Bluecross Blueshield of Tennessee
UX Research, architecture, and design
2024 – 2025
TL;DR
At BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, I led UX research, managed architecture, and expanded the design system for a full-scale redesign of the broker portal. In this role, I worked cross-functionally with product, engineering, and internal UX teams. I conducted qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative email surveys to uncover broker needs and friction points. Based on these insights, I prioritized features and translated findings into detailed wireframes and prototypes.
I oversaw the migration of the legacy design system from Sketch and InVision to Figma. During this process, I designed scalable patterns and broker-specific components and onboarded the internal team into modern workflows. This work laid the foundation for a unified design system across audiences, influenced other brand platforms, and enabled internal teams to independently evolve the work as the organization transitioned to more scalable digital experiences.
Case Studies
Case Study 1
User Research
Project Type
UX Research
Role
UX Researcher
Problem
Existing site analytics were very limited in scope. Beyond initial click events on the home page, we were not able to discern how features were being used, the frequency of use, or bounce rates.
Legacy backend systems resulted in frequent performance issues, fragmented content, and visual dissonance across tools. There was a need for a scalable content governance model to help streamline and eliminate legacy content.
Approach
As a contracted UX research and architecture lead, I was embedded within the core digital team and worked alongside internal UX designers, developers, product owners, and business stakeholders. I owned the research strategy for the early phase of the work. This included both quantitative and qualitative approaches to give us a multi-faceted view of the users and their experience with the portal. It also involved an extensive audit of all content available through the portal.
Research & Content Strategy
To ground the work in user needs, I led qualitative interviews with brokers across Tennessee, analyzing transcriptions for patterns in workflows, pain points, and design preferences. These insights revealed friction around document discoverability, access to key health plan features, and inconsistent user flows.
To validate and scale our findings, I designed a quantitative Qualtrics survey administered to a large enough segment of the broker base to ensure statistical significance. The responses helped us quantify user frustrations and prioritize features by frequency and impact.
While running the research initiatives, I also led a full content audit of the broker portal’s hundreds of documents and digital assets. There was no formal content governance in place for the existing portal, and one would be needed in order to prevent the new experience from being buried in future documents. Working closely with internal teams, I developed an organizational structure that could scale over time and proposed a DAM (Digital Asset Management) integration to ensure long-term governance and usability. Many facets of each document were captured in order to allow the team to develop an effective taxonomy to quickly identify and categorize existing and future content for easy access.
This work including the need to summarize the content or purpose for each document. Not being an insurance insider, I knew this would be a cost-prohibitive task if tackled in a traditional approach. Various AI systems were evaluated for privacy and security as well as the ability to summarize the content effectively. This enabled me to process hundreds of documents in a matter of hours as opposed to the weeks it would have taken otherwise.
Results
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Delivered a multi-faceted analysis of the existing portal in terms of content, usage, friction, and needs that helped validate, highlight, and prioritize various features that had been proposed for the update.
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Laid the groundwork for long-term content governance through a proposed DAM structure
Impact
This work laid a foundation of confidence for the work needed to update the broker portal effectively and see real UX gains. It also helped to refine new feature requests in order to continue to mitigate weak areas and build a backend that would support future needs.
Case Study 2
Information Architecture and design
Project Type
Information Architecture, Product Design, Design System Modernization
Role
UX Architect, Senior Product Designer
Background
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) offers a wide range of digital tools for its members, brokers, and internal teams. While platforms designed for members had undergone major redesign efforts, the tools intended for brokers lagged behind in terms of usability, visual cohesion, and system consistency. Legacy tools like Sketch and InVision were still in use, with outdated components and siloed experiences.
At the same time, growing expectations from broker partners revealed the need to modernize both the tools themselves and the design infrastructure supporting them. This project focused on redesigning the broker portal, migrating to Figma, and establishing a scalable design system that could support current needs and future growth — all while laying the foundation for a unified ecosystem across BCBST’s digital properties.
Problem
The broker portal lacked modern UX standards, presented inconsistent navigation patterns, and made critical tasks, such as accessing ID cards or Rx information, overly complicated. Legacy technical systems resulted in frequent performance issues, fragmented content, and visual dissonance across platforms and features. The organization lacked a scalable content governance model, and the design system in place was too member-focused to serve brokers effectively.
The organization needed a platform that was more intuitive and cohesive, maintained easily, respected privacy concerns, simplified user journeys, and accounted for the real-world technical limitations and workflows of its broker audience.
Approach
As a UX architect and senior designer, I was embedded within the core digital team and worked alongside internal UX designers, developers, product owners, and business stakeholders. I was tasked with developing architectural restructuring, design system expansion, and Figma-based prototyping efforts, all of which were crucial for aligning the project with its modernization goals.
We met regularly to review evolving requirements and iterated through rounds of design, feedback, and prioritization — balancing new feature requests with system limitations, compliance constraints, and business needs.
Design System Transition
A major effort involved transitioning BCBST’s legacy design system from Sketch and InVision into a modern, scalable Figma-based framework. I oversaw this migration and significantly extended the system to support broker-specific components and flows. This included:
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Auditing and cleaning legacy patterns
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Creating naming conventions and usage documentation
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Designing new patterns for complex, data-heavy UIs
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Building broker-specific components like quote summaries and status indicators
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Collaborating with develpment to ensure flexibility and handoff readiness
The new system not only supported this initiative but influenced sister brand platforms and other digital teams across the organization.
Wireframing & Prototyping
We started with low-fidelity wireframes in order to move quickly through initial architecture phases. Once we had agreement on core architecture, I created detailed, high-fidelity wireframes covering key workflows: plan comparison, quoting, application tracking, account management, notifications, and communications. These designs addressed complex edge cases, error states, and layered user interactions.
We fully prototyped our wireframes in Figma, allowing stakeholders and developers to walk through experiences, test feasibility, and align across teams before development began.
Collaboration & Iteration
An agile, iterative process guided the work, with recurring meetings that included product owners, compliance leads, and development partners. We continuously adapted to shifting requirements and evolving stakeholder priorities — regularly revisiting features that were loosely defined and making strategic adjustments to fit within development processes and legacy system capabilities.
The cross-functional feedback loops were instrumental in resolving architectural conflicts early, validating design decisions, and maintaining project momentum, even in the face of technical debt and organizational silos.
Challenges
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Designing around fragmented legacy architecture and significant technical debt
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Introducing new tools and design practices to teams unfamiliar with Figma
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Working within organizational silos and compliance-heavy environments
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Reducing scope and redefining priorities without compromising UX integrity
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Balancing future-state design with the reality of platform limitations and developer resourcing
Results
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Delivered a modernized, broker-focused design system in Figma with scalable documentation and component libraries
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Helped shift internal teams to Figma and modern design workflows
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Laid the groundwork for long-term content governance through a proposed taxonomy and DAM structure
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Influenced other digital teams and sister brand initiatives, aligning future platform redesigns to the new design system
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Portal and system updates are still pending launch at the time of my roll-off, but the internal team is now equipped to evolve the work independently and sustainably
Impact
This work bridged a critical UX gap between member and broker experiences at BCBST. It modernized foundational systems, shifted internal capabilities, and positioned the organization to scale digital innovation across teams, platforms, and audiences with research-led clarity, design system discipline, and a structure ready for long-term growth.