Jawudi is an emerging start-up seeking to penetrate the mobile money gap in Africa. Jawudi aims to provide global access to African markets and simplifies the movement of money within Africa by creating a platform for easy and low-cost international money transfers and p2p payments for individual consumers and local businesses.
Jawudi approached me and requested my services in identifying problems with their current application. After a couple of pitch rounds to investors, they received feedback that they needed to improve the look and feel of their application. I noticed the visual problems of their current application, such as color choice and alignment. However, I was more concerned with their application's UX; I noticed multiple pain points through my audit that could cause headaches for users and stymieing conversions. From there I set out to improve the user experience of the application to increase retention rate and increase the number of money transfers within the application.
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Technological Landscape: Based on my research, most smartphones used in Africa have low storage capacity, and the Internet remains prohibitively expensive. A gigabyte of mobile internet data costs 8% of the average income across the continent – more than anywhere else globally. Furthermore, the technological infrastructure is only able to support 3G data capabilities. Based on this information, I knew I needed to design an app that would not exceed 5MB in data. Creating with this constraint in mind will ensure our app's widespread adaptability.
Cross-Cultural UX Design: Since this was my first time designing a product for international use, I wanted to make sure there were affordances throughout my design that would accommodate the wide range of users who might use it. Due to this, it was vital for me to consider using the correct number conventions and currencies across the app. For example, since the bank Jawudi partnered with uses the US dollar for its transactions; I would need to implement accessible currency exchange rate data across all the money flows within the application to allow users to understand the amount based on their local currency. Another consideration I had to consider was creating an adaptable user interface that allows for adequate space requirements for different languages. Lastly, I had to verify the cultural appropriateness of graphics, visuals, colors, and icons I would be using within the application.
To solve the problems I identified during my audit of Jawudi's application, I focused on several crucial UX/UI design issues. Firstly, I created persona-based designs to cater to the specific needs, behaviors, and goals of the users. Secondly, I ensured accessibility by following accessibility standards such as using an accessible color palette and providing alternative text for images. Thirdly, I improved the information architecture to make it more intuitive and easier to navigate. Lastly, I created efficient user flows by streamlining task flows to minimize user effort and increase efficiency. I will explore how I came to these solutions below.
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One of the primary reasons why color contrast is so important is that it affects legibility. If the contrast between text and its background is too low, users with vision impairments or color blindness may struggle to read the content. This can lead to frustration, confusion, and ultimately, a poor user experience.In addition, color contrast is also essential for creating a more inclusive design. By ensuring that the color contrast meets accessibility standards, you can ensure that all users, regardless of their visual abilities, can access and use your application or website. This is particularly important when designing for individuals with disabilities or impairments.When working on the Jawudi application, you noticed that there were legibility issues. This is a common problem, especially when using brand colors that may not have been specifically chosen with accessibility in mind. To address this issue, you adjusted the brand colors to be more inclusive.
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Information Architecture
Next, I worked on improving the information architecture for Jawudi. The app had a lot of features and information, which made it challenging for users to navigate and find what they needed.To improve the information architecture, I conducted a card-sorting exercise with users to understand how they categorized and grouped different features and information. Based on this research, I reorganized the app's information architecture, grouping similar features and information together and creating more intuitive navigation paths.To test the new information architecture, I conducted usability testing with users and gathered feedback. The results showed that users were able to navigate the app more easily and find the information they needed more quickly.Information architecture is critical in financial UX because financial apps typically have complex information and features. Without a clear and intuitive information architecture, users may become confused and frustrated, leading to a poor user experience. By improving the information architecture, users can more easily navigate the app and find the information they need, leading to a better user experience and potentially increasing user engagement and satisfaction.
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"In 2020, 63% of users abandoned digital bank apps due to exhaustive task flows." Signicant.com. Therefore, I knew minimizing the task load on the users would be instrumental in keeping users engaged and ensuring user retention. The exhibit below shows a side-by-side comparison of the original task flow and the revised task flow for sending a payment request within the application. By improving the information architecture across the flow and prioritizing information, I reduced the number of screens for the selected task from eight to four screens.
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After conducting a redesign of the Jawudi app, I conducted another usability test with the same participants to assess the effectiveness of the new design. The users were asked to complete the same task, and I observed their performance to see if there were any improvements.The new design reduced the number of screens by half compared to the previous version. As a result, participants were able to complete tasks in half the time with a 100% success rate. Users also provided positive feedback on the app's clear and readily available task items, which were labeled effectively. Based on these results, Jawudi will be able to use the design library that I created to continue building out their application. This library will ensure that future design decisions are aligned with the app's usability goals and user needs, and will allow for consistency throughout the app's development.
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