Redesigning Trust: A Human-Centered Approach to DHS Travel Complaint Tracking

Introduction: When Bureaucracy Feels Like a Black Box

Every year, thousands of travelers file complaints with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—for TSA profiling, border delays, or invasive searches. Yet, 78% of interviewees believed their complaints would disappear into a void, echoing a systemic crisis of trust.

As a solo UX researcher and designer for this UCLA course project, I set out to redesign the DHS complaint tracking system—not just for usability, but to restore agency for vulnerable users.

The Problem: A System Designed to Deter

Why This Matters

The existing system failed users in three critical ways:

Emotional Barriers:
- "Why bother? My friend filed a complaint and never heard back."
- Racial profiling trauma made the process feel retraumatizing, not restorative.
Cognitive Overload:
- Only 12% of tested users could track their complaint status.
- Misaligned forms, low contrast, and jargon blocked accessibility.
Perceived Futility:
- No transparency = no trust. Users assumed DHS wouldn’t act.

Introduction

Research: Uncovering the Hidden Pain Points

1. Competitive Analysis

DHS vs. CBP: Compared complaint systems, finding:
- DHS: Buried tracking, zero progress updates.
- CBP: Clear status icons (✅ Inspiration for our redesign).

2. Contextual Inquiry

Key Insight: Users didn’t just need functionality—they needed emotional reassurance.
- "If I had a case number, I’d at least know they got it."

3. Personas

Persona	Pain Point	Design Need
Visually impaired traveler	Low contrast, unreadable text	WCAG-compliant typography
Immigrant with limited tech literacy	Form confusion	Guided workflows, plain language
Senior citizen learning to use smartphones	Confusing interfaces and small text sizes	Simple UI with large fonts and voice assistance

The Solution: Transparency as a Design Principle

Key Redesign Pillars

Trust Through Visibility
- Before: No status updates.
- After: A real-time tracking dashboard with:
  - Progress bars ("Your complaint is under review").
  - Estimated response timelines.
Accessibility as a Right, Not a Feature
- Dark/Light Mode: WCAG AA compliant.
- Microcopy Tweaks:
  - Changed "Submit" → "Your complaint is secured."
Trauma-Informed UX
- Avoided triggering terms (e.g., "suspicion" → "travel experience").
- Added confirmation screens: "We’ve received your complaint. Here’s your case number."

Impact & Lessons

Results

90% success rate in complaint filing (vs. 12% originally).
Users reported feeling "heard" for the first time.

Key Takeaways

Trust is Designed, Not Assumed:
- Small transparency cues (case numbers, progress bars) reduced perceived futility.
Positionality Matters:
- My background in ethnographic research revealed emotional barriers heuristics missed.
Systems Harm = Systems Change:
- Advocacy is part of UX. Next steps: Push DHS to adopt these changes.

Reflections on Research Positionality & UX Design

Over seven years of interdisciplinary research—spanning anthropology, human-computer interaction, and UX design—I’ve refined an approach that bridges ethnographic depth with pragmatic design solutions. This project underscored three key realizations about the intersection of research and practice:

1. From Observation to Observant Participation

Traditional ethnography taught me to document systems as an outsider, but UX demands embedded co-creation. Vargas’ (2006) concept of observant participation became tangible as I:

Simultaneously designed and researched, iterating based on real-time user struggles
Recognized my biases when participants rejected initial prototypes (e.g., assuming technical literacy would overcome emotional hesitancy)
Let users redirect the inquiry, as when travelers revealed complaint futility outweighed interface issues

2. Methodological Hybridity in Practice

The DHS project revealed how:

Heuristic evaluation functions as a "literature review" of interface grammar
Contextual inquiry mirrors ethnographic fieldwork—but with explicit action goals
Usability testing becomes a cultural performance, where power dynamics (e.g., user vs. government system) manifest in clicks and hesitations

3. Positionality as a Design Tool

My dual role as researcher-designer required constant reflection:

When my academic training blinded me (e.g., over-indexing on cultural theory early in prototyping)
When lived experience resonated (e.g., recognizing how bureaucratic language alienates marginalized users)
How to scaffold vulnerability so participants could critique freely (evident when post-interview debriefs revealed deeper pain points)

The Accountability of Implementation

Unlike pure academia, UX research carries a mandate to transform findings into tangible change. This project’s success metrics—90% task completion, 30% trust increase—are not just numbers but evidence of:

Systems listening to those they often ignore
Interfaces acknowledging harm before requesting engagement
Research as repair, not just observation

Reflection

Read and See more about this project

1. Competitor Analysis: DHS vs. CBP Systems

A heuristic evaluation of federal complaint tracking interfaces

Methodology

Evaluated two key systems using Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics:

DHS TRIP (Traveler Redress Inquiry Program)
CBP (Customs and Border Protection)

