American Electric Power
Redesigning AEP's authentication experience across web and mobile, making it simpler, more consistent, and easier for millions of customers to access their accounts.
Category
UX Design · Usability Testing · Web & Mobile
Role
UX Designer
Timeline
4 months
Overview
Modernizing Authentication for Millions of AEP Customers
AEP was transitioning from RSA Access Manager to Okta, modernizing authentication across 8 operating companies and 14 mobile apps. My role was to design and test the full customer experience for this transition, across both web and mobile.
That meant redesigning seven core authentication journeys, from new user registration to MFA setup to account recovery, and validating every flow through structured usability testing. The challenge wasn't just making it look better. It was making a security critical experience feel effortless for millions of customers who just wanted to access their account.
Problem
The Existing Experience
AEP was transitioning from RSA Access Manager to Okta, modernizing authentication across 8 operating companies and 14 mobile apps. My role was to design and test the full customer experience for this transition, across both web and mobile.
That meant redesigning seven core authentication journeys, from new user registration to MFA setup to account recovery, and validating every flow through structured usability testing. The challenge wasn't just making it look better. It was making a security critical experience feel effortless for millions of customers who just wanted to access their account.
How did we solve it
Our Approach
We redesigned all seven authentication flows, New User Registration, MFA Setup, Persistent Login, Change Password, Forgot Password, Forgot User ID, and Reset MFA, making the experience simple and consistent across both web and mobile.
To validate our designs, we ran 13 usability sessions through UserTesting, 9 moderated and 4 unmoderated. We watched how real users moved through each flow, where they got stuck, and what felt natural. That testing surfaced 14 usability issues across accessibility, navigation, and clarity. Each one became a specific design fix, refining the experience until it felt as effortless as it should.
Visual Design
Every screen was designed around one question, does this help the user move forward with confidence? Here's what that looked like across web and mobile.
The Impact
Testing Phase
We ran 13 usability sessions, 9 moderated via Zoom and 4 unmoderated through UserTesting. Each participant was walked through all 7 authentication flows, giving us detailed feedback on how they navigated, what felt clear, and where they got stuck. The good news, users generally found the Okta experience easy to navigate. The guidance, visual cues, and overall clarity landed well.
But we still documented 17 usability issues across the seven flows:
General: 5 issues
Persistent Login: 5 issues
New User Registration: 3 issues
Forgot Password: 1 issues
New MFA: 2 issue
Change Password: 0 issues
Forgot User ID: 0 issues
Reset MFA: 1 issues
Issues spanned six categories, Accessibility, Navigation, Usability, Terminology, UI, and System Feedback. Each one became a specific design refinement.
