Background
I helped led growth and launched the CollabTrade Android app in 2018 by being the lead product designer throughout the design cycle. I have pitched this app idea at startup accelerators and business competition resulting in being able to raise a total of $9,500 for the pre-seed funding.
My Role
I have been responsible for leading the end-to-end design process such as conducting research, user interviews, wireframing, low and high fidelity prototypes, and usability testing.
Timeline
12 Weeks
Research & Discovery
Problem & Motivation
Investing in the stock market can be difficult for most people and getting started can be even more of a challenge. Constant fear of not being able to choose the right stock or not having enough money to invest can lead to a big loss of opportunity.
Project Brief/Solution
Introducing CollabTrade a mobile app that helps make investing more accessible for millennials through group trading or fractional stock transactions. This project focused on conceptualizing and developing the mobile app to identify if there is a demand/need for this in the market.
Interviews
Five interviews were conducted with individuals who ranged from either having minor to major experience trading stocks on their smartphones to better. The major takeaways were:
Lack of knowledge
A recent college graduate has expressed his reason for not investing, “One thing that really deterred me from investing in stocks is that I didn’t know what to do or where to start”
Lack of capital
A finance professional has expressed his reason for not investing, “The biggest reason I didn’t invest in the stock market is because I didn’t really have much money but now I am able to afford putting money in the market.”
Millennial Age Group
Based on the set of users that have been interviewed, I can conclude that the millennials (Individuals born between the year 1981 and 1996) would be our target group due to their strong technical capabilities with their smartphones. Also, being old enough to be able to invest in the market.
Empathy Mapping
Based on collected data, I was able to construct an empathy map to better understand how a user might be.
Persona
From the empathy map, I have established a user persona to have a clear representation of who we are designing the solution for and to guide my design decisions.
Interaction Design
User Flow
These high-level structures highlight the critical user flows of the application and breakdown the path Daniel would have to take in order to achieve a specific task.
Initial Sketches
Low-Fidelity Design Flow
Guerrilla Usability Test
With the low-fidelity designs, I wanted to understand more about the usability of the mobile app by observing if users will have an idea on how to initiate a trade either individually or with friends. For this experiment what I was hoping to discover is to see if there are any possible impediments where it might confuse a user to be able to finish a certain task.
Test Takeaways
Based on these results and feedback from this user test, I understand the changes that will need to be done in the designs and content. This has helped me in tackling my own personal biases. Working with the low-fidelity wireframes, 66% of all the participants were able to understand the primary purpose of the app. The three major things that I have discovered are:
Not all users who have experience in trading, understand the specific market terminology such as market or limit order.
Not all users who have experience in trading, understand the specific market terminology such as market or limit order.
Users are more inclined to purchase stocks that have been recommended verses to what they know.
Visual Design
Style Guide
I have created a style guide to aid me while I create the high-fidelity designs of the mobile application.
High-Fidelity Designs
Test
Usability Testing
After finishing up the high-fidelity designs, now it was time for one of the most crucial part, which was usability testing. The 3 features I have tested is the stock search feature, purchasing fractional shares, and purchasing and selling stocks as a group. I was hoping to discover areas for improvements in usability of the fractional and group trading functionality in the CollabTrade application.
Test Takeaway
Final Design
Fractional Shares Workflow
Having the capability to be able to purchase fractional shares of a stock allows the user to be able take control their financial portfolio with little cost.
Group Transactions Workflow
Start forming groups with friends, family or anyone you trust and start investing and managing a shared portfolio together.
Success Metrics & Next Steps
Success Metrics
Next Steps: Develop for the web
Based on the majority of our target users they have mentioned that they have a preference to trade using their desktops. The reason for this is because they can obtain more information
Reflection
I really enjoyed being able to work on this project, being able to make an impact in the fintech industry by creating more opportunities to better help people invest smarter is something that really excites me. If I were to expand onto this project, I would like to focus on creating an education piece or feature for the application so that it can help guide individuals who have little to no experience to invest and manage their money better.