Client: The Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Mission Area of USDA
Websites:
- Risk Management Agency (RMA)
- Farm Service Agency (FSA)
- Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
- FPAC Business Center (FPAC-BC)
My Role: Lead UX Strategist
Project Overview
As Lead UX Strategist at Aleut Federal, I spearheaded the USDA Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Web Modernization Program. This ambitious project involved modernizing and migrating four distinct websites to a unified Drupal platform over a two-year period.
Duration: September 2022 – September 2024 (2 years), with a 9-month extension for operations and maintenance.
Websites in Scope:
- Risk Management Agency (RMA)
- Farm Service Agency (FSA)
- Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
- FPAC Business Center (FPAC-BC)
The Challenge
Our team faced the complex task of modernizing four interconnected yet distinct websites, each serving different types of users within the agricultural sector.
Key challenges included:
- Migrating from legacy CMS platforms to Drupal 10
- Balancing consistency across sites with individual agency identities
- Managing diverse stakeholder expectations and priorities
- Implementing user-centered design within varying agency cultures
My Role and Responsibilities
As Lead UX Strategist, I:
- Directed a team of 4 UX professionals
- Orchestrated design sprints and workflow
- Led user research and testing strategies
- Guided stakeholder management and client communications
- Ensured alignment with USDA digital standards and accessibility requirements
Approach and Strategy
Our approach combined comprehensive user research with adaptive design strategies:
- Conducted extensive quantitative and qualitative research
- Developed user personas and journey maps
- Implemented content-first and mobile-first design principles
- Created a unified design system with agency-specific variations
- Iteratively refined designs based on user and stakeholder feedback