Improving the intake experience for aging services
COA Service Design Case Study
May - Nov. 2022 at Live Well Collaborative
Project Overview
This project focused on improving how older adults access services through the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio (COA). Spanning 20 weeks, it followed a full end-to-end process—from defining core service challenges to designing and prototyping a new digital intake experience.
My Contributions
As the research fellow, I led field research and co-creation activities to address the complexity of navigating COA’s intake system. By segmenting users based on aging stages and redesigning the website’s structure and accessibility, we delivered a more intuitive, inclusive intake strategy.
Background
The Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio (COA)
COA is the state-designated Area Agency on Aging, providing essential health and life services for older adults, individuals with disabilities, and caregivers across six counties.
As all Baby Boomers are expected to be 65+ by 2030, aging-related services are under pressure.
The Council on Aging’s (COA) intake department was overwhelmed by rising demand, limited staffing, and highly complex eligibility rules. Meanwhile, its primary user base—older adults—prefer phone calls, adding friction to the intake process.
Design Challenge
" How might we streamline the intake experience for aging services, enabling older adults to better access relevant programs information through online channels? "
Research
We structured our investigation around two central areas:
The intake process itself & How do older adults use COA website to access information
3 rounds of field research 23 stakeholder interviews (older adults, caregivers, staff, service partners)Intake journey mapping and system analysis
The core bottleneck lies in matching users to eligible programs—a task that requires redundant and fragmented data collection due to privacy limits and inconsistent systems.
Insights
We co-created a client segmentation model with COA leadership, and each segment was linked to a corresponding strategy: - Independent (50–60): build awareness For the Independent group, the priority is increasing awareness of aging-related challenges and familiarizing users with COA’s offerings. - Interdependent (70–80): support transitions For the Independent group, the priority is increasing awareness of aging-related challenges and familiarizing users with COA’s offerings. - Dependent & Crisis (80+): streamline access with minimal friction For Dependent and Crisis clients, COA aims to allocate more direct resources, with minimal administrative friction, since prior data has usually been collected.
Strategic Framing
We helped COA customized an accessibility-improving design system featuring: - Consistent CTA buttons - Large, readable text - Clear visual grouping
Design System
Information portal is designed to sort and present content based on the unique needs of its diverse audience groups.
Information Portal for different audiences
Reorganized hierarchy from program-first to service-first navigation.
