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Simplifying the sign in experience on VA.gov

Overview

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs serves millions of Veterans through VA.gov, providing access to healthcare, benefits, and essential services. To meet federal security standards, the VA needed to transition 1.5 million Veterans from legacy My HealtheVet accounts to modern, secure sign-in options that include multifactor authentication and identity verification. We designed a simplified user experience for this critical security transition while minimizing disruption to Veteran access.

The challenge

Creating modern Login.gov or ID.me accounts requires Veterans to complete complex multifactor authentication setup and identity verification processes that are time-consuming and error-prone. This process is particularly challenging for Veterans with low vision, cognitive disabilities, or lower digital literacy who are less familiar with technology. The existing workaround that added ID.me verification to legacy accounts created confusion and technical errors. And inconsistent messaging across VA.gov needed standardization to provide clear, actionable guidance for Veteran’s unique needs.

Our contribution

As part of a larger team led by Oddball, Blue Tiger provided user experience design, content and research support to this effort.

We collaborated with partners throughout the VA, Login.gov, and ID.me while working cross-functionally with frontend and backend engineers to ensure our designs were technically feasible and efficient. More specifically, we:

  • Implemented consistent cross-platform messaging on key VA.gov sign-in touchpoints, partnering with the VA design systems and centralized content teams to create reusable alert components that show dynamic content based on Veterans’ account verification status.
  • Designed and tested an interstitial page that identified existing verified accounts and encouraged Veterans to transition, achieving nearly a 10% conversion rate for Veterans creating or switching to modern accounts.
  • Created high and low-fidelity user flow diagrams to manage complex sign-in paths and multiple redirection options as the transition deadline approached.
  • Conducted usability testing with mobile and desktop prototypes built in Figma, working with developers to create interactive prototypes for assistive technology testing.
  • Developed comprehensive documentation for contact center support staff and created additional sign-in pages for VA medical staff and legacy health applications to ensure continuity of service.

The results

As a result of this effort, we:

  • Removed the My HealtheVet sign-in option while maintaining access for Veterans who needed continued support.
  • Reduced confusion during the transition period through dynamic messaging system and streamlined user flows.
  • Converted 43,000 Veterans who signed in with My HealtheVet to switch to a modern account via the interstitial page.
  • Designed a sign-in experience to support exemptions for Veterans who are unable to migrate due to platform limitations.
  • Laid the foundation for the next phase of removing DS Logon accounts, moving closer to the goal of two secure, government-wide sign-in options.

Team members

  • Charlye Tran
  • Megan Driscoll

Practices used

  • User-centered design
  • Content design
  • Stakeholder engagement
  • Prototype development