Anima Gemella - Intesa Sanpaolo

app app design bachelor banking app empathy people soulmate thesis ui design UX design

Anima Gemella // Bachelor Thesis Project

UX/UI Design

Content with which there is a deep affinity, a sign that the product is predestined for the user.

Introduction

Empathy is a social skill of fundamental importance, and is one of the basic tools of communication, many sectors benefit from it, including: psychology, science, neuroscience, medicine, but also aesthetics. In the present day, where the digital world is acquiring more and more aesthetic value, I find it in the discipline of User Experience, the design of an interface that allows the user to discover a product from start to finish.

Users aren't only interested in passively consuming content and I think it's very important to personalize and give attention to the perception of it. For this reason, the thesis, has as object of analysis a product of daily use for users: app, specifically, with a wide and mixed target, such as banking app. The goal will be the enhancement of the empathic impact of Intesa Sanpaolo's app, conducting an analysis that allows the identification of what is really valuable for each user. Creating contents that are able to communicate correctly, going to create a soul mate, with whom there is such a deep affinity, that it can be interpreted as a sign that the product is predestined for the user.

Area of analysis

Among the main categories of applications, "business", is located in second place and comprising many areas, it is easy to identify applications with a wide target, which therefore cannot decide to communicate with a single part of users, but must necessarily find a way to put everyone on the same level. I chose to delve into the world of banking applications: during the pandemic period I noticed the difficulties people had in managing their relationships with their banks, from the aged person bewildered because they couldn't go to a branch, to the young person who ignored their account, to the average adult who insulted the app because he couldn't complete the necessary operations. So I decided to focus and delve into this market segment, first in a broader way and then specifically into the world of applications.

In the top 50 Italian and foreign banks operating in Italy, by number of branches, Intesa Sanpaolo is in first place with 3,507. In addition, Intesa Sanpaolo is the traditional bank for excellence, chosen by the majority of Italians. In order to make the development of the thesis effective, I had to choose a subject that could be known by a large number of people, who in turn developed a thought about it.

Motivations

During the pandemic, we all experienced a situation of distress, but I noticed that there was a kind of competition to assign first place to those who had suffered more, but in my opinion there is no podium, each of us has suffered in their own way, depending on their needs, weaknesses, expectations, dreams and many other things that make us different from each other. I tried to think of something that could unite everyone and in 2021 I would say: technology. By now it's a constant element in our lives, especially through smartphones, which with apps allow us to do anything. But if we're all so different, how do we benefit if we're all treated the same? Observing and listening to those around me, I've noticed that many people struggle with banking apps on a daily basis, but more importantly, older people categorically refuse to use them. It occurs to me to say, "Why doesn't anyone think about this?", "Why don't we empathize with those poor people alone?".

I am no one to be able to revolutionize an application designed by who knows what team of experts, but in my own small way, supporting my thesis, I would like to stir something up and try to give a different face to one of the traditional banks par excellence: Intesa Sanpaolo.

Objectives

The goal will be to enhance the empathic impact of the Intesa Sanpaolo app, identifying what is really valuable for each user. Creating content that is able to meet the needs of each individual, not only with regard to banking services, but going beyond that, trying to understand their interests in everyday life, in order to be able to interact with them.

User Research

I realized a survey through "Google Form", with the aim of highlighting the actual problems that users find in the use of banking applications. The first part is dedicated to profiling the participants, not only from a biographical point of view, but also from a character, in order to understand the needs that distinguish the various moods. While the second one analyzes more specifically the problems of actual use of the app.

The survey involved a sample of 204 individuals, an indicative representative of potential banking app users. Results can be found in the full thesis book (link at the end of the page)

User Personas

Specifically, I imagined three people with different age groups: the first is a middle-aged adult mom, the second is a young college graduate, and last is a sweet struggling grandmother. Insight and customer journey available in full in the book.

