GeorgiaBEST

Streamlining state procurement with two-click supplier searches and real-time contract dashboards.

My Role

Lead Designer
UI/UX Designer
Front‑End Developer
Project Manager
Product Designer

Challenge

Lead the redesign of GeorgiaBEST’s statewide procurement portal: restructure navigation to support two-click supplier searches, build interactive contract-award dashboards, and migrate legacy .NET reports into a modern data-visualization layer. We aimed to accelerate RFQ cycles and broaden supplier participation.

Key Metrics

RFQ turnaround time ↓ 60%
Registered suppliers ↑ 50%
Bid-submission volume ↑ 85%
Dashboard-engagement rate ↑ 70%
Portal-load speed improvement ↑ 40%

Responsibilities & Resolutions

As the sole Designer and Developer on a large cross-functional team, I led the complete redesign and redevelopment of the Georgia Department of Labor’s GeorgiaBEST website. I was tasked with completing a project that was 3 years behind and bringing it to life for the commissioner, implementing a fully responsive, user-centered design that adhered to modern web standards and enhanced both performance and accessibility.

My responsibilities included overseeing the project from initial discovery through launch. I collaborated directly with stakeholders to gather content, conduct user interviews, and analyze historical site analytics to identify high-traffic pages and optimize user flows. I created wireframes, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups, enabling the client to test early and often, ensuring an iterative and agile design process.

Issues at hand to be resolved:

Established and integrated targeted SEO strategies to strengthen the site’s search visibility.
Ensured full 508 compliance to meet accessibility requirements for all users. Developed intuitive, shallow navigation pathways to reduce user friction—prioritizing one-to-two click journeys to content.
Researched eCommerce best practices to design a clear and conversion-friendly product layout.
Significantly improved the site’s overall visual identity and UI consistency, incorporating a refreshed branding system aligned with the Department’s goals.

Brand workshop & wireframe sketches

Research, Planning & Design

In the initial Research, Planning, and Design phase of the GeorgiaBEST website rebrand, I led a comprehensive strategy to align user experience goals with stakeholder objectives. Serving as the sole designer and project manager, I was responsible for setting the foundation for a user-focused, performance-driven platform that replaced the outdated legacy site.

My process began with close collaboration and transparent communication with executive stakeholders. Weekly meetings were held to identify and address key pain points of the legacy website and define a roadmap for transformation. These conversations informed both technical and design decisions, ensuring all business needs and user expectations were addressed.

Key Contributions during this phase included:

Conducted a full audit of the legacy site’s navigation structure, user behavior patterns, and content hierarchy to pinpoint usability issues and performance gaps.
Led SEO research to define high-impact keywords, optimize metadata, and implement on-page strategies that would boost the site's visibility and ranking across major search engines.
Analyzed user engagement data to understand drop-off points and navigational inefficiencies, enabling the creation of a more intuitive and streamlined site structure.
Researched eCommerce and digital product display best practices to inform a clear, modern product layout design that enhanced usability and visual clarity.
Designed high-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototypes focused on improving user journey flow, reducing cognitive load, and minimizing click depth for key actions.
Worked directly with stakeholders to validate each design phase and adjust development priorities as needed, ensuring timely delivery and alignment with business goals.

Through this collaborative and data-informed approach, I laid the groundwork for a successful website relaunch that significantly improved SEO, accessibility, brand identity, and overall user experience.

Navigation Through the Eyes of the User

As the sole Designer and Project Manager overseeing the GeorgiaBEST website redesign, I conducted extensive user research, usability testing, and behavioral analysis to better understand how users engaged with the legacy platform. Through this process, it became evident that the existing site architecture hindered discoverability and accessibility—users were struggling to locate key content efficiently, and critical documents (such as downloadable PDFs) were often overlooked or ignored entirely.

In addition, the legacy menu system lacked clarity and did not support users with accessibility needs, violating several core principles of inclusive design. These issues directly impacted user satisfaction and the overall effectiveness of the site in achieving its informational goals.

