At a Glance

The case study you see here is a concise overview of the full project. The actual work involved a detailed, multi-layered design process. I'd be happy to chat with you and provide more details if you're interested!

Context

VisaMate is a mobile app designed to assist immigrants in filing their immigrant visa petitions. I was given the task of developing a platform to aid immigrants during their visa processing journey, which I successfully turned into a mobile app.

Ideation

Visa processing is exciting.
But the idea of filing all the petitions and not knowing what the next step is can be very daunting.

The process of applying for an immigrant visa is very long and tedious. It also requires a lot of form filing, and, importantly, correct form submission. The image below shows the problems of immigrants as they are posting their queries in different facebook groups.

Market Research

Let's see the market!
Visa application is more than a competition now.

According to the U.S. Department of State, in fiscal year 2021 (which runs from October 2020 to September 2021), there were approximately 462,000 immigrant visa applications submitted worldwide. This includes applications submitted by family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as well as those submitted by individuals seeking employment-based visas, diversity visas, and other categories.

What are the actual underlying problems for the visa applicants?

Visa
Applicant's Petition

60% of applicants have hard time filling for a visa petition on their own.

Upcoming
Steps

Most applicants are unaware of the upcoming steps in their visa application journey.

Dilemma
In Filling Out Forms

Applicants have a hard time filling out forms as there are a lot of sections in a single application.

Design Objectives

Making immigrant visa processing easy.

The main objective of the project was to provide users with a platform to track their visa case status and discover the upcoming steps in their application process.

Current Scenario

More Communication. Less Solution.
Some users can't even get a chance to enter into these facebook groups!

Applicants are posting their queries all over social media to find out the visa application process and not knowing the types of forms that need to be submitted.

My Approach

Solving the right problem.
Why waste time of both users and the business owners?

Research

Conducting User Research.

I started with a qualitative user research with 6 participants who were applying for an immigrant visa to understand what's important to them.

Sorting Insights.

Insights that caught me.

1.

5/6 applicants were using attorney to file their visa petition.

Participant - 01 : "It is quite difficult to file the petition and fill out all the forms on my own."

2.

2/6 applicants were using mobile app to track their case status.

Participant - 03 : "I use lawfully app to track my visa case status."

3.

90% applicants can't find resources that helps them to fill out their forms.

Participant - 06 : "I find it very difficult to fill out the forms as there are no any samples to look at."

Competitive Analysis

How might I differentiate VisaMate from other platforms?

I researched some of competitors’ platforms to find inspiration. What I took away were

1. Providing users with upcoming steps in their visa journey.
2. Having a community section for posting queries.
3. Providing form samples.

Listing Ideas

What are the most important features user asked for?

Based on my research, I found users were struggling with finding upcoming steps in their journey. In response, I brainstormed a list of ideas and their strengths, constraints and possible solutions.

Designing

Low-Fidelity - Mid Fidelity - High Fidelity

I spent most of my time looking for an efficient way to implement needed features for a seamless user experience.

To streamline the usability of the app, I ensured that the design was consistent and easy to navigate. While the app would track the case status of applicants, I added extra feature for seeking services from attorneys with a booking system.

To ensure everything was on the same page, I designed user flows for a better understanding of the architecture of the app flow.

Prototype

The overall feel and use of the app.

Usability Testing

Advance prototyping feel for user testing.

I developed an advanced click-through prototype on Protopie to conduct usability tests to understand the feedback from the users. I did 20 tests in total over the period of 15 days with visa applicants who were currently applying for an immigrant visa.

Reflecting Back

What did I learn?

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