Scope
From the beginning, it was clear this was going to be a large-scale project with a lot of technical complexities that would need to be addressed. We were hired to create the information architecture, design, and to develop a prototype which would demonstrate the integration of all of the various systems and services OTS was looking to implement. We would then test the prototype with various online banking users and make minor refinements where needed. A fifth vendor, Open Technology Solutions (OTS), would be handling the final technical implementation of the system.
Timeline
Even more tricky than the scope of this project was the timeline. OTS’ team needed a lot of work, and they needed it fast. This required a lot of project management, and a lot of thinking and pre-planinng. Luckily, we were able to deliver:
“Our project was on an extremely tight timeline from the onset. The entire Blue Flavor team worked diligently (sometimes nights and weekends) to complete each task on time. What more, they focused on the quality of the final product instead of a set of stated “deliverables”. Great job guys!” - Joey Rudisill, CIO, First Tech Credit Union
Goals
The over-arching goals of the project were clear: OTS needed to take a complex series of systems and integrate them into one experience that was simple enough that the average online banking customer could complete any task needed with ease. They also wanted to provide a way for more technically savvy users to access some of the more advanced features without sacrificing simplicity that novice users appreciate. In short, they wanted to wrest simplicity out of complexity, without sacrificing advanced functionality.
Research & Discovery
The first thing we did was spend a good amount of time talking with the client, the technology vendors, and OTS about the various systems, features, and functionality that we’d be integrating. Taking time to read through the various specifications for each system and really understand how their online banking systems worked helped us better understand how to craft a simple, yet powerful, user experience for their customers.
Consensus Building & Strategy
Once all of the research was completed and our team was up to speed, we started to define a strategy for the design of the new online banking system. The biggest challenge in doing this was that we were not dealing with just one client—we were dealing with four clients and a technology partner. At least two representatives from each of the four banks were involved in the review of every iteration of the wireframes. It was clear that what we were working on was critical to success or failure of their online banking system, as well as their customer retention. Thankfully, consensus-building among this large group was artfully handled by Joey Rudisill and Byron Tatman at First Tech Credit Union.
Information Architecture
Our strategy in IA was to provide a guide for the design and development phases of the project. The IA wireframes also acted as a master document that OTS could later use as a specification for the front-end design and interactions, when building the finalized online banking system. This meant that the wireframes not needed to be more than just clear and easy to understand—they needed to be accurate and up-to-date with every change made throughout the various stages of the project. By the time the project was complete, we had done seven iterations of the wireframes.
Visual Design
Around iteration five, the wireframes were finalized enough for us to move into the design phase. Because the site was going to be used by four different credit unions and applied to an existing application framework (Jwalla), the visual design phase had its fair share of constraints.
The design needed to not only work with the initial credit union that was going to be using the new online banking platform (First Tech Credit Union), but it also needed to be able to applied to the three additional credit unions. The resulting was a kind of framework that was cohesive enough to fit with the JWalla system, but whose colors and branding elements that were different for each credit union.
Development & Prototyping
After iterating on the visual design and defining the visual style, we moved into the development phase. The prototype was built to execute a lot of the interactive ideas behind the wireframes and the design. This involved quickly building a set of XHTML/CSS templates that we could then use to build out a static, but interactive, prototype. With the use of the jQuery JavaScript library, we were able to quickly build out advanced functionality displayed how a user might interact with the initial designs (without saving data to a database or on a server). This was phenomenally helpful in determining our client’s metrics for success, since the prototype was the primary tool of the usability study.
User Testing
Once the prototype was ready, we conducted a series of usability tests with a small set of people who use online banking. Each test was recorded on digital video and audio, and captured the user’s mouse movements and clicks on the screen. After the tests, we recorded and outlined in a findings report that allowed the client to review all the problem areas users encountered on the prototype and quickly identify which issues should be addressed prior to handing off the project to OTS.
Armed with these results, we made appropriate changes to the prototype and updated the wireframes. These became the master specification document for OTS to use when developing the finalized online banking system.
Conclusion
In the end, OTS was really happy with the results and pleased with Blue Flavor’s ability to tackle this complex of a project on a relatively short timeline. In Joey Rudisill’s own words:
“I’d like to add my appreciation of your team. You’ve all dealt with tight timelines and rapid deliverables – successfully. Thank you all very much.”
We think we produced a simple yet powerful user experience that both novice and advanced customers could use with ease. We’re hoping the new system we helped design will take online banking to the next level and provide a great user experience for all the 750,000 customers.
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