Tucker WilliamsUX & Product Design Leader
All work
Public sector · Commonwealth of Pennsylvania2023–2024

PA.gov

Sixty-two state sites now share one structure and one search. Agencies could have opted out, and all but a handful didn't.

Owned the UX architecture and led four designers, working directly with the governor’s digital team.Associate Creative Director, Experience · Publicis Sapient

0:00 / 2:51
A three-minute walkthrough in my own words.

Problem

Pennsylvania's services were spread across 62 sites run by 43 agencies. Residents had to know which agency owned their task before they could find it, which was the opposite of the governor's "No wrong door" commitment.

Approach

We worked with each agency to reorganize its site around how residents look for content, not how the agency is set up. Folders gave way to tags, so every page carries its agency, topic, and life events, and search can filter the way residents think.

The hard call

Early on, we planned to build the experience around life events, but no one on the client side would own that content. So we kept the recommendations simpler and put the effort into examples and guidance agencies could follow on their own.

The work

Journey map for a first-time applicant in distress: the full five-stage journey in miniature, beside a close-up of stage one, Shock and Discovery, where the resident searches online, asks friends, and stumbles on unscrupulous websites. Emotions sit on the left and opportunities, led by enhanced search, on the right.
01

Starting from the research

We mapped the journeys of two kinds of benefits users. A first-time applicant often arrives after a financial shock, searches, and gets lost in complex terms and unreliable sites.

Conceptual site map in three columns: services first, with a service list, service finder, and service detail pages; an agency directory and a standard agency landing page with seven sections; and utilities and policies.
02

Services first, one template per agency

A simplified site map. Services are the main way in, with content supplied by agencies, and every agency gets the same landing page with the same seven sections.

PA.gov Find Services page with the life-event filters Finding a Job and Navigating Unemployment applied, showing 74 results from several agencies.
03

Search that starts from the resident

Life-event filters sit beside agency and service type. Someone who just lost a job sees services from every agency at once.

Search results on PA.gov, each tagged with its agency, topics, and life events such as Finding a Job and Adopting a Child.
04

Tags instead of folders

Each service carries tags for its agency, topic, and life events, so one page shows up wherever a resident might look for it.

The full PA.gov service page for unemployment compensation in miniature, beside a close-up of its top: a short description, File a claim and Reopen a claim buttons, an On this page guide, and a list of additional resources.
05

One pattern for every service

Service pages open with what the service is and how to start, then an on-page guide to eligibility, filing, and next steps.

The same service page further down, with a close-up of the File a claim section: three cards for Apply Online, Apply by Phone, and Apply by Videophone, followed by what happens after you apply.
06

Clear ways to act

The options to apply sit side by side: online, by phone, or by videophone for people who use sign language.

Outcome

  • PA.gov launched in phases on this architecture, completing in January 2025.
  • The accessibility audit score rose from 37% to 95%.
  • The site had about 9 million visits in December 2024.
  • The tagging and filters are still part of the live search.

Outcome figures are for the full program.

My role

I owned the UX architecture, led four designers, and set direction for the visual design lead, working directly with the governor's digital team. I ran the agency workshops and set the content strategy behind search.