WISDM
User Experience - Native Mobile App Design
Demystifying the stock market for everyday investors.
OVERVIEW
Wisdm is a fintech startup that is currently developing a mobile app that connects the newest generation of investors with real-time market news and AI-aggregated insights. The goal is to democratize the stock investment experience and arm users with information to increase financial literacy and avoid risk by making data-backed investment decisions.
In this sprint, my team and I were tasked with designing Wisdm’s founding prototype and creating an experience that is intuitive, highly usable and visually appealing, with a focus on onboarding, user dashboard, and simplified data visualizations.
Tools | Figma, Zoom, Maze, Slack, Google Suite
Role | UX Research, UX/ UI Design
Timeline | Dec 2022
Outcome | Prototype included in Wisdm’s acceptance into UC Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator and CITRIS Foundry programs
CONTEXT
The Big Picture
Economic uncertainty and interest from the advent of events such as the GameStop Phenomenon have introduced a new cohort of young investors eager to prepare for the future and participate in stock investments. However, with an overwhelming array of conflicting information available online, new investors are likely to experience decision fatigue and turn to emotion based investment decisions that are risky at best, and harmful when unmitigated.
According to a study conducted by Charles Schwab, 15% of US stock investors got their start in 2020.
This translates to 29 million new investors hoping to improve their financial outlook through stock investments.
What few new investors are aware of, however, is that without a research informed strategy up to 80% of retail investors ultimately lose money.
The Problem
The reality is that effective stock investing requires extensive research and cross-checking of business documents, print media, digital news outlets and social media platforms to start. Most retail investors don’t have the time, experience, or access to high-level insights that professionals do. Wisdm’s challenge is to successfully communicate this vast and complex market context data in a manner that provides value towards users’ investment decisions.
The Opportunity
Among this new generation of investors, 94% have reported a need for a tool to gather market context to make informed investment decisions. Wisdm is already tackling half this need by taking out countless painstaking hours of market research and analysis; the second half lies in the UX. How might we present vast amounts of complex data in a digestible manner that is accessible to users at every investment skill level?
RESEARCH SUMMARY
A survey screening and interviews with Wisdm’s target millennial users uncovered themes of distrust, fear of failure, and overwhelm at the idea of participating in the stock market. Even amongst those who consider themselves “dabblers” with some experience, many expressed frustration with
Complicated jargon that prevented them from furthering their financial literacy.
Confusion and overwhelm from conflicting sources of online information and misleading success stories.
Regret regarding past outcomes of poorly made emotional investments.
The main takeaways gathered from the primary research phase revealed pain points we later capitalized on as design opportunities to create an improved experience for retail investors of all skill and experience levels.
These insights also began to take shape and informed the creation of two personas representing Wisdm’s target users - one being an inexperienced novice and the other someone more practiced but seeking better resources.
For the sake of the sprint scope and to capture the most opportunity for impact, we decided to move forward with the “dabbler” persona, representing an inexperienced millennial investor with limited financial literacy who needs some guidance and access to reliable resources to start planning for financial stability at the start of their investment journey.
With our target persona in mind, I developed a current state user journey map highlighting the UX before, during and after a user’s first foray into stock investments without the Wisdm app.
By listing out the touch points and actions it takes to get through each step of the investing process, we identified what information we need to deliver to our target users when, and highlighted actionable areas of future growth opportunity at specific points in their journey.
DESIGN FEATURES
With the opportunity to make investing accessible to a larger audience, we focused in on 3 primary features in our prototype designs: education, inclusion, and personalization.
Tool tips (left) and tailored lesson plans (right)
Education
Connect users to real-time, vetted information and news updates from across multiple platforms.
Offer a variety of visual lesson plans to introduce users to wider finance topics and improve overall financial literacy.
Tool tips that clarify and provide context for abstract jargon to provide encouragement and reduce new user overwhelm and emotional friction.
Explore feed (left) and influence score data visualization (right)
Inclusion
Simplified data visualizations that are scannable and effectively communicate aggregated insights without overwhelming an introductory user.
Media posts and lessons presented in multimedia formats to accommodate user learning preferences.
Consistent UX voice and copy that balances reliable professionalism with friendly, guided approachability.
Onboarding that captures skill level and interests for tailored content recommendations (left, right)
Personalization
Thorough onboarding process that captures user’s specific learning goals and investment skill level.
Customizable dashboard and feed user flexibility in terms of prioritizing the content they value and wish to interact more with.
Ability to connect social media accounts for relevant recommendations and feed posts.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
Explore the Final Prototype ✨
PRODUCT IN THE WILD
Release & Next Steps
While the prototype is in the process of development, we are working in close collaboration with our team of developers to ensure the translation of design choices showcased in the prototype, with an anticipated beta launch coming later this year.
I am continuing to iterate on our designs with results obtained from usability testing of the user flow, as well as A/B testing for specific data visualization modals and UI choices. In the future, I plan to continue expanding on alternate user flows, further ideating user dashboard solutions, and developing a focus for educational content on the platform.