Natasha Kurus
About Me
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👋 About Me

Hi, I’m Natasha — a Senior UX/UI Designer with 9+ years of experience creating intuitive, accessible, and scalable digital products for government, SaaS, and highly regulated industries.

I specialize in transforming complex systems into user-friendly experiences that drive measurable impact — from reducing onboarding time by 50% to improving accessibility scores across enterprise platforms. I bridge product vision with brand strategy, ensuring every design decision supports both business goals and user needs.

Whether collaborating with cross-functional teams or leading end-to-end design strategy, I bring a mix of creativity, analytical thinking, and technical expertise to deliver thoughtful, consistent, and inclusive solutions. I thrive on solving challenging problems, championing design systems, and elevating products that serve millions of users.

📩 Let’s connect: natakurus@gmail.com





Maryland FAMLI: Concept

Envisioning a modern, accessible, and equitable service for 2.6 million Maryland workers, 180,000 employers, providers, and state staff

Role: Senior UX/UI Designer (conceptual project)
Team: Self-initiated project inspired by Maryland Department of Labor’s FAMLI program. In reality, this service would be delivered by cross-disciplinary teams including product managers, policy experts, engineers, and researchers.
Goal: To envision a digitally native public service that enables Maryland workers, employers, medical providers, and state staff to access and administer paid family and medical leave. The aim was to demonstrate how human-centered design, accessibility, and service design can shape a large-scale benefits program at its inception.

Context

Maryland’s FAMLI program covers 2.6 million workers and 180,000 employers, providing up to 12–24 weeks of paid, job-protected leave. Because benefits begin in 2028, the state is currently defining digital infrastructure from the ground up. This is a rare opportunity to avoid legacy system pitfalls and instead deliver a modern, trustworthy service.

As a designer passionate about public service, I created this concept plan to illustrate how Maryland could launch a comprehensive, accessible, and scalable digital ecosystem for FAMLI.

The Problem

Without well-designed tools, FAMLI risks:

  • Workers (especially hourly, part-time, multilingual) not knowing how to apply or track claims
  • Employers struggling with compliance and payroll contributions
  • Providers overburdened with certification paperwork
  • State staff unable to efficiently adjudicate claims

Process

1. Discovery & Research Approach
  • Mapped out primary audiences: workers, employers, providers, staff
  • Conducted comparative analysis of other state paid leave programs (e.g., CA, WA, NJ)
  • Defined pain points around eligibility, application complexity, and accessibility
2. Service Blueprint

Outlined interactions across channels:

  • Workers: eligibility checker → guided intake → claim status dashboard → notifications
  • Employers: contribution reporting → employment verification → compliance reminders
  • Providers: digital certification → EMR integration potential → streamlined handoffs
  • Staff: adjudication dashboard → document management → communications templates
3. Vision & Design Principles
  • Equity First: mobile-first, multilingual (English + Spanish at launch), trauma-informed
  • Accessibility: WCAG 2.2 compliance, plain language, assistive tech testing
  • Trust & Transparency: clear status updates, secure data handling
  • Scalability: design system tokens, built on U.S. Web Design System (USWDS)
4. Prototyping Key Flows
  • Worker application form (mobile-first)
  • Claim status tracker (with plain-language updates)
  • Employer dashboard (compliance + contributions)
  • Staff review screen (with prefilled templates)
5. Phased Roadmap
  • Phase 1 (Discovery): User research, policy workshops, journey maps
  • Phase 2 (MVP Launch): Worker portal (eligibility checker, application, status updates)
  • Phase 3 (Ecosystem Expansion): Employer portal, provider portal, staff dashboards
  • Phase 4 (Continuous Improvement): Research repository, multilingual expansion, API integrations

Outcomes

  • Conceptual Framework: A complete plan showing how FAMLI could be delivered as a public-facing digital service from day one.
  • Service Blueprint + Mockups: Demonstrated how all four user groups could interact with the system in a seamless, human-centered way.
  • Design Ops Foundation: Proposed design tokens, templates, and multilingual content guidelines to support scalable growth.
  • Public Service Commitment: Reinforced my passion for equitable, accessible civic technology that supports families during critical life events.

Reflection

Designing services like FAMLI is not just about compliance — it’s about dignity, equity, and care. This project reminded me that public benefit systems must be built for real lives: a grocery worker applying on their phone at 11pm, an employer without an HR system, a Spanish-speaking caregiver, or a claims adjudicator juggling hundreds of cases.

As a Senior Designer, I aim to bring both strategic systems thinking and practical design execution to help Maryland launch a service that is usable, scalable, and trusted by every resident it serves.