Case Type
hi
Crypto Fintech App
Year
2021
Business Project
Overview
hi is founded in Jan 2021, which private Beta App launched in May 2021. UXlicious joined hi as a part of the product team to enhance the user experience for the future development of the app. In order to achieve the business objective phase 1 - hi Super App. Our team is responsible for revamping the beta app to align the objective that combines the functionality of a crypto exchange with a next-generation digital bank, providing members with an all-in-one platform for savings, investments, payments, and lifestyle benefits.
My Role
I was one of the members in the design team which included a senior UX designer and a UI designer. We were working on the app revamp in Fall 2021 with the IT team product managers and engineers. The design process contains 12 weeks, which includes the research to high-fidelity mockup design, then the design will be delivered to the UI designer to work on branding enhancement.
Problems & Goals
Business Perspective
Problem😔
The current mobile information architecture was not designed with new features in mind. It is unconformable to the industry norms that run the risk of poor user experience and churn as users cannot intuitively navigate across and discover all our features.
Goals🎯
Maintain current design elements while reserving flexibility and feasibility of implementing potential features in the future.
User Perspective
Problem😔
Users doubt to invest cryptocurrencies through our product, as they are unable to receive information about the crypto market and hi's benefits of the app. Moving away from the beta app design to pave the way for hi’s super app required a ground-up rethinking of the way key features are organised and displayed on the app with a clear and friendly architecture.
Goals🎯
Manage their crypto assets securely and receive market information on cryptocurrencies efficiently.
Research
Market Research
Looking to trends in cryptocurrency exchange platforms and service providers in 2020-21, despite a decrease in the number of centralised exchanges and uptake in transaction value and users in decentralised exchanges, the key value proposition of centralised exchanges for new and existing users remains to be the ability to convert cryptocurrency into fiat (and vice versa).
By conducting competitor analysis, we found out our key competitors utilise minimised design to help users dive into the crypto market.
User Research
We set up a screening survey to recruit our target users participating in the user interviews. 15 online interviews were conducted and we discovered few highlighted insights.
10/15
Interviewees currently hold crypto as part of their investment portfolio
6/15
interviewees would like to keep or increase their crypto holding
7/15
interviewees trade crypto on a weekly basis;
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80% of the crypto traders interviewed said they got news and information about crypto on Twitter, telegram and other forum
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50% of the crypto traders read crypto news on a regular basis
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Binance, crypto.com, Coinbase, Wirex are what most of the interviewee choose for their crypto trading while “unclear, expensive trading fee” (6/15), “complicated terms and process” (6/15) are their top 2 pain points for using these platforms
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11/15 of interviewees claimed that our current design was lack of coherency to encourage users to stake hi dollar
Research Findings
During our UX audit, we found out that while other competitors’ app is stressful to navigate through, hi’s app is too simple and hard to receive the market information of the cryptocurrencies in the app. The structure of the app is over-focusing self-crypto assets, which discourages users to invest or explore more investment opportunities through the app.
Define
Design Principles
According to our findings, we defined 6 design principles on our product revamping journey in order to guide our design process.
Unified: Ultimately, our experience should promote cohesiveness and familiarity to our users. Our customers benefit when we utilise common patterns and encourage assimilation as we introduce new features and expand our offerings through the product.
Honest: We must provide transparency through feedback and promote the proper goals. Every action has a consequence and we should inform our users so they can develop trust and reliability.
Purposeful: Our users strive to be more productive. With this in mind, we should create experiences that help the users complete their goals in the most efficient way possible. We achieve this by understanding our customers through feedback, data and key metrics.
Useful: Platform and context matters - we should be making experiences that are adaptive, scalable and add value.
Clear: Content should be concise and frame experiences and visual affordances should clearly communicate the possibility of action.
Simple: Our interface should be clean, understated and focused on the essential aspects of what our users are trying to achieve.
Problem Statement
How might we design a product that helps users engage the crypto market with hi services securely & seamlessly so that they use hi wallet as one of their favorite crypto channel.
Information Architecture
In order to prioritise the best practice of the app structure, we conducted an internal workshop with various stakeholder (Design Team, Product Team and QA Team) and created an information architecture for the next design.
Design Concepts
User Flow (Deposit & Withdrawal)
In terms of accelerating trading experience, we redesign our user flow of deposit feature to help our user quickly conduct crypto trading in prior. Moreover, in order to build trust with our user, we also simplify our withdrawal process, so that the user can feel hi is a trustable platform which allow them to connect the "real world" (banking).
Sketching
Features Design
Friendly Navigation
While there are more key features has already launched (Earn, Membership... etc) and more features will be getting on ground (Debit Card), we redesigned the navigation bar based on the defined information architecture.
Simplified Trading
Simplifying crypto trading experience, users can quickly link their payment method (bank account, credit card, crypto wallet etc) and complete their checkout in 15 seconds.
Earning Engagement
We separated the investment page and progress page to provide users a focus on what should they do on each page.
Connecting “Real World”
We connected the visibility between wallet & membership and card & membership tier to show the connection among them, so that they can get additional benefits from our membership and utilise the crypto assets on daily spending. It encourages users to explore more about our membership and stake hi dollar to get benefits.
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Revamped Design Overview
Key Results
The revamp project development is expected to take 6 months to completed. It will be separated several phases and developed feature-by-feature. Instead, here are a part of results after our team joined hi.
~ 200k User Acquisition (after UXlicious’s design launched (hi Membership, Earn, Deposit... etc)
~ 700k Transactions per month
Reflection
It was a valuable experience to redesign the private Beta Apps that shed light on critical aspects of user experience and interface design. Our primary goal was to enhance the user experience of the app during its future development by overhauling its user interface and user experience components.
However, reflecting on the project, I've identified some areas that could be improved for even more successful outcomes. One key observation was the process of identifying and incorporating new features. Though the new features were largely identified by the product managers, as a UX designer, I wasn't actively involved in the early ideation stages. As a result of this lack of involvement, it is vital to initiate proactive communication with stakeholders so they can better understand why these features were defined. With this proactive approach, our design decisions would better align with the overall product vision and user needs.
Possible alteration in 2023
With an eye on 2023, I recognize the need to address shortcomings that emerged during this project. Lack of comprehensive research validation was the most notable gap. We were unable to conduct thorough user research due to cost and timeline constraints. A crucial component of product validation after design was missed because we relied on surveys and interviews to understand user needs and pain points.
In future projects, I plan to implement a more comprehensive research plan. In order to do this, we would have to establish success metrics during the design phase and ensure that adequate resources are allocated for product validation after the design phase is complete. This could involve conducting usability testing and user feedback sessions to ensure that the proposed design changes align with user preferences and enhance the overall user experience.
Incorporate a robust research validation process and adopt a more proactive approach in collaborating with stakeholders to elevate the overall impact of UX/UI design projects. As part of my commitment to deliver user-centred and validated solutions, my product's success will be substantiated by solid evidence while enhancing the user experience.
Key Visual of the App
