In an effort to solve real user problems, TD Ameritrade partnered with an outside consulting company to launch a co-creation mobile app contest. The internal group that was tasked with this project approached me to help with the overall design. As I dug into the project, I observed a lack of overall user flow and some unnecessary complexity.

With a view to simplifying the experience, I proposed the following improvements ...

Encourage engagement by showing which users are the most active and rewarding them for this
Instead of a complex voting system, use the already planned "like" or "kudos" feature to determine the value of an idea
Show a the flow of new ideas while showing the "hot' ideas side by side
Display the content in a clean easy to scan grid with a clear hierarchy of information

While these improvements were not requested, I felt the need to push back. I believe that any work with my signature should reflect my UX sensibilities so it's always important to raise concerns and advocate for the user.

The contest is now closed and was more successful than the stakeholders expected.

During the Ideation Phase users submitted ideas. We received around 465 ideas with 10 winners.

Once Ideation Phase closed, users submitted prototypes based on ideas. Out of the 50 submitted, 6 were selected, and one was awarded the grand prize.