BANKSUR / UI & UX Design - Laura Bernacchia

BankSur

MY ROLE

UI/UX Design / Conducting interviews, wireframing, prototyping, usability studies.

PROJECT DURATION

6 months / Jun. – Dec. 2021

LINK

THE PROBLEM

Opening a bank account is a process that takes time. Bank Sur wants to facilitate customer registration with an easy and intuitive way to access banking, 100% online, in simple steps and with minimal requirements.

THE GOAL

A responsive Website, intuitive, easy to use, to capture users with a simple account opening method.

THE PRODUCT

BankSur is a bank located in New York, USA. BankSur proposes a quality fast way to become member of the bank 100% online, covering all transactions and offering benefits to the users. The bank wants to reach young clients: 18 to 50 years old, especially in Central and South America.

SUMMARY

With the user always as the north, I carry out all the UX task based on the concept of attracting new customers through the ease of operating 100% online. The objetive is that young and middle age users (who are just starting out in the banking system or adults who, after the COVID-19 pandemic are encouraged to use digital investment media) becomes members of the bank with minimal requirements.

Competitor Analysis

I worked observing direct and indirect competitors, the visual designs of their websites, their CTAs, the way users had to register and the onboarding. I paid special attention to accessibility, and to the basic features that were offered to users, such as the option to change the language and the option for help or frequently asked questions.

Down: First ideas
I did a quick ideation exercise to come up with ideas for how to address gaps identified in the competitive audit. My focus was specifically on a very user friendly interfaz and a simple new account creation.

Information Architecture

This is how I helping users to understand their environment and find what they are looking for.

Information architecture is the creation of a structure that allows us to understand where we are as users and where the information we want is in relation to our position.

To do this, I relied on the target audience, the related technologies and the data that will be presented through the website, taking special interest in the values of the user and the values of the business.

Digital Wireframes

After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial responsive designs for the online Bank Website.
These designs focused on delivering personalized guidance to users to help manage their accounts.

In this case I use the Graceful degradation strategy, designing from largest screen to smaller.

Usability Testing

To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow.
I made this flow in very few steps: User creation using minimal data and an identity verification with photography.
Then a main screen and a dashboard to operate the account, as the first steps for the final structure of the entire web.

Parameters

Study type: Unmoderated usability study

Location: Buenos Aires, ARG. / In Situ

Participants: 7 participants

Length: 30-60 minutes

ABOUT THE STUDY

I did this usability study for identifying problems in the design of the product, uncovering opportunities to improve and learning about the target user’s behavior and preferences.

I did a qualitative and quantitative study, with questions like:

You’re considering opening a new account with BankSur. Please visit banksur.com and open an account.
Your screen is showing “Error 404”. How can you get rid of the error message?
You’ve been told you need to speak to Tyler Smith your account executive. Use the web to find out to do it.

FINDINGS

Surprisingly there were no errors in the tasks that the users had been assigned and all of them were able to solve them.
I analyze the findings and convert them into redesign recommendations for the next iteration, but in general, they were all of the P2 type.

Accessibility

Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers

ALT attributes for descriptions of the destination read as the user moves the cursor around.

Take Aways

The research bases for this project were really solid.
Before starting the design, an exhaustive analysis of the competitors was carried out, and their strengths and weaknesses and their most successful strategies were used to build the idea and solve problems.
From this field already investigated, it was possible to create an interface with efficient navigation, clear organization, consistent design.

Down: Final responsive design.