Phygital Futures: Rethinking Government Services through Hybrid Experiences
Team
7 multidisciplinary creatives (Design Management, Industrial Design, Fashion Marketing, Film & TV, Jewelry, Illustration, Interior)
Timeline
3 Months, Sep - Nov 2024
Tools
Figma, Figjam, Adobefire fly, Microsoft Word, Meru, Maze, Dovetail, Usertesting.com, Perplexity, NotebookLM, ChatGPT, Gemini, Midjourney
Goal
To propose forward-thinking, research-backed solutions that enhance the delivery and accessibility of public sector services through the integration of phygital experiences, while prioritizing accessibility, transparency, and user trust.
Overview
How can government services evolve in a world that’s rapidly blending the physical and digital? That was the big question posed by Deloitte. As the UX Research Lead, I worked at the intersection of complexity, empathy, and innovation to reimagine public service experiences across the DMV, healthcare, and disaster relief. The outcome was a research-backed, centralized service portal designed with diverse user journeys and digital trust at its core.
Problem
When Deloitte approached us through SCADpro, the brief was clear but ambitious:
Reimagine how government public services can leverage 'Phygital' experiences to better serve the public good.
It wasn’t just about technology. It was about social impact, accessibility, and navigating the real-life complexities of people interacting with slow, analog systems in a fast-paced digital world. Despite widespread digitization in the private sector, many government services remain outdated, inefficient, and inaccessible especially for underrepresented or vulnerable communities.
Our challenge was to bridge this gap using phygital innovations that feel intuitive, secure, and equitable.
Being the Research lead my role was
Synthesizing qualitative insights into behavior maps
Leading interviews, surveys, and case analysis
Defining the research strategy and guiding team with research tools and methodologies
Translating research into actionable “How Might We” statements and guiding ideation, concept validation, and storytelling for the final pitch
Creating personas, behavioral map and aligning solutions to real user pain points
Research Methods
Our research process followed Design thinking process - Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test
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100+ Surveys respondents & 11 Interviews : Primary data gathering from U.S. citizens about barriers in accessing public services.
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Case Studies: Deep-dives into platforms like Vote.org, Apple Wallet, Google Drive, and AI-enabled customer support systems.
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Trend and Market Analysis: Studying the adoption of touchless tech, cloud services, and AI in both commercial and public sectors.
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Behavior Mapping: Tracking user pain points across complex service journeys (e.g., DMV, healthcare, disaster aid).
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"How Might We" Framing: To ideate actionable design challenges from research insights.
Phase 1 : Deep Dive Research & Discovery
The first three weeks were all about immersion. I led our team through an intense design thinking process starting with a blank canvas and gradually building up a multi-dimensional understanding of the problem space.
Our Core “How Might We”: How might we integrate physical and digital infrastructures to address public sector challenges and enhance service delivery?
Research Findings
01
Touchless Technologies
Touchless technologies improve speed and convenience but require better integration for broader utility (e.g., beyond payments)
02
Cloud Storage
Cloud storage offers secure access but raises data privacy concerns.
03
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence can drastically improve efficiency and personalization but risks alienating non-tech-savvy populations if not designed inclusively.
04
Digital First Experience
Younger demographics are more likely to engage with digital-first experiences, but phygital solutions must be inclusive across age and ability spectrums.
Phase 2 : Synthesizing Insights & Mapping Human Journeys
The We narrowed our focus to three sectors with high public interaction:
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DMV / Registration
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Healthcare
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Disaster Relief
I developed persona-based user journeys, combining quantitative and qualitative data to model behaviors, pain points, and triggers.
User Group
We focused on three key user archetypes each representing different challenges within the government public service (GPS) ecosystem. These personas grounded our insights in real human needs and helped tailor our design interventions.
Each story (Rachel at the DMV, Sean in Healthcare, and a rural community in Disaster Aid) brought the data to life.
RACHEL - DMV
“I spent more time figuring out how to go than actually going.”
The DMV represents everything people dread: long waits, confusing forms, broken websites, missing documents. Rachel, a 21-year-old student from Tennessee, became our lens into this world. What began as a simple license renewal unraveled into a multi-step, multi-visit ordeal.
SEAN - Healthcare
“I didn’t know if I was eligible or how to even start.”
Sean, a 28-year-old gig worker from Michigan, struggled to access routine healthcare after switching jobs. He faced a common pain point: fragmented healthcare portals, insurance ambiguity, and no clear guidance.
COMMUNITY -Disaster AID
“When disaster strikes, paperwork shouldn’t be the next crisis.”
In rural North Carolina, families recovering from floods struggled not with resilience but with the system meant to help them. From FEMA paperwork to insurance claims, they faced confusion, delays, and digital inaccessibility.
A key breakthrough was visualizing Behavior Maps from appointment anxiety to form fatigue and uncertain eligibility breaking down where users dropped off and why.
We applied behavioral science principles like:
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Loss Aversion
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Positive Reinforcement
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Process Chunking
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Digital Nudging
This helped us shift our framing from “redesigning interfaces” to reimagining motivation and mental models.
Phase 3 : Ideation & Concept Development
Armed with insights, we moved to ideation. I facilitated co-creation workshops where we explored solutions grounded in the real-world constraints of government services.
From dozens of sticky-note concepts, we filtered - feasibility, user value, and systemic impact.
A Centralized
Government Portal
A single digital + physical entry point for everything from voter registration to disaster claims a secure, user-centric hub that works across agencies.
Features
+ Simplified process
+ Seamless integration between physical and digital services
+ Clear guidance
+ Secure and accessible
+ Sustainable
Challenges & Reflections
No project comes without its share of roadblocks. And in a system as complex as government infrastructure, the biggest challenge was navigating the gap between ideal user experience and institutional reality.
As the UX Research Lead, I learned that designing for public good isn’t about sleek features or perfect flows it’s about balancing people, policy, and possibility.
Outcome and Impact
Humanized Public Systems
We shifted the design narrative from system-efficiency to user-empathy, proving that UX can reshape even the most bureaucratic spaces.
Built Trust in Digital-First Government
Our behavioral strategies addressed core skepticism around digital services especially among older or underserved populations.
Scalability for Future Implementation
The modular design of the proposed portal could be scaled across multiple public sectors, offering system-wide interoperability.
