Role: UI Design (native mobile), Prototype Development
First Horizon is a growing regional bank headquartered in the mid-south. Between merger phases, they’re just beginning to differentiate their digital platforms and embed customer experience journeys along with design thinking into their workflow considerations. A major area of potential improvement is the mobile app in general, but more specifically the mobile deposit feature. In this lab we investigated customer reactions to different potential design flows.
TL;DR / Just show me
Flow 1, the more expected/average one
Flow 2, a little more experimental
Storytime
In previous labs, I noticed that test participants often grabbed the scrollbar to move around rather than using the scroll-wheel — sometimes missing and being taken out of the (remote, Webex) experience. I made this one fullscreen and that fixed the issue!
We did, however, still have some issues conducting this type of lab through remote control of the tester’s computer: connection speeds, audio issues, and screen sizes. Running labs during Covid-19 times proved to be its own experiment.
Because my researcher/lab conductor (Tee Brazzell, who’s awesome) likes to run flows in alternating order between participants, I created little controls so she could discreetly switch between the two. A test participant would not interact with these, but alternating between what someone sees first helps to correct for any kind of order-bias.
I also included (and she was overjoyed by) a little link to where she could show users some static versions of what had happened, as reference. Because the experience was animated, I couldn’t stop those from taking place when they wanted to reference something while talking afterward. This turned out to be a pretty good compromise!
As mentioned up in “TL;DR,” the first flow matches what I’ve seen in most mobile deposit flows, and somewhat matches what happens in the app today (with some streamlining). The second flow has two experiments:
Launching directly into the camera rather than having to fill out the form first. The idea was that with a little bit of OCR, the app could potentially handle most of this for you but that it would still be a good idea to check it before submitting.
Not having to turn your phone on the camera step. Admittedly, I was the only one to care about this! I tend to get phones with thin bezels on the sides, so sometimes in the phone-turning process things can go haywire. Also with the popularity of apps like Instagram and TikTok which use vertical cameras more often, I think this is more likely to become an option within utility apps. The participants weren’t big fans, to my dismay. I wonder if the outcome would have been different on a younger list?
After running the labs, I experimented with just adding the results-presentation straight onto the lab file. I think it turned out well! It was definitely a nice change of pace from creating powerpoints to send around to everyone. Participants would have only seen the phone and “phone handling action buttons” atop the blue background.
As long as my FH Adobe account is still active, you should be able to visit the presentation version and see for yourself! Due to connection with Adobe servers, however, not all animations may run smoothly. A local file was housed on the test computer for the lab.