Critical Insights

Trust Gap
- DHS: Provided zero feedback after submission
- CBP: Sent email confirmations with case numbers
  → Redesign Solution: Added SMS/email notifications at every stage
Cognitive Load
- DHS: Required 6+ clicks to check status
- CBP: 2-click access from homepage
  → Redesign Solution: Persistent status tracker in main nav
Mobile Readiness
- DHS: Non-responsive forms (broken on tablets)
- CBP: Adaptive layouts
  → Redesign Solution: Touch-friendly components + on-screen keyboard support

Why This Matters

This analysis revealed that transparency and accessibility were the key differentiators in government UX. By adopting CBP's strengths and addressing DHS' gaps, we created a system that:

Reduced user anxiety through clear status updates
Cut complaint filing time by 60%
Achieved WCAG AA compliance

Visual Comparison

2. From Their Perspective: Immersion and Positionality in UX Research

When studying how travelers interact with the Department of Homeland Security's complaint system, I discovered that technical usability barriers were only half the story. The deeper challenge lay in addressing the emotional and cultural wounds left by racial profiling experiences at airport security checkpoints.

The Weight of Systemic Distrust

Through contextual interviews with a Middle Eastern graduate student who had experienced invasive TSA screenings, I learned how profoundly distrust shapes user behavior. Despite being tech-savvy, she abandoned the complaint form because "DHS feels untouchable." Her resignation echoed a painful rationalization, believing that sacrificing personal dignity was necessary for national security. This revelation came through what I call rhizomatic interviewing, allowing conversations to grow organically rather than forcing predetermined usability tasks.

When Silence Speaks Volumes

The most telling insights emerged from what wasn't said initially. Only after turning off the recording did she share how humiliated she felt when forced to remove her jacket, a cultural violation she couldn't articulate during the formal session. This mirrored Dell Hymes' concept of "voice," where marginalized users may withhold critical feedback because they either:

Don't feel safe sharing in the moment, or
Literally lack the vocabulary to describe their experience within the system's framework

Designing for Radical Empathy

The solution space required moving beyond form fields and error messages. My participant's most poignant suggestion was simple yet profound: "Show diversity like universities do, different faces on the homepage. Then I'd believe they care." This became our north star - creating visible signals that the system recognized and valued her identity before asking her to engage with it.

The Researcher's Mirror

This study transformed my approach to UX research. Where I once prioritized efficiency in task completion, I now recognize that truly inclusive design requires:

Creating psychological safety before gathering feedback
Listening for systemic silences as intently as we listen for verbal feedback
Acknowledging that some pain points can't be "solved" through interface tweaks alone

The most powerful design intervention wasn't in the pixels, but in helping DHS communicate through its digital presence: "We see you. Your experience matters." This emotional resonance proved just as critical as the streamlined complaint workflow we ultimately created.

Their Perspective

3. Breaking Down Bureaucracy: A Low-Fidelity Prototype for DHS Complaint Tracking

The Problem: When "Track Your Case" Feels Like a Dead End

The Department of Homeland Security's complaint system had become a digital manifestation of the same frustrations travelers experienced at security checkpoints:

Opaque processes: No clear status updates after submission
Hidden resolutions: Published reports about TSA failures buried in PDFs
Cognitive hurdles: Confusing terminology like "redress control number"

Our research with profiled travelers revealed a painful truth:

"Why check a status when you assume nothing will change?"

The Prototype: 30 Frames to Rebuild Trust (Figma File)

Key Design Decisions

Progressive Disclosure
- Collapsible instructions at each step
- Visual hierarchy prioritizing status over legal jargon
Error Recovery
- Built-in code retrieval flow
- Plain-language explanations for system messages
Non-Linear Navigation
- Multiple entry points to status checking
- Persistent back button to reduce anxiety

Bureaucracy

Unexpected Learnings From Testing

Our tester—a frequent traveler who'd experienced profiling—subverted our expectations:

The Skip Effect
- Bypassed 10/30 frames through intuitive leaps
- Demonstrated that expert users develop mental shortcuts around bureaucratic systems
The Power of Negative Space

"I ignored these boxes because they looked like ads, not instructions."
- Revealed how government sites train users to dismiss certain UI patterns
The Vocabulary Barrier
- Hesitated longest at "redress control number" field
- Later admitted: "I almost quit here—it sounded like I needed a lawyer"

The Pivot: From Perfection to Pragmatism

We abandoned our "perfect" linear flow after observing:
✅ What Worked:

Collapsible instructions reduced cognitive load
Visual separation of active/completed steps

❌ What Failed:

Over-engineering less important steps
Assuming users would follow our imagined path

Revised Approach:

Lessons for Civic UX

Bureaucracy Fatigue is Real
Users approach government systems with pre-existing frustration—our prototypes must account for this emotional context.
Test the Edges
The most valuable insights came from where our tester deviated from the expected path.
Language is Interface
Replacing "redress control number" with "your case ID" increased engagement by 40% in subsequent