Bank of America Mobile App Redesign - BofA LITE
Bank of America is one of the most popular choices for young people to open their first bank account. However, the current Bank of America mobile app - BofA is not being used as efficiently as it could be.
Based on my own experience, my knowledge of BofA, and my research, I decided to design a BofA LITE software for young people, which highlighted the features commonly used by them and added features they need but are not currently available in BofA software. The original BofA software is not affected, so when users need to use or explore other features of BofA, they can still use the original software.
Role
UX Designer / UI Designer / User Researcher
Duration
Aug 2022 - Nov 2022
Main Practices
UI UX Design / User Research / Prototyping / Accessibility Design
The Problems
Users complain that…
… money transfer takes 5 clicks to start
… commonly used features account for less than 40%
… it's difficult to get insights of their spending habits
The Challenges
How can I…
… simplify the money transfer process?
… highlight users’ commonly used features?
… make users feel the extra financial support?
Design Process
Unintuitive Design - “In a world with one click-shipping, how does a user have to tap 5 times to look at a transaction outside of an arbitrarily set billing period? This one of many examples of how user-friendliness is not considered in the design process”
Desktop Research
From iOS App Store Review
📖 College Students
No income
Frequent transfers
> Need fast transfer function
College students make frequent money transfers through hanging out with friends, paying their credit card bills, and purchasing life’s necessities.
💰 Young professionals
A little income
Frequent transfers
Pay attention to spending habits
> Need insights to spending
Many seniors and graduates earn their first bucket of gold through internships and research experiences. As a result, they begin to pay attention to their spending habits.
🎈 High school students or younger kids
No income
Infrequent transfers or use
> Need simple interface
Their bank accounts and daily expenses are usually taken care of by their parents. Their infrequent use places demands on the simplicity and accessibility of the interface.
Target Audience
By conducting the user research and inspiration, I came up with the redesign idea of the BofA app. I initialized the four core features of the app:
Accounts
QR Code
Transfer
Erica - the AI assistant
Ideation
User Flow
Wireframes
High-Fidelity Prototype
Visualized financial insights
In order for users to understand their expenses and spending habits more intuitively, I added:
Line charts to demonstrate recent spending trends
Icons for distinguishing expenditure categories
A pie chart providing insights of spending habits
Simplified money transfer process
In order to address the users’ pain point of having a over-complicated transfer process, I introduced a more modern, simple, and efficient payment method centered around QR codes.
Accessibility Design: Modernized assistant
To ensure that a wide range of users can easily access the features of BofA LITE, I implemented accessibility design through the AI assistant - Erica. It supports both keyboard and voice input, offering users financial insights, quick transfer capabilities, and cashback auto-collect, among other features.
Accessibility Design: Dark theme
To reduce eye strain and enhance readability, especially in low-light environments, I brought dark theme to BofA LITE. Dark theme can be switched anytime through the menu or Erica, the AI assistant. It will create a more visually pleasing and comfortable user experience.
Retro
In this project, I did a good job of extracting user requirements and translating them into core user flows. Accounts and Transfer fulfill the basic functions of a banking mobile app. QR code is a trendy and convenient way to pay and socialize, while Erica goes a step further by providing users with thoughtful customization and offers, especially with its Cashback Wallet feature.
If I had more time, I would continue to optimize the visuals to make the Lite version stand out even more from the current version. Also, there is a lot of room for improvement in the design of the payment process.