VetRide - Transporting Heroes with Care
Prototype: Provide on interview due to content sensitivity.
Role: Senior UX/UI Product Designer
Platform: Embedded In-Vehicle Device
Duration: 11 months
Tools: Figma, Miro, Jira, Adobe XD
Veterans Affairs needed a secure, reliable, and user-friendly authentication system for drivers transporting disabled veterans. Existing solutions were slow, complex, and often left drivers stranded when credentials failed. My mission with VetRide was to design a federal-level secure, driver-first experience that enabled quick authentication, clear error handling, and an intuitive dashboard for Trips, Traffic, and Weather.
Empathize - Understanding Veterans' Needs
The first step was to put myself in the shoes of both drivers and veterans. I conducted interviews, shadowed drivers during ride-alongs, and created empathy maps to capture their emotions at key moments of the journey. What I discovered was clear: drivers felt pressured by slow and unreliable authentication, and veterans often questioned the safety of their personal information during trips.
By humanizing these challenges, I gained a deeper appreciation of the emotional stakes. For veterans, trust and dignity were non-negotiable. For drivers, efficiency and clarity meant the difference between starting a trip smoothly or falling behind schedule. This step became the emotional foundation that shaped every design decision moving forward.
Research - Benchmarking Systems
I studied existing VA transport systems, paratransit solutions, and even consumer ride platforms like Uber Health. These tools were user-friendly but lacked government-grade authentication requirements such as CAC/PIV cards. On the flip side, government systems were secure but far too slow and often confusing to navigate in real-world driving conditions.
Quantitative research revealed the average login process took 90+ seconds. This was a major bottleneck, especially when multiple trips were scheduled back-to-back. By combining competitive benchmarking with VA technology audits, I identified the need for a solution that could merge military-grade security with consumer-level simplicity.
Analysis & Planning - Mapping the Challenges
With insights in hand, I developed a comprehensive journey map of every authentication scenario — successful login, expired card, failed recognition, system errors, and fallback methods. This mapping ensured that we accounted for every edge case a driver might encounter on the road.
Collaborative planning sessions with VA IT, compliance officers, and drivers revealed key priorities: Smart Card had to be the primary method, alternative methods had to be accessible but secondary, and error handling had to provide instant clarity. These findings became the backbone of our design strategy.
Wireframing - Structuring the Flows
Early wireframes helped us visualize how authentication and fallback flows would work in practice. We mapped out the initial Smart Card entry screen, then designed progressive disclosure options so fallback methods (Magnetic, Barcode, Digital Scan) were only shown when needed. This kept the experience clean and focused for drivers.
Wireframes also illustrated how drivers would transition into the main dashboard — Trips, Traffic, and Weather — once authenticated. This was the first time stakeholders could see the big picture, and it aligned everyone on the value of balancing simplicity with security.
Design Systems - Building the Foundation
To ensure scalability and consistency, I created a design system with strict rules around color, typography, and iconography. Colors were purposeful: blue for progress, red for errors, gold for warnings, and green for success. Typography prioritized readability under movement and low-light conditions.
I also developed a library of reusable components like buttons, alerts, loaders, and authentication icons. This not only sped up design but also gave developers a single source of truth for implementation. The system became the DNA of the VetRide product.
Design - Bringing the Experience to Life
High-fidelity mockups brought the flows to life, emphasizing clarity at every step. The Smart Card screen was dominant, while fallback options were presented as secondary but reassuring. Error states were visually distinct, ensuring drivers never hesitated when something went wrong.
Microcopy played a huge role here. Prompts like “Insert your CAC/PIV card to begin” or “Swipe your ID badge to authenticate” removed ambiguity. The driver dashboard used large, simple icons for Trips, Traffic, and Weather, avoiding unnecessary clutter in a high-stakes driving environment.
Prototyping - Testing the Journeys
Prototypes in Figma simulated real-life scenarios, from card recognition to GPS retry loops. I built clickable flows that let drivers experience both success and failure paths so we could evaluate whether the system was truly intuitive.
Stakeholders could “drive” through the authentication process, inserting virtual Smart Cards, scanning barcodes, and recovering from errors. This hands-on experience reassured the VA that our designs would perform under real-world conditions.
Testing - Learning from the Field
We tested with real VA drivers across multiple regions. Authentication time dropped from 90 seconds to under 20, a game-changing improvement. Drivers praised the progressive disclosure model, saying it kept the screen uncluttered and allowed them to focus on the road.
We also validated the clarity of our error handling. For example, when a Smart Card expired, the system displayed a red warning with actionable next steps. Drivers no longer felt stuck or confused, dramatically improving overall confidence in the system.
Launch - Bringing Solutions to Market
VetRide was piloted in San Diego and Tampa, where it immediately demonstrated value. Authentication failures dropped by 60%, and overall trip start times improved by 25%. Veterans reported feeling safer knowing their information was protected by government-grade encryption.
The launch also had a cultural impact — drivers felt that the system was finally designed for them, not against them. It removed friction from their daily workflow while maintaining the strict security standards veterans deserved.
Iteration - Improving Over Time
Even after launch, iteration was critical. Feedback loops were built directly into the pilot programs, allowing drivers to suggest improvements in real time. One common request was for voice navigation and accessibility features, which we prioritized for the next release.
We also planned for integrations with VA scheduling systems, ensuring patient pickups could be optimized end-to-end. Iteration meant the project was never static; VetRide became a living platform, evolving with the needs of its drivers and passengers.
