SOLUTION

The design process

Borrowing techniques from Google Ventures-style Design Sprints and Lean UX, with the fundamentals of human-centered design fully present: focus on user outcomes → explore → test → refine → measure → optimize.

Problem Definition

Leveraging UserTesting.com to run an unmoderated interview, we discovered that, while customers resonated with the problem statement, the overriding concern was uncertainty around how present-day contributions would translate to future income. So, we broadened the problem statement to capture that overarching concern.

Idea Generation

We organized a 2-day design sprint workshop with the core team. Once everyone was grounded in the problem statement, we sketched possible solutions using Crazy 8s, essentially a time-limited sketching exercise where each participant produced 8 sketches within 8 minutes. From there, participants refined and presented their 3 best ideas. We then used a dot exercise, where participants mark the best solutions with a sticky paper dot, to surface the 3 most promising concepts.

Idea Refinement

We invested more design and collaborated with a content writer to refine the concepts and put them in front of customers for feedback. Although a few participants commented on the “less than encouraging” language, we hypothesized that users may have grown numb to generic accolades such as “great job!” and may be more likely to take action if they fear missing out.

Leaning heavily on behavioral science

Besides keeping the cognitive load small through minimal copy and simple visuals, below are key behavioral heuristics that influenced the design:

Detail design and build

Once we had a design candidate, the team went through their typical sprint planning process before starting work. Next, the squad’s Sr. Designer set to render the detailed design artifacts needed for production and worked with the developers through completion. Finally, after a wash and rinse through legal and compliance, we had a testable design.