Introduction
Mirae Asset Brazil, a branch of a globally investment management company originally from South Korea, had an exciting challenge: to transform their digital presence for a more user-friendly and mobile-accessible experience.
I worked as the UX/UI designer for the project, which was a collaborative effort between two companies, Livework and PorQueNao.
Understanding and Empathy
At the outset of this project, I found myself in uncharted territory, knowing little about the intricacies of the Brazilian investment landscape. To bridge this knowledge gap, I immersed myself in the world of Brazilian investments, devouring articles and watching educational videos.
Stakeholder Insights
We dove into 6 in-depth interviews with Mirae Asset employees, seeking to understand their perspectives on the investment realm. Their valuable insights helped us uncover pain points and identify opportunities for improvement.
Competitive Landscape Analysis
We analyzed Brazil's top investment players, categorizing them into five distinct groups: Educators, Traditionals, Pioneers, Specialists, and Disruptors. These insights informed our strategy by highlighting successful visual and navigation patterns.
Competitor User Flow Mapping
To further refine our approach, I meticulously mapped the interfaces and user flows of key competitors, gathering valuable insights to guide our design decisions.
User Interviews
The quest for insight didn't stop there. We conducted 12 in-depth interviews with real investors, spanning a wide range of experience and capital investments. Our participants ranged in age from 24 to 60 and and identified themselves as male or female.
Profile
• People with active bank accounts
• Clients of investment companies
• Beginners and experienced stock traders
Capital
• Small investor - Less than R$100.000,00 invested
• Medium investor - R$100.00,00 to R$1.000.000,00 invested
• Big investor - More than R$ 1.000.000,00 invested
Profile
• People with active bank accounts
• Clients of investment companies
• Beginners and experienced stock traders
Capital
• Small investor - Less than R$100.000,00 invested
• Medium investor - R$100.00,00 to R$1.000.000,00 invested
• Big investor - More than R$ 1.000.000,00 invested
Personas and Customer Journey
Armed with our research findings, we created personas that embodied the diverse investor profiles we'd encountered. These personas became our guiding stars throughout the design process.
The customer journey was mapped to help the visualization of pain points and opportunities.
Ideation
Our ideation phase was a collaborative effort involving both Mirae Asset employees and investors. In three intensive design workshops:
Workshop 1:
We asked Mirae Asset's employees to pinpoint opportunities for process enhancement based on the customer journey.
Workshop 2:
Building upon the identified opportunities, employees proposed actionable ideas. We then conducted a "zen vote" to prioritize the most promising concepts.
Workshop 3:
We invited users into the process, engaging them in card sorting exercises to define platform content. They also created paper prototypes of app screens.
Following these workshops, our design team convened to sketch wireframes and user flows on whiteboards, bringing the ideation phase to life.
Workshop 1:
We asked Mirae Asset's employees to pinpoint opportunities for process enhancement based on the customer journey.
Workshop 2:
Building upon the identified opportunities, employees proposed actionable ideas. We then conducted a "zen vote" to prioritize the most promising concepts.
Workshop 3:
We invited users into the process, engaging them in card sorting exercises to define platform content. They also created paper prototypes of app screens.
Following these workshops, our design team convened to sketch wireframes and user flows on whiteboards, bringing the ideation phase to life.
Prototyping
With the ideas firmly in place, I transitioned into the prototyping stage, translating concepts into tangible interfaces to create Mirae Asset's new digital presence.
User Testing
Our designs underwent testing by five users in two distinct assessments:
5-Second Test:
Users were exposed to the interface for a brief five seconds, sharing their initial impressions without further interaction.
Moderated Usability Test:
Moderated Usability Test:
Users were tasked with completing specific actions on a mobile phone using our prototype. They provided real-time feedback, giving us invaluable insights.
Test Results:
•Users liked the visual identity and associated it with banks, investments, or finance apps due to the colors, images, and graphics.
•Users liked the visual identity and associated it with banks, investments, or finance apps due to the colors, images, and graphics.
•The investment process flow had a 100% success rate.
•More complex features like "investment comparison" were considered not very user-friendly. As a result, it was removed from the first version to be improved in future iterations.
Measuring Impact
To have a clear understanding of the project’s impact, we defined three success metrics:
Users and New Users Rating: Tracking app access rates allowed us to visualize our growth curve and assess the effectiveness of our redesign.
User Feedback Survey: To gather user opinions and improve the app continuously, we distributed a survey via email, collecting valuable feedback on the user experience.
Investment Rating (Total and Revenue): Analyzing the number of investments made and their monetary value provided insight into the project's effect on Mirae Asset's business and the efficiency of our user interfaces and flows.
Users and New Users Rating: Tracking app access rates allowed us to visualize our growth curve and assess the effectiveness of our redesign.
User Feedback Survey: To gather user opinions and improve the app continuously, we distributed a survey via email, collecting valuable feedback on the user experience.
Investment Rating (Total and Revenue): Analyzing the number of investments made and their monetary value provided insight into the project's effect on Mirae Asset's business and the efficiency of our user interfaces and flows.