal office could reasonably implement right now.
Our model application lets local offices:
Use our user-tested language to reword or cut unnecessary questions from their current form.
Give clear direction to their vendors on how to start from scratch or improve their current form, without WIC staff needing a technical background themselves.
Borrow the same U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) components we used to improve their form’s accessibility.
Reference how-to articles to use as instructions in making changes to their current forms.
Role
As Senior Product Designer, my goal was to shape a content-driven solution that prioritized needs across very different stakeholders and users, including WIC applicants, the federal office team, and frontline WIC staff, as well as local program directors and vendors who maintain their software. The core team included a product manager and engineer, along with an evolving team of designers with broad skill sets across product, service, UX, and content. In my product design role I:
Created prototypes, user flows, and final UI of the model application in English and Spanish based on research findings.
Facilitated multiple rounds of research and usability testing sessions with WIC applicants and staff. Took turns running point on research protocols, synthesis, and note-taking.
Contributed to a how-to article on asking sensitive questions that served as an accompanying reference to the template for local staff making changes to their current application.
Co-designed content and layout with 18F designers and WIC teams at the federal and state level.
Prioritized needs across very different stakeholders and users, including WIC applicants, the federal office team, and frontline WIC staff, as well as local program directors and vendors who maintain WIC software.
Collaborated with an engineer to turn the clickable Figma prototypes into a coded prototype that would integrate with our partner’s CMS.
Project Details
Requirements and regulations
The goal was to allow the state agency to check the applicant's eligibility without asking more questions than clinic staff need. However, WIC agencies are mandated to provide voter registration as part of their services. U.S. citizenship is not required to qualify for WIC but you must be a U.S. citizen to vote in federal, state, and most local elections.
During usability testing, some participants felt this section felt unexpected. I worked with content designers who turned wordy text into plain language instructions, then I worked on content hierarchy.
Collaborative designing across teams
Screenshot of Figma screen with a high-fidelity prototype shown to users along with a research finding and open questions.
Design handoff
I worked with a developer to handoff the design files. We used a bit of annotating in Figma, remote Designer-Developer pairing blocks, and annotations in GitHub tickets to show areas where UI components used in Figma differed from the components from the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS).
Screenshot debugging the model application toolkit with DevTools.
Final design
Takeaways
The WIC staff we spoke with knew their forms were hard to fill out. They wanted to improve them, but lacked the capacity needed to research and build digital products. Bringing the expertise of WIC staff with user-centered design is the first step in a long process of modernizing government services.
Conventionally, the shorter the form, the better. In this case, we learned that users wanted a form to collect more information about them, not less.
Working with designers with overlapping skills was great for moving quickly with research and ideation. Keeping roles and responsibilities clear and workflows aligned was crucial, especially in a remote, distributed team.
If you are eligible or participating in programs like SNAP, Medicaid, or TANF, you are “adjunctively eligible” for WIC. Spread the word and let your community know.
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