Key Solutions Implemented:

Developed a comprehensive site flowchart and information architecture model to restructure content in a more logical and user-centric way.

Designed and implemented a streamlined navigation system that adhered to Section 508 compliance standards, improving accessibility for users with disabilities.
Improved visibility and prioritization of high-value content, ensuring important links and documents were more prominent and easier to locate.
Introduced breadcrumb navigation to support user orientation and provide quick return paths within the site.
Ensured all internal links opened within the same window to improve back-button functionality and maintain consistent user context.
Conducted iterative testing on the new navigation model to validate improved usability and accessibility outcomes.

By approaching the redesign through the lens of the end user, I significantly enhanced the site's navigation structure, reduced friction, and helped ensure that both casual users and stakeholders could access key content with ease and clarity.

Graphic of site construction and user navigation — User flow & sitemap diagram

Illustration of roadblocks and solutions — Overcoming stakeholder and budget hurdles

Challenges & Hurdles

The redesign and redevelopment of the GeorgiaBEST website was not only a technical and creative undertaking but also a complex project fraught with organizational and operational challenges. As the sole Designer and Project Manager, I navigated numerous obstacles while maintaining momentum and delivering a fully functional, modern, and accessible platform.

From the outset, the project faced significant hurdles—including limited funding, political tension among internal stakeholders, and a lack of centralized content—which contributed to previous delays and a lack of progress over a span of three years.

Key Challenges Faced:

Budget Constraints: Tight financial parameters restricted access to advanced tools, licensed assets, and third-party integrations, requiring resourceful solutions and careful prioritization.
Content Scarcity: Incomplete or outdated content from previous teams delayed wireframing and development milestones, requiring me to lead a structured content-gathering initiative from scratch.
Stakeholder Misalignment: Interdepartmental resistance and political friction created delays in approvals and disrupted project cohesion. I facilitated ongoing communication to align priorities, defuse conflict, and ensure stakeholder engagement.
Communication Gaps: Disjointed communication between involved parties slowed decision-making. To counter this, I implemented weekly progress check-ins, maintained detailed documentation, and ensured transparency throughout every project phase.

Despite these hurdles, I remained committed to the vision of delivering a user-first, standards-compliant digital product. Through persistence, strategic planning, and open dialogue, I successfully led the project across the finish line—resulting in a fully responsive, accessible, and search-optimized website that now better serves both the agency and its users.

Testing & Quality Assurance

To ensure a seamless, stable, and accessible user experience across all platforms, I led a comprehensive testing and troubleshooting phase as part of the GeorgiaBEST website redesign. Our testing strategy was structured around real-world user behaviors and device diversity, with a focus on uncovering hidden usability issues and verifying functional consistency across environments.

We conducted exploratory usability testing with multiple participants, intentionally withholding guidance to simulate natural navigation and identify friction points. Testers were encouraged to "stress test" the site—interacting with features in unpredictable ways to expose potential breakage or usability failures.

Testing spanned across multiple device types (desktop, tablet, and mobile) and modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) to validate cross-platform responsiveness and design consistency. Special attention was given to eCommerce components of the platform, including product visibility, cart functionality, and checkout flows to ensure flawless performance from product selection to payment processing.

Testing Objectives:

Evaluate the site’s responsiveness and adaptive layout across various screen sizes and devices.
Assess user experience continuity and visual consistency across browsers.
Identify areas for improvement in visibility, content accessibility, and SEO performance.
Test eCommerce functionality for reliability, usability, and transaction integrity.
Uncover vulnerabilities and recommend security enhancements to mitigate data risks and strengthen user trust.

This iterative testing process allowed me to fine-tune the design, improve performance, and address usability concerns before launch—ultimately delivering a site that is visually cohesive, highly functional, and resilient across all user touchpoints.

Multidevice QA & usability tests