Designing a Recurring Payments
Product at TD Bank
Over Fall 2023, I worked at Enterprise Innovation at TD Bank as a User Experience Design Intern, exploring the space of recurring payments. I am thankful to have grown as a UX researcher, designer, and design thinking facilitator.
*I am unable to share any research findings or designs due to the confidential nature of the work.
Please feel free to reach out here if you would like to learn more about my project and experiences.
Joining a new project, I conducted secondary research and thematic analysis to explore the problem space.
What problems are users facing?
What solutions currently exist?
01. Secondary Research
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
To conduct secondary research and gain more insight surrounding the biggest problems, most recommended solutions, and any additional comments made around managing recurring payments.
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
Sampled 20 secondary research sources alongside the team.
Created a template for the team to organise their research findings.
Thematic analysis using affinity mapping (from secondary research).
Documented key themes, user needs/patterns, values, motivations, attitudes, potential solutions.
Through conducting user interviews, we pivoted to a more relevant target user group.
Is this actually a problem for Gen Z / students?
Is there a more relevant demographic we should be focusing on?
02. User Interviews
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
To determine whether or not Gen Z / students are a relevant user group. To gain more insight surrounding the user group's thought processes and recurring payment management systems (who manages and pays, how and whether they keep track of their recurring payments, etc.).
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
Created a template for the team to put their interview notes/findings.
Led and took notes for 5 user interviews.
Conducted thematic analysis using affinity mapping using stickies. from user interviews.
Documented key themes, user needs/patterns, values, motivations, attitudes, potential solutions.
Helped the team pivot after finding that Gen Z / students are not a relevant user group currently.
After finding that Gen Z / students were not a relevant user group, we repeated the process above to determine whether or not millennials would be a relevant user group. Through the second round of interviews conducted, we confirmed millennials as our target user group going forward.
I led design thinking workshops where we re-defined the problem statement and ideated as a team.
What is the root problem?
What are the key pain points / needs?
03. Solution Concept Generation
PREPARATION
Created a designing thinking workshop template.
UNDERSTANDING THE USER GROUP AS A TEAM
Contributed to lightning demos in reference to HMW.
Prioritised long-term goals for the project.
Iterated the HMW statement in discussion with the team.
Populated a proto-persona considering user goals, frustrations, ability, aptitude, attitude, and accessibility.
WORKSHOP FACILITATION
Guided team to take notes in reference to research findings, lightning demos, HMW, proto-persona, and more.
Asked team members to choose one idea that they want to explore and sketch it anonymously.
Facilitated a Crazy 8's activity using the idea chosen above.
THREE-STEP CONCEPTS AS A TEAM
Used Crazy 8's to put together a solution in 3 screens.
Heat map: voted on ideas generated by the team.
Decision maker (Product Owner) selected the top concepts.
Collaborated on a prioritisation matrix activity (impact&effort).
I created wireframes for six design concepts, integrating key features and content.
What would a user want to use this product?
What pain points do these features address?
04. Low-Fidelity Wireframes
DESIGN SANDBOX
Wrote value propositions for each concept, considering why a user would want to use the product.
Used sketches created from the concept generation workshop to create low-fidelity wireframes (6 concepts, 3 screens for each concept).
Reviewed low-fidelity wireframes with senior designer to make iterations and finalise designs for user interviews.
We conducted testing sessions with potential end users to gain early feedback on the designs generated.
Are these features desirable to users?
Do these designs make sense to users?
05. User Testing
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
To gain early feedback on features/content generated, ensuring that they are desirable and align to user goals/needs in the space of recurring payments - to understand whether features/content make sense to users and confirm whether features/content need iterations or re-prioritisation.
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
Created a template for the team to put their interview notes and findings (and iterated template after 2 trial interviews).
Led and took notes for 10 user interviews.
Organised interview note stickies into positive feedback, negative feedback, suggestions/uncertainties for all 6 concepts.
Conducted thematic analysis using affinity mapping for each concept with team.
Organised features by priority (1-6) in reference to affinity mapping.
Summarised each concept through key takeaway statements.
Reflection
Don't be afraid :)
Actively listening, asking questions, and communicating my ideas allowed me to work effectively with the team, defend my design decisions, and guide the team in pivoting towards a more relevant target user group + re-defining the problem statement. Don't be afraid to speak up being a user-advocate.
I love wearing many hats!
This experience allowed me to be a user researcher, UX/UI designer, design thinking facilitator, and more. Wearing many hats and thinking about design from various lenses allowed me to expand my creativity and understand the importance of the design process at a deeper level.
The value of networking.
While I learnt so much from contributing to the project as a designer, I gained so much insight regarding my professional and personal growth by connecting to my team members one-on-one. It was so meaningful to hear about their journey and the lessons they've learned along the way!
