Aldermore Bank
Responsive Web - Online Banking
Senior Visual Designer | 2017
My task at Aldermore Bank was to fully redesign the savings platform for the banks online Business savings service. This involved being fully engaged in user testing, lean prototyping, creating end to end journeys for the digital onʼboarding process and online banking. I also developed a digital design system for the banks re-brand.
Skills Employed: UX Design, UX Research, UI Design, Design System/Style Guides, Illustration, Prototyping, User Testing.
Tools Used: Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, Axure, Zeplin, Marvel, Invision
Identifying the problem
Research & Insight Gathering
Aldermore are a ‘challenger’ bank specialising in savings and loans for SME corporations. They also focus on asset management and mortgages. Aldermore savings platform was a product of a start up enterprise make it quick and cheap approach. It had been built with an off the self solution with not much design thought or how users will engage with the digital platform. Research showed us that customers had a hard time signing up for accounts. Once signed up the first use experience was poor and users struggled to understand which accounts they had and how to manage their money within the site.
Design Process & Solutions
Scope, Prototyping, Ideation & Design mockup’s
The design process for re-designing the Aldermore online banking digital platform and onboarding began by conducting research and developing user personas. There was a 3 day sprint conducted in an offsite facility with all key stakeholders to ideate and run workshops to begin the design thinking process for the project. From learnings gathered from the sessions I began creating initial wireframes and user journeys. This then led to fully prototyping journeys to test with users. Along with developing wireframes, mapping journeys and prototyping, I was also simultaneously creating a new design framework and updated UI/digital brand which would be housed in a digital style guide and design system for developers and the wider UX design team to impliment designs as sprints progressed.
The Outcome
Results
The redesign for online baking and onboarding was launched in 2017 and immediately began to have a positive impact on success rates of new banking customers completing registration and logging in to their online banking without issue. Feedback from customers was positive about the new look and feel and usability of the banking platform from due to it’s ease of use to clean simple interface. The banks re-brand was rolled out across all other digital banking products later that year using the guidelines and systems I designed.
My Design Process
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Every project begins with understanding and research. Identifying and understanding the problems of a product or an idea and how something works is at the base of every project I tackle.
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After the understanding of the problem has been thoroughly researched and understood I then begin to ideate through, sketching, holding workshops, creating mockup designs and prototyping journeys and flows .
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Testing designs and user experiences with human beings is the next step in the process, and the way of validating ideas explored in the previous process of sketching and designing potential solutions. The insights gathered from user testing is assessed and the learnings then help to evolve the design and thinking.
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After testing and iterating, testing again if necessary it’s then time to start refining and finalising designs into a finished product ready to be built by development teams. Project depending, development can also be part of the test process for A/B test and other forms of validating designs in a live environment. Final designs will be thouroughly tested again for QA to ensure design and behavious are correctly implemented.