FMRD/SMRD

As a Senior UX Designer at Booz Allen Hamilton, I currently support two concurrent modernization efforts for the U.S. Navy: Fleet Manpower Requirements Determination (FMRD) and Shore Manpower Requirements Determination (SMRD).

Because these applications support sensitive government operations, I can't publicly share interface designs or product screenshots. Instead, this page highlights my role, design approach, and the human-centered thinking behind modernizing complex enterprise systems. I’d be happy to walk through additional examples of this work and my design process in more detail during an interview.

Role | Timeline | Client | Team | Responsibilities

Senior UX Designer | 2022–Present | Navy | PMs - BAs - UX - Developers - Gov Stakeholders | UX Strategy - Wireframing - Accessibility - Usability Testing

Foundation

The Navy's manpower planning process relied on a fragmented ecosystem of legacy applications, spreadsheets, and manual documentation. Users were required to navigate multiple disconnected systems to complete a single workflow, often spending significant time locating information, validating data, and manually cross-referencing records. These inefficiencies increased cognitive load, slowed decision-making, and introduced opportunities for human error throughout the planning process.

I partnered with cross-functional teams to understand user workflows, identify pain points, and design intuitive solutions for managing complex information. Through stakeholder collaboration, iterative design, and continuous feedback, I helped design the transition from manual processes to a modern digital ecosystem.

I contributed across the UX process, including discovery, requirement translation, wireframing, accessibility reviews, and iterative design. My work focused on translating complex operational requirements into intuitive experiences that balanced user needs, stakeholder priorities, and long-term product scalability.

Design a centralized, user-centered application that streamlines the Navy's manpower planning process by replacing disconnected legacy tools with a single, intuitive platform. The new experience consolidates workflows, reference data, and planning activities into one digital environment, reducing manual effort, improving data reliability, and enabling users to complete complex tasks more efficiently.

Design Process

Discover

-Meet with Navy representatives (went on base in Florida to collaborate with stakeholders and users this past June!)

-Learn existing workflows

-Identify pain points and opportunities

-Gather user feedback

Design

-Figma Wireframes

-Workflow optimization

-Lead with Accessibility and 508 Compliance

-Uphold consistency between projects

Validate

-Iterative redesigns based on feedback

-Heuristic evaluations

-508 Compliance testing

-User testing and demonstrations

Impact

Working in the government sphere on such complex applications has taught me that the most meaningful design often happens behind the scenes. One of the most rewarding aspects of this work has been helping modernize systems that people depend on every day. These users spend egregious time and effort on these workflows and their faces seriously light up whenever we give them a demo of our automated system, knowing how much better their workload will be. It's a reminder that user centric design is not always about the flashiest design or the recent technical trend, it's about understanding how we can truly make technology work in people's lives. Understanding their workflows, eliminating pain points, and designing experiences that help them focus on their mission instead of the software.

Designing for the government has reinforced my belief that UX isn't measured by how impressive an interface looks, but by how effectively it supports the user behind the screen.

Technology changes, people don't, and that's why the best design decision begins, and ends, with the people using it.