MyFuture
2026
Guiding young adults to make confident informed decisions about life after high school.
MyFuture.com is a Department of Defense–supported website helping students explore post–high school options while increasing visibility of the military as an option.
Overview
Guiding young adults to make confident decisions about life after high school.
MyFuture.com is a Department of Defense–supported website helping students explore post–high school options while increasing visibility of the military as an option. The redesign moved the site from three isolated destinations into one connected decision-making journey, so military service could surface naturally alongside college and career paths instead of competing against them.
The Impact
Year-over-year increase in traffic to the platform and the redesigned experience converted that volume into meaningful discovery rather than losing it to bounce.
Research
Understanding existing behaviors and user mindsets
The existing site was organized into three separate sections: Career, College, and Military. Analytics showed each functioned as its own destination. Users would land in one and rarely leave it. Anyone exploring career or college information rarely encountered what military service could offer them.
The structure made military service feel like an either/or decision, when it could actually support both education and career goals. That told us what was happening. We also wanted to better understand who we were designing for and why they were rarely crossing into the Military section.
Existing homepage showing core site sections
Pulling from recent DoD research
To understand the why behind that behavior, we looked at a recent youth research study to uncover how young adults think about military service, career readiness, and post-high school planning.
32% low military knowledge
Nearly 1 in 3 young adults reported low familiarity with the military.
42% would join to pay for education
Education funding was the second biggest motivator for considering military service.
12% believed military offers better career outcomes
Only 1 in 10 young adults saw military service as a stronger career path than civilian work
Key insights
Site analytics and JAMRS youth poll data pointed in the same direction and together they reframed the problem we needed to solve for.
Problem
Military service is the lesser known "other option"
The existing structure treated military service as a third option sitting alongside college and careers. Analytics showed the site was organized around options, and research showed It needed to be organized around a journey.
01
Siloed structure
Career, College, and Military operated as three separate destinations with little crossover between them.
02
Either/or framing
Presenting military service as a standalone section made it read as a competing choice rather than something that could coexist with other paths.
03
Missed exposure
Students exploring career or college content had no natural path to discovering what military service could offer them.
Military service isn't an either/or decision. It is a way to fund college, build a career, or find direction before committing to a path. Design decisions needed to make sure that connection was visible.
Site Structure & IA
From silos to a journey
The decision to move to a journey-based IA was the most consequential decision on this project. Rather than organizing content around post-high school options, we reorganized around where someone actually is in their decision-making process. The question shifted from "which path are you here for?" to "where are you in figuring out your future?"
This meant military content could surface contextually alongside college and career information, not as an alternative, but as a complement. A user exploring education options would naturally encounter how military service could support that goal. A user who was undecided would be guided toward broader exploration rather than siloed options.
Finalized site map
I facilitated working sessions and card-sorting exercises with internal teams to develop and validate the new structure. The resulting site map moved away from parallel silos toward an interconnected content ecosystem — one where a user's interests and goals, not their assumed path, determined what they saw next.
Card sorting exercises carried out through Optimal Workshop.
Ideation & Design
Embodying a guidance counselor rather than a static library of information.
The strategy centered on redesigning MyFuture to function less like a static information library and more like a trusted guidance counselor — helping students understand how different paths compare, intersect, and fit their own goals. While information rich article style pages still existed, we filled the site with more engaging content to both direct and educate young adults who were exploring their options.
01
Personalized dashboard
Introduced a personalized dashboard that consistently surfaced military options alongside other paths, so the comparison happened naturally rather than requiring users to seek it out.
02
Interactive timelines
We created interactive timelines to clearly show the common pathways into military service and paint a clearer picture around what a journey into and through the military looks like.
03
Flip-card components
Existing dense content was transformed into scannable, digestible flip-card formats that tested well with users and made complex topics feel approachable and comparable.
A 3-question quiz that generates a personalized dashboard
Modernizing the visual system
Working closely with our UI designer, Javier Salido, we expanded the brand beyond its core green into a broader palette with vibrant secondary colors, and introduced illustrative elements to add warmth and personality to what is usually a stressful and overwhelming time for this audience.
Shifting tone and voice
The content shifted to sound more like a person and less like a brochure. The audience is young but not naive — they can tell when they're being talked down to. The goal was to be straightforward and encouraging without being patronizing.
Shifting tone and voice
The redesign moved MyFuture from three siloed destinations to one connected journey, giving military service consistent visibility across every path a student might explore.
Lessons
Structure shapes perception
This project reinforced that how information is organized shapes how it's perceived just as much as the content itself. Presenting military service as a separate, competing section — even when the content itself was solid — was enough to make it feel like a lesser option. Restructuring the site around a shared journey, and shifting the voice to sound more like a person than a brochure, did more to change perception than any single page could have.
Key outcomes
Unified information architecture
Replaced three competing destinations with one connected decision-making journey.
Sustained traffic growth
Paid media drove a 489% YoY increase in traffic, and the new structure was built to convert that volume into discovery.
A more human voice
Shifted tone from institutional brochure to straightforward, encouraging guidance.
Scalable comparison patterns
Dashboard, timeline, and flip-card components created a reusable way to compare paths side by side.
