Chapter 1

Discovery Workshop

The initial immersion phase of design surfaced three interaction concept models: Conversation Starters, Mosaic Map, & Storybook. Each concept had its own approach to providing valuable insights into a consumer’s finances.

Analogue First Design

After a collaboration session with the client, the “Mosaic Map” interaction concept model was chosen. Responding to the challenge of ‘banking not banking’ the design team began the design iteration process, starting with a series of paper prototypes.

Digital Prototype

The paper design process proved to be inspirational and very productive, which lead to the creation of a high-fidelity interactive prototype.

The mosaic map concept design was presented to the client and was well received. However, it didn’t pass the approval of Barclays CEO, who unknown to all, had a new direction waiting for us.

Chapter 2

Visual Metaphors

A New Direction
Based on a ‘well-being scaffolding financial risk model’ developed by Oxford Risk, the team was challenged to find “visual metaphors” with the purpose of enabling customers to easily understand their full financial landscape. Powered by emerging AI technology the app would automatically delegate day-to-day banking tasks and recommend ways to save & invest.

Concept Designs

Three design squads were tasked with developing the financial well-being model into a fully functional digital product. Each model was based on a different visual metaphor that could enable a customer to see a full picture of their finances from immediate spending, and mid-term investment to long-term goals and gains.

Visual Metaphor – ”Telescope” Concept Prototype

Chapter 3

No Regrets

Through all the twists and turns of the design process, the client always maintained a ‘no regrets’ policy. This meant that if the final concept didn’t meet both business and consumer requirements, we’d have a ‘standard’ design ready to release.

The team focused the remainder of the engagement on a consumer banking app that provided the standard range of financial products & services including; app onboarding, checking account, check deposits, credit card details, customer support, and cross-sell functionality.

System Design

As with all best practice approaches to digital product design, the team created a robust design library housed and maintained in Sketch.