Notes on Research

Over the course of the project, our team engaged over one hundred individuals, including 65 in our first round of research, and 57 individuals in subsequent research and co-design engagements. During our initial research, we collected rich data in the form of quotes, observations, and audio clips from HCV users. At key moments in the project, we designed workshops to immerse HPD staff and leadership in these findings from the field, providing a direct connection to the perspectives and experiences of clients.

After a first round of research, we generated a set of seven design concepts for new tools and products to improve how tenants and owners experience the HCV program. These potential interventions ranged from forming new partnerships with CBOs to assist applicants to taking on owners’ negative perceptions and the stigma associated with the Section 8 program. PPL and HPD staff and leadership worked together to analyze the concepts’ potential effects and implementation challenges. After discussion, guided feedback collection, and a voting exercise, PPL and HPD selected application redesign as the top priority for immediate co-design and implementation.

While HPD leadership saw value in all of the proposed design concepts, we agreed that application redesign had a unique ability to address the needs of applicants, owners, and staff simultaneously. And, by easing the first step on a service journey that may last for years or decades, the new application materials have an outsize impact on first impressions of the HCV program and the relationship that is established between HPD, owners, and voucher participants.

Notes on Design
Our application redesign process began with tackling the content. We broke up long and complex blocks of text, used intuitive visual formatting to help direct the reader’s attention, and incorporated bite-sized info tips and callouts in areas that often cause confusion. We combed the original applications for complex language that tends to trip readers up, and replaced jargon with more familiar words, simplifying the readability from roughly 12th-grade to a 6th-grade reading level.

We then took on the format and delivery mechanism, moving our lo-fi prototypes from paper applications to fillable PDFs with a variety of smart features incorporated. Instead of requiring users to print, fill out, and scan a paper application, these new PDFs can be easily completed on a personal computer at home, at a public library, or in the office of a CBO or shelter provider. Smart PDF features including e-signatures and auto-populating fields increase applicants’ ease and reduce room for error, and the option to save progress as you go and send materials electronically speeds up submission. To tie it all together, we overhauled the visual design, softening the look and feel of the applications with welcoming color schemes, typefaces, and original illustrations.

In addition to streamlining the experience for tenants and owners, we had to ensure the new forms would collect all the information HPD needs to verify eligibility and fit seamlessly into the existing workflows and handoffs between HPD staff. This required deep engagement with front-line and back-stage staff, mapping out their workflows and the data systems they use to verify, analyze, and upload information gathered from applicants.

Notes on Piloting
Over two months, we pilot-tested our new Tenant Application and Owner Package in the field, engaging a total of 57 residents, owners, and HPD staff members through side-by-side form testing, feedback surveys, and immersion sessions.

Tenant Application Learnings

• 100% of applicants and tenants preferred the redesigned materials. When asked why, pilot participants cited the materials’ increased friendliness and clarity. Tenants felt more confident due to the plain language and newly designed tooltips and checklists in the prototype.

Owner Package Learnings

• Pilot testing confirmed that the new Owner Package is more user-friendly and less error-prone when formatted as a fillable PDF. Pilot participants shared that design updates to the Owner Package felt fresh, while still feeling familiar to owners who already knew the HCV program well.

While both prototypes were strongly preferred over the originals, pilot participants provided helpful insights pointing to ways we could further improve the design. For example, by carefully observing applicants and tenants working through our prototype materials, we learned that informational blocks longer than two sentences are frequently skipped and that document titles framed as questions often confuse tenants.

Notes on Implementation
To prepare HPD for implementation, we developed a suite of materials that help agency staff to launch, communicate, and maintain the new materials. We created a series of short animations to replace outdated orientation videos that guide owners through the new Owner Package, which HPD can use during rollout and keep online as a permanent resource.

We also helped HPD staff prepare for future changes to the new materials by creating custom InDesign templates and design summaries that unpack the new design system, highlighting the rationale behind typeface selections, color schemes, and information architecture. These materials build HPD staff capacity to apply the new design consistently when changes are needed, helping to ensure a long life for the new materials.

Finally, we worked with HPD to draft a rollout plan months in advance of the public launch, prompting early conversations and decisions about the details of staff training, technical integration, and external communication. This period of pre-implementation planning built staff confidence and excitement, removing logistical roadblocks and calming the sense of risk inherent in any big change to program design and operations.