Nick BlakeProduct Designer
Global Interview, the tool used in the U.S. asylum process, now enables officers to access critical country information in ~3 minutes – down from 15+.
With a growing backlog of asylum cases, USCIS needed to increase interview capacity without compromising decision quality.
As a Product Designer, I worked with the product team to help officers make faster, more informed decisions during high-stakes asylum interviews.
Asylum interviews are where officers must gather evidence needed to decide whether someone qualifies for protection. This decision is based on the applicant’s testimony, evidence, and country conditions.
In 2019, Global Interview facilitated over 50,000 interviews.
Intuitive intake workflow
To provide users with faster access to country conditions, I began by delivering a centralized hub of country-of-origin resources.
User testing showed this approach didn’t resolve 15+ minute, cross-tool searches, prompting a scope pivot with PM and engineers to an API-integrated solution for faster access within Global.
Providing quick access to credible resources
Drawing from e-commerce search best practices, I designed an embedded search experience within Global, eliminating the need to switch tools. The first iteration introduced four always-visible filter categories and tags to streamline discovery.
Embedded search experience
Based on user feedback, I simplified the search to highlight the most important filter: Country. Less-used filters are tucked behind an expandable control, so users can focus on finding answers quickly without losing access to advanced options.
Progressive disclosure of advanced filters
To help users move quickly during interviews, I designed event results that display a concise summary by default, with details available on demand. This lets users scan results at a glance and expand only what’s relevant, without losing access to critical context.
The search optimizations increased user confidence from 2.5 to 4.5 out of 5 and reduced average search time from 15+ minutes to 3 minutes. Now, officers can focus on connecting with applicants rather than fighting their tools.
Within one month of launch, the federal agency also saw an increase in interview capacity. Though multiple factors, including policy changes, may have contributed to this outcome.
This project taught me how iterative, user-centered design directly supports people at the heart of high-stakes processes.