Work: Currently a Design Manager at Meta.
Education: Currently a Ph.D. student in Design at Carnegie Mellon University. I earned a Master's in Strategic Design & Management from Parsons School of Design. I also earned a BS in Entrepreneurship and a BA in International Studies from the University of Utah.
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How might we reimagine the interface design to build trust with its military members, maintain the USAA brand identity, and through effective progressive disclosure, and give clear and direct control over how consumer's data is shared?
In today’s consumer-centric, digitally-driven era, some of the most notable names in the financial data ecosystem are coming together to help consumers and businesses make informed financial decisions by sharing their financial data safely and conveniently.
Co-created with the Intuit Mint team to design mobile interfaces for when consumers access USAA Bank through the FDX platform
October - November 2016
Financial institutions through FDX have reached agreements to share data with application programming interfaces, or APIs. These solutions often will benefit the banks and end-users by allowing information to flow more securely between financial entities or by presenting a holistic view of the user's data and finances to help them make better spending decisions. Through FDX guidelines for transparency, USAA's goal was to disclose to the consumer on what data is being shared, with whom, for what purpose, and for how long.
(With its traditional, conservative color scheme, and use of classic symbols and firm right angles, USAA Bank emphasizes credibility and consistency. The UI design would reflect this emphasis on long-standing and consistent service -- while also educating users about financial data sharing and helping them make well-informed consent).
Our task was to develop the USAA banking consent-giving experience within the Financial Data Exchange platform. What will the experience design look like for members of the military, veterans, and their family members who are eligible to use USAA Bank products? How will the process of disclosing data look? What choice architecture design methods will be used to decide where and when their information is displayed and what the user journey will be like?
In an era where data is the new oil, there has been an immense push for how financial institutions and user-base platforms can safeguard consumers' data. Banks need to build trust with their customers and help keep them informed and educated about the decisions they make with financial data. This is especially true when third parties ask users for “consent” to access users’ financial information.
The heart of the matter is data sharing. Consumers are understandably sensitive about sharing their personal financial information, especially in light of recent breaches that have compromised confidential records affecting millions of people. At the same time, authorized data sharing enables a wide range of personal finance applications that have transformed the way we manage our money and our lives, from money management tools such as Mint to cost-sharing tools such as Venmo. In fact, a recent study found that 63 percent of smartphone users have at least one financial app installed.
USAA Bank accounts are largely managed by members of the United States Armed Services, though the app would have to take into account those of virtually every demographic. The military is itself a diverse institution, and military families extend the range of USAA Bank’s reach. As one of the nation’s top 100 most profitable companies, it reaches millions of Americans.
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Donny Larkin
Specialist, US Army
Age: 19 Gender: Male
Donny enlisted at a young age. He uses USAA to manage his pay and receive direct deposit. He is engaged to his high school sweetheart and will secure off-base housing for their new home.
Lt. Col Nathaniel Roephardt
Lieutenant Colonel, US Air National Guard
Age: 45 Gender: Female
Nathaniel’s family lives in Draper, UT. He is approaching retirement from the military in the next few years. He manages his retirement account through his USAA Bank app. He uses a smartphone for many tasks but is very wary of allowing access to his data.
Giving access to bank information is a common and necessary process, though it can cause users anxiety and does involve risk. The USAA Bank consent design needed to offer satisfactory answers to big questions held by its users: “Is this transaction secure?” “Can I trust this third-party app?” “Should I give consent?”
The interface helps consumers with the ability to securely share data in a way that is visible and transparent and will empower customers, enterprises, and small businesses to have a better financial life.
Having a feedback loop with users was essential in co-developing questions and solutions through the information design process. Through research, interviews, and design workshops, we constructed high-fidelity prototypes that were given to users for full testing.
Though we had different demographics for the in-person testing, the feedback was similar and we discovered more challenges from military members and families. These include financial pressures: making more money, reducing their debt, saving more for education, and of course, how this process can help them secure more financial help.
63 percent of smartphone users have at least one financial app installed
Understand what data is being shared, with whom, for what purpose, and for how long
The design spells out how the consumer consent of financial data is securely shared and clarifies the security and authentication protocol requirements.
On the technology side, FDX incorporates leading-edge features such as OpenID Connect, which helps assure the validity of financial information, and biometric authentication for enhanced security.
USAA Bank has its own distinctive style guide and constraints in design that offered us challenges. The Bank uses a traditional, conservative color scheme that emphasizes credibility and consistency.
We needed to work within the guidelines of USAA Bank integration platforms and structure. In addition, the interface would communicate dense information. The challenge was to make sense of the design hierarchy, design an intervention that abides by financial regulations, platform technologies requirements, and achieve them using the design pieces given to us.
