Wildfire Credit Union

Overview

Like many other credit unions and banks, Wildfire Credit Union hadn't updated their client's user portal in a long time. As a result, they saw a slow decline in new accounts being opened. After user research, they found that their archaic product turned people off. Everything needed a face-lift. While working for treXis, I had the opportunity to help bring this credit union's product to a modern design and provide a better user experience.

Goal

The initial goal was to modernize their user portal. It looked like something from Windows '95. The business goal was to increase user adoption by 3% quarter over quarter for the following year. (In 2021, we reached that goal in 3 out of 4 quarters.)

My Role

Designer, Researcher, Design System Manager

Timeline

The goal from the beginning was to implement everything in 4 months. WFCU ended up wanting more features and extended the project an additional 3 months.

Research

During my time at treXis, we partnered with a company based in Amsterdam called Backbase. Backbase was looking to move into the U.S. market, and we were their first U.S.-based partner for implementing their software for new accounts. They provide banks with one central system of engagement that orchestrates frictionless experiences across all touchpoints at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Simply put, they offer a robust banking tool to banks' and credit unions' user base. As a partner to Backbase, we would take their basic designs for a banking platform and customize them to the bank's needs. You can think of my role as a UX Designer for Backbase.

My research for this project involved working with the bank to obtain their product needs from their current product and translate them to what Backbase had for all different screen types (native for both iOS and Android, web, and tablets). But in many cases, there wasn't a 1-to-1 translation. So I would collaborate with the bank and its users in those cases to build these experiences. I would get the requirements from the bank, build multiple iterations and test them with their users.

It would be essential to explain the depth of these implementations and the extent to which the product went. Think about your bank, how many features you use, and those you don't. My responsibilities included building everything from onboarding, determining the navigation, how a user would manage multiple bank accounts, paying bills through an automated system, and the list goes on.

Design

Rather than show the entire platform, I picked out a few screens as examples of the banking platform's appearance. I can provide more upon request.

View Transactions

Make a transfer

Card Management

Travel Notice

Insights - Spending Analysis

Insights - Turnovers

Stop Checks

Future Considerations

I left treXis shortly after finishing this part of the project. The project's next phase was building their business banking portion tailored to businesses. My biggest takeaway from this project was the introduction to a fully assembled design system and how they function. I was so intrigued by how detailed everything was and the level of detail involved. However, what I found most intriguing was how to make fully responsive components in a library that could quickly adapt to any design or screen size. This is where I discovered my passion for design systems and all that they entailed.