Glide Invest App
Glide Invest is a fintech start-up that makes goal-based investing via Direct Mutual Funds easier and smarter.
Here, I have showcased a couple of projects related to their app revamp and various new features to enhance their user experience.
Year
2022
Duration
Within a span of 8 Months
Target Audience
Working Professionals (25-40 years)
Service
Mobile app, web app revamp and enhancements
Role
UI & UX Designer
Responsibilities
• UX Research
• Paper & digital wireframing
• Low & high fidelity prototyping
• UI/ visual design creation
• Maintaining Design system
• Usability testing
Tools
Hello!
Being a fintech start-up, Glide Invest had an immense scope to learn and explore new opportunities. I joined Glide Invest as a Graphic Designer, and had no prior experience/ education related to the Fintech as well as UX design.
Still, my Design Lead and Senior Vice President (Product) felt that I could be a great addition to their UX team because of my overall working style. So, I soon got shifted to the UX team, and there was no turning back. The overall journey was just so rewarding!
I got a chance to work on revamping as well as designing of many new features. The list is really long. So, here is some of my work done at Glide Invest. I have purposely not shown any wireframes / detailed process to keep the content crisp. Hope you will like it.
Walkthrough Screens
Walkthrough screens are a great way to introduce the app and demonstrate what it does. This is how the old screens looked like…
Pain Points
Cognitive Load
The message/ purpose of the screens was not clear, as too many things were happening on the same screen. It was difficult for the user to read, understand and take action in such a lesser time.
Trust
For a finance app, getting the trust of the users is extremely important. Most of the users were not even going further 2nd screen. Still, trust factor was shown on the last screen.
The Solution
This is how they look now…
After implementing these new screens in the app, % of the Sign Ups increased, and drop-off rate decreased from 35% to 20%. Great start, isn’t it?
So, then I adapted the new walkthrough screens in the Web App as well. Here is the final look…
Risk Profile Screens
Risk Profile helps to estimates risk bearing capacity of an investor and identifies suitable asset allocation. It could be easily evaluated with the help of a simple questionnaire.
Once the user completes the questionnaire, we wanted to give a detailed explanation about our findings. So, I made multiple changes in the existing screen to form a better connection with the user.
I also created the e-mailers for our investors based on their risk profile to share a detailed information about our findings.
Post Transaction Home & Investment Screens
Home page plays a vital role in the user journey and overall experience of the app. Our main goal was to understand the flaws and limitations of the existing home and investment related screens and take necessary actions to make the user experience smoother and more rewarding.
Home
We came up with multiple wireframes and created basic prototypes for the shortlisted ideas. With the help of Guerrilla Usability Testing for a faster turnaround time, we got a clear direction about what needs to be done for the betterment of the product.
Here is how the final home screen looks like…
Risk Profile Based Investing (Smart Plans)
We had multiple investment plans based on the risk profile of the user. Here are old & the new screens.
Financial Goal Based Investing
I also worked on the minute details like creating icons, and maintaining the Design System. Let’s have a look at how few minor changes in the design & colour combination can make a big difference in overall look & feel of the app.
Old icons
New icons
All the app screens now look more consistent, with much enhanced user experience
Information Screens
These screens are used to provide a quick information about any term / topic to the user, while using the app.
Here are a few more information screens based on the various topics
Pop Up Information Screens
Transacted Fund Screens
Then I redesigned the experience of the transacted fund screens, which the user is able to see after purchasing any fund. These screens help user to invest more money in the same fund, transfer the amount to other fund or withdraw the amount.
Menu
Landing Screens
Once the menu was simplified, the next task was to update the related landing screens as per new functionality.
Here are a few newly designed transacted fund screens
Withdrawal Reasons
These screens get showed up when the users want to withdraw money from their portfolio. The basic idea behind displaying these screens is to convince the users to change their mind and encourage them to continue with their investments for their own benefit. This is how the older screens looked like…
Pain Points
Content
The content was too lengthy. It was looking like a big boring chunk of information that no one would feel like reading.
Repetitive Information
The content and graph on the 2nd and 4th reason were the same. They were mainly working just as a placeholder.
