KO
PortBank
Website Design
Creation of an Easy to use bank app for opening a Personal Bank Account
UX Designer
Kemdi Onwusiri
Project Duration
3 months
Role
UX designer for the Portbank website design
The Product
PortBank is a bank that offers easy and efficient banking services for everyone. The typical user is between 18-40 years old, and most users are college students or young career professionals. PortBank’s goal is to make banking fun, fast, and easy for all types of users.
Responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs and responsive design.
Project Overview
The problem:
There is a struggle with available online banking app in the size and placement of buttons. Banking website layouts and navigation are complicated and confusing. Too many websites advertise easy banking but do not have enough bill payment options.
The goal:
Design PortBank’s website to have a less cluttered navigation and layout for easier browsing, also to be able to have two or more bank accounts opened.
User Research: Pain points
Navigation
Bank website designs are often busy, which results in confusing navigation
Interaction
Small buttons on bank websites make item selection difficult, which sometimes leads users to make mistakes
Experience
Banking websites don’t provide an engaging browsing experience
User Research: Summary
I conducted user interviews, which I then turned into empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs. I discovered that many target users treat online banking as a serious activity when they need to transfer money or make payments. However, many banking websites are overwhelming and confusing to navigate, which frustrated many target users. This caused a normally straight forward experience to become challenging for them.
Persona: Anna
Problem statement:
​
Anna is a busy sales assistant who needs intuitive website navigation and flexible accounts access, because she wants payment for online services to be stress free.
User Journey Map
I created a user journey map of Anna’s experience using the site to help identify possible pain points and improvement opportunities.
Sitemap
Difficulty with website navigation was a primary pain point for users, so I used that knowledge to create a sitemap.
My goal here was to make strategic information architecture decisions that would improve overall website navigation. The structure I chose was designed to make things simple and easy.
Paper Wireframes
Next, I sketched out paper wireframes for each screen in my app, keeping the user pain points about navigation, browsing, and registration flow in mind.
The paper wireframe screen variations to the right, focus on optimizing the browsing experience for users.
Digital wireframes
Moving from paper to digital wireframes made it easy to understand how the redesign could help address user pain points and improve the user experience.
Prioritizing useful button locations and visual element placement on the home page was a key part of my strategy.
Low-fidelity prototype
To create a low-fidelity prototype, I connected all of the screens involved in the primary user flow of registering to open an account.
At this point, I had received feedback on my designs from members of my team about things like placement of buttons and page organization. I made sure to listen to their feedback, and I implemented several suggestions in places that addressed user pain points.
Usability Study: Parameters
Study Type
Unmoderated Usability Study
Location
Ireland, remote
Participants
Length
5 Participants
20 - 30 Minutes
Usability Study: Findings
Account Opening
Users weren’t able to easily copy the residential address information into the mailing address
Services
Once at the services page
Users didn’t have a way to look at the date for payment
The Design System
Mockups
Based on the insights from the usability study, I made changes to improve the site’s account opening flow. One of the changes I made was adding the account balance to the bills payment screen. This allowed users more freedom to spend on services without leaving the page.
Mockups: Original screen size
Mockups: Screen size variations
I included considerations for additional screen sizes in my mockups based on my earlier wireframes. Because users bank from a variety of devices, I felt it was important to optimize the browsing experience for a range of device sizes, such as mobile, so users have the smoothest experience possible.
High-fidelity
prototype
My hi-fi prototype followed the same user flow as the lo-fi prototype, and included the design changes made after the usability study, as well as several changes suggested by members of my team.
View the PortBank high-fidelity prototype
Accessibility considerations
3
1
2
I designed the site with alt text available on each page for smooth screen reader access
I used landmarks to help users navigate the site, including users who rely on assistive technologies
I used headings with different sized text for clear visual hierarchy
Takeaways
Impact
Our target users shared that the design was intuitive to navigate through, more engaging with the images, and demonstrated a clear visual hierarchy.
What I learnt
I learned that even a small design change can have a huge impact on the user experience. The most important takeaway for me is to always focus on the real needs of the user when coming up with design ideas and solutions.
Next Steps
Add more resources for users to learn about the banks corporate culture
Conduct follow-up usability testing on the new website
1
2