Anymore it seems like all companies are expected to have a mobile app and FCSAmerica is no exception. Farmers spend a lot of time in tractors and combines, and with today’s technology of them driving themselves, our customers have more time to do things remotely.
The Challenge
Design a new mobile app that accomplishes these high level goals:
1. manage their existing accounts
2. remote deposit checks into existing accounts
3. create a new quote center with ability to run quotes, compare, email and text
4. view the nearest office to where they are located
My role in this project included UX research, UX strategy, wire framing. interaction design, prototyping, usability testing and visual design.
The Process
I opted for a lean approach which emphasizes research, rapid sketching, wireframing and prototyping, user feedback and design mockups. By including key stakeholders and the development team at specific intervals, I create great team collaboration with lots of great ideas and a strong sense of ownership.
Research
During the UX research portion of this project I used qualitative and quantitative methods which included interviews and contextual inquires along with competitive research.
The interesting part of this project was that many of our users do not live close to a retail office and have to drive many miles to deposit a check to their line of credit. By having their account info and the ability to remote deposit on their phone they are given the ability to transfer funds and remote deposit checks any point of the day without having to drive to a retail office.
Users were also looking for a way to run a quote on a new purchase or refinance. This is often done when they are on a machinery lot and adding this into the mobile app allowed the user to run numbers on the spot.
Users of this tool are slightly more tech savvy and must have a smartphone.
Sketching
I typically always being a project by sketching with the key stakeholders and the development team that will be involved in the development of the tool. The goal of these sessions is idea generation.
Early sketches exploring options for the new tool.
Wireframe & Prototype
Once there are a lot of ideas from sketching, I take them and start to work on bringing all the best ideas together into wireframes. This is one of the most time intensive pieces of the project. I worked with the product owners many times throughout this process and rely on the rest of our design team to go through feedback sessions.
Wireframes
Final Designs - Account Management
Final Designs - Calculator