Visual Appearance
The graphs and visuals used to support the information were too small to read and visually less appealing.
The Solution
This is how they look now…
External Portfolio Analysis – Advisory Feature
Health of the financial portfolio depends upon multiple factors such as Asset Allocation, Credit Quality, Expenses on Commissions etc. Wealth advisors can play a great role in making the investments more rewarding.
The task was to create the entire flow for the new advisory feature to upload and analyze the external portfolios.
There were two different flows:
1. For Wealth Advisors (creating support system in admin panel to get insights)
2. For mobile app users (showing the health of their investment portfolio)
1. For Wealth Advisors
Firstly, I worked on the overall flow of the support system for wealth advisors in admin panel and created the prototype for usability testing. Then I iteratively worked on the designs based on the UT feedback given by the expert wealth advisors.
Here is the final look of the portfolio analysis system for wealth advisors in admin panel
2. For Mobile App Users
External Portfolio Analysis: Empty State
Here, the goal was to encourage users to upload their Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) in order to gather data for External Portfolio Analysis
The next step was to create a flow for mobile app users, in order to provide them detailed analysis about the overall health and improvements of their investment portfolio. Here are a few final screens
Oops, the list is getting longer and longer…
Your time is precious. Hope you have got the idea about my work. So, to cut it short…let’s not get into more details. Here is a quick list of a few more projects worth mentioning.
- Reward Points & referral screens to encourage users to share the app
- Chatbot mascot and screens to create a brand identity
- Custom Portfolio screens & dashboard to help users create investment plans on their own
- Goal creation system in Admin Panel to enable wealth advisors to create financial goals for the customers
- Marketing Campaigns feature in Admin Panel to enable Marketing Team to create campaigns and upload the promotional banners directly on the app
- Glide Invest marketing website revamp
- Crypto Webinar landing pages and marketing promotions
Takeaways
Challenges
- Being a start-up, Glide Invest had a large set of tasks to be done in a comparatively shorter time. Some of these projects were really complex.
- I had a very limited knowledge about the Mutual Fund Investing.
- After working at Glide Invest as a Graphic Designer, it was my first project as an User Experience Designer
- I had not taken any formal education related to UX design back then.
Impact
- The new improved app screens now look more consistent and clean with much enhanced user experience.
- We were able to create a value proposition of our app by adding many new unique features
- There was a significant reduction in number of bugs and app crashes
- Number of users completing their KYC increased
- The app received a good feedback from the users as well
What I learnt
- I have learnt so many things in the process! From using MacBook and working in the Agile Sprint system for the first time to learning Figma, maintaining design system, understanding the basics of investing, collaborating with various teams… everything was just so fun!
- I realised why user centric design is so important and how even a small change in the design can create a huge difference in enhancing the overall user experience
- Working in a start-up has its own perks. I got the chance to work on various new features from scratch. The overall journey not only challenged my creativity, but also made me a more matured and sensible designer
- And last but not the least…. I even received a ‘Diamond of the Month’ Award for my work. Yippie!!!
Wow, you are really great at scrolling!!!
Hey, thank you so much for your time. Hope you liked my work. Please feel free to explore more projects. Have a great day ahead!
Testimonials
Here are a few testimonials related to this project
Jaideep Tibrewala
Senior Vice President and Head of Product, Glide Invest
“Nisha is one of the most mature persons on our team. She takes strong interest in the product that she is designing and wants to understand and relate to it as a consumer both before and after designing for it.
She is very meticulous and punctual with her work and someone we can rely on to deliver great design options on time. She is an asset to our design team and wish her the best as she continues to build her skills in UI/UX design and Product design.”
Prashanta Purkayastha
Associate Product Manager, Glide Invest
“I had the pleasure of working with Nisha during my time at Glide Invest and I can confidently say that she is an exceptional UI/UX designer. Nisha has a good eye for detail and knows how to create designs that are both visually coherent and easy to use.
She has great communication skills and was always willing to lend a helping hand to her colleagues. I am sure she will continue to be successful in her career and I feel lucky to have worked with her.”
Please visit ‘Recommendations’ section of my LinkedIn profile to view all the testimonials.
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