Secondary Research

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I began with secondary research to gain a general understanding of the banking/finance industry and the demographics of Chase customers. Although Chase serves over half of America's households, recent studies show a continual increase in mobile banking usage, with Millennials comprising the majority of users for the Chase mobile app. I also thoroughly analyzed Chase's features and the less customized functionality when designing new personal management features. After learning more about Chase, I wanted to explore how Chase users might differ from users of other major financial services. Interestingly, I found that 65% of millennial users are actively using non-traditional banks (such as Google and Apple) for their financial activities, 25% are willing to switch to non-traditional banks for their primary financial management, and 43% conduct their financial management using mobile devices, as the top financial services are also prioritizing mobile usage.

In-Person User Research

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To better understand the users, I conducted contextual inquiry interviews with potential Chase app users at locations frequented by our target audience, such as the New School library and the Blue Bottle Coffee shop next to the WeWork office in Bryant Park, NYC. The individuals I interacted with included young students, professionals, and entrepreneurs—all part of the target demographic for the new features. From these discussions, I gained several insights, one of which was particularly striking: all millennials expressed the belief that finance apps are too hard or complicated for managing their daily financial activities.

Define User

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Based on the research findings and reflecting Chase's target demographic, I created two personas, Josh and Emma, to represent the insights gathered. Josh is a young student from the Millennial generation who needs help with saving, while Emma is a young entrepreneur who desires complete control over all her financial activities. By giving context and personality to the research data, we can better align with their behaviors and empathize with the target users throughout the design process. To align with Chase’s objectives for new features on mobile devices, my primary focus was on Millennial users. Feel free to explore the second persona, Emma. From the research findings, the interviews indicated that participants were satisfied with the current features, but they definitely required more personalized features to accomplish their financial goals. It was crucial to clearly uncover their pains and gains to enhance the banking experience for Chase users. Feel free to review Josh’s empathy map and Emma’s persona.

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Storyboard for their journey

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To further understand the user and problem space, I drafted a short storyboard illustrating Josh's use of the Chase app. This storyboard effectively communicates Josh's problem and how the Chase app could offer a solution

Project Goals

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After defining and empathizing with Josh and Emma, I began to outline both business and user goals to ensure that I could develop a solution that meets the needs of both parties. It is crucial to clearly understand Chase's original goals and what the company expects to achieve by designing a solution. These goals were then cross-referenced with the users' goals to identify common objectives that I aim to address through my design.

How Might We

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After establishing common goals, I conducted in-depth research on features from major competitors, tailored to meet Josh's and Emma's needs. This analysis allowed me to identify the best features from leading financial management companies that could be adapted for Chase users. The insights gained from this analysis led to the formulation of design questions aimed at enhancing user experience.

Sitemap

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Next, I created a sitemap to visualize the information architecture of the app. This helped me determine the optimal placement of the new features within the current app design, ensuring that it remains intuitive for existing Chase users.

User Flows

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To analyze the integration of the new features, I mapped out various user flows based on scenarios identified in the primary research. This exercise helped me determine which screens and UI elements were necessary to implement the new features, while also considering ways to optimize user flows.

Task Flows: Autosave / Budget

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Next, I delved into the flows for two major features—autosave and budgeting—in greater detail by constructing two task flows: one where Josh sets up an autosave rule for the first time, and another where he sets up a budget for the next month. This practice allowed me to thoroughly understand the behaviors of the personas and their decision-making processes throughout the entire journey, aiding me in finding the right design solution.

Design Audit

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Before starting work on the wireframes, I analyzed Chase's mobile app to familiarize myself with its current design, documenting notes on all the main features and the new features from other top players tailored for Millennials. Thanks to Finn's intensive years of researching and testing with users, Finn has already implemented appropriate features for this demographic. I aimed to leverage these features effectively. This process allowed me to gain a better understanding of Chase’s design patterns and Finn’s advanced features, uncover new opportunities that could enhance the integration of new features, and determine how these features could be seamlessly incorporated.

Low-Fidelity Wireframe

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I initially sketched low-fidelity wireframes using post-its and a whiteboard. I found this approach very beneficial for quickly and clearly mapping out all necessary features and layouts to visualize overall flows before delving into high-fidelity details. This preparation allowed me to use my time more efficiently.

Sketches

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I began designing the UI for new features by sketching out various ideas. I was able to smoothly integrate the new features while adhering to Chase’s design patterns and utilizing UI elements that Chase users are already familiar with. With the annotated sketches, I was able to present my ideas to other teams and gain constructive feedback at an early stage of the design process.

Style Board

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Before creating the high-fidelity wireframes, I developed a style board to enhance Chase’s branding and ensure cohesiveness.

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High-Fidelity Wireframe

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Based on the interviews I conducted and a survey specifically about saving, I was able to gather deep insights into users' pains and needs. The most important data I learned is that spending and saving are deeply interconnected; most of the time, users save money to purchase or spend on specific needs. Almost all of them need an easier and better way to save more for their needs. The autosave features are directly designed to address their concerns about saving.

High-Fidelity Prototype

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I then created high-fidelity wireframes in Sketch for a mobile app. The designs were all based on Chase’s existing mobile UI, often requiring me to match pixel for pixel. For the autosave rules, I drew inspiration from Finn’s current features. The wireframes demonstrated the look and feel of the new features and encouraged useful feedback from stakeholders. With the high-fidelity wireframes, I created a mobile prototype in the Marvel app to gather usability data from Chase users. Feel free to interact with the prototype using the button below.

Affinity Map

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I created an affinity map to synthesize the usability findings, identifying recurring behaviors and feedback. From the synthesized information, I drew insights that informed recommendations for the next iteration of the design. For example, the highest priority insights indicated a need to improve the learnability of the new features. Therefore, I recommended adding announcements that introduce the features and show where to find them.

Spending and saving are deeply correlated.

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A new personalized autosave rule allows users to set up a customized rule aimed at saving for a specific product.

UI Style Guide

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While prototyping, I maintained a UI kit to document UI elements and patterns for future reference. Although many of the UI elements were based on Chase’s existing design, I created additional components from scratch using Sketch and Illustrator.