Benefits Administrator
Project Overview
Our client delivers web services for clients’ trust funds and benefit plans. They offer customized participant portals that give members access to essential plan information and tools to manage their benefits.
Goal: Develop a modern, mobile-friendly participant portal using the latest technology stack—retaining all existing features while improving usability, accessibility, and customization capabilities for each client.
Introduction
A benefits administrator partnered with our midwestern-based design team to completely redesign their participant portal. While the existing system functioned adequately, it suffered from numerous small usability issues and an outdated interface. The client’s objective was broad but clear: modernize the portal to make it more intuitive, responsive, and easier for clients to customize.
To achieve this, our team conducted an in-depth analysis of the existing system to ensure full feature parity while enhancing the overall user experience. This meant rethinking navigation, content management, design consistency, and mobile responsiveness to meet the evolving needs of multi-employer benefit plans.
Step 1: Discovery & Understanding the Current System
Our first step was to immerse ourselves in the client’s current portal. Through detailed walkthroughs and stakeholder interviews, we documented every existing feature, workflow, and pain point.
We identified three primary user groups:
Internal Representatives – internal users who assist clients in managing and understanding the platform.
Clients – organizations such as labor unions or trust funds responsible for managing benefits portals for their members.
Members and Dependents – end users (e.g., a journeyman electrician) who need to enroll, view benefits, check claims, or add dependents.
Key pain points identified included:
No mobile responsiveness – Members were unable to easily access their information from mobile devices, limiting accessibility for users without desktop access.
Limited customization – Clients couldn’t easily modify their own portals and often had to request assistance for changes.
Outdated design – The interface felt antiquated, and the information hierarchy was not intuitive, with certain pages located under unrelated sections.
With this understanding, our UX specialists developed a comprehensive site map outlining both the current and future state of the portal. This provided a foundation for improving user flows, reducing friction, and modernizing the interface while retaining all necessary functionality.
Step 2: Design & Iteration
We began by creating mockups that reflected the existing portal’s structure but introduced significant improvements in usability and accessibility. Using the Prime Design System, we ensured consistency across components—particularly valuable for the numerous data tables and complex information layouts within the portal. Implementing a design system also allowed for faster iteration and smoother developer handoff.
Following an agile design process, our design team held regular checkpoints and sprint reviews with the client. This iterative approach kept stakeholders informed, encouraged ongoing feedback, and allowed for rapid adjustments throughout the design phase.
We relocated the main navigation to the left, which provided space for more tabs and improved both the organization of individual pages and the structure of the menu itself. Tabs could now be grouped more intuitively, simplifying navigation and discovery. After establishing the site’s new structure, we methodically redesigned each page according to the client’s priorities and long-term vision.
Close collaboration between our designers, developers, and the product owner ensured that every design solution was both visually effective and technically feasible.
Conclusion
After multiple design iterations and extensive user validation, our Indianapolis-based UX team successfully recreated the previous system’s functionality while delivering a vastly improved user experience. The new participant portal is modern, mobile-responsive, and accessible—setting a new standard for usability and client customization in benefits management.
This project highlights our specialists’ ability to combine deep technical understanding with human-centered design, helping organizations modernize complex platforms for today’s digital expectations.