Userflow

I realized, first, the user flow of the current application, to highlight what I believe are critical or complex points for the user and parts that are repeated. Subsequently I have reorganized better the structure and content by identifying the user flow of my application.

Red - entries to be removed because unnecessary, I think it's better to have them only on website, the app is for practical, fast and daily use. Black - entries to be moved, with relative indication next to them. Green, Yellow, Blue and Light Blue - entries that are repeated, depending on the sections they belong to.

The most important change is the addition of the "for you" section, which as you will see later, contains the part dedicated to the user's interests and needs. We can define it as a space to live, where you can feel understood and important to the Bank, I think it's nice to create a two-way communication, the user needs to be listened to, understood and helped and to do this it is useful to have common interests.

Wireframe

I did this first in pencil (low-fidelity), incorporating Information Architecture, and then in computer (mid-fidelity), subsequently, I prototyped the whole thing. In the next images I have shown the wireframes of all the screens, divided by section and an associated color to highlight the "Call to Action".

spazio

As design software I used Figma. Below is a screen of the work plan, where you can see the blue lines of prototyping, in this case the wireframe to test the usability of the application.

Grid & Style Guide

The basic prototype is made according to the screen of an iPhone 12 mini (360x780 px). Consequently for the grid I chose the following values:

Margins: 30 px; Columns: 6 (40 px); Gutter: 12 px;

User Interface development

After collecting all the data and putting down the basics of the application, it was time to realize the UI, creating the final screens complete with graphics and finalizing it. As you can see from the style guide above, I decided to keep the green of Intesa Sanpaolo as the predominant color, white as the background color, but also for boxes, cards and more, going to play with shadows to create depth in the structure. For titles and subtitles I decided to use a graced font to maintain the elegance and historicity of the brand: using only stick fonts would have made the UI too modern and detached from what I perceive of Intesa Sanpaolo, while graced fonts express trust, respect, tradition, formality and elegance.

Welcome \\ After logging in for the first time, I introduce the user to the first new feature, 4 simple questions to be able to customize the content of the application.

Onboarding \\ I used the onboarding to get some useful data to bring out the empathetic side that I thought for the app. The questions refer to: readability of the texts to get an idea of how the user sees and approximate his age; interests in daily life, to understand what to talk about with him; priority of use, to organize the contents of the simplified part and choose which courses to propose; option of use, if basic or simplified (thought more for older people and not close to technology).

Let's start analyzing the basic version, in which you can immediately notice the reorganization of the app: as you could see from the userflow, I merged "Conti" and "Carte", I added the "Per te" section and I put the "Profilo" in the foreground.

Intesa Sanpaolo Amica \\ Getting into the swing of things, the interaction with the "Per te" section begins. I created a chat to let the "friend" side of the bank talk to the user, as it happens between two human persons, if a piece of advice or a curiosity comes to mind for the friend, it is said. In this case during a research on future expenses and in the detail of an operation at Esselunga.

Courses \\ Designed to help users increase their knowledge in economics, and have explanations on topics that are difficult to understand. Most importantly, they can help inexperienced young people in the management of their first earnings, so it is also possible to speak directly with the course provider.

Blog \\ Inside the blog you can find news, articles and curiosities, based on the interests selected during onboarding. Every week different and interesting contents, but what is fundamental, you can trust, Intesa Sanpaolo puts its face on it. To make the reading experience more pleasant, with a few simple clicks, you can choose to enlarge the font, change font, background color and also select the font EasyReading, easy to understand even in case of dyslexia.

Games \\ Who says you can't have fun at the bank too? This section is designed to make less formal the relationship with the user, giving him a pastime, but at the same time offering small prizes for winning games. Receiving a gift from a friend is always nice, even more so if it is useful and desired, for example you can win: recharges, discount vouchers for different stores, movie tickets etc.

Simplified version \\ If you choose the simplified version, in the home page you'll find the priorities chosen during the onboarding, which you can access with a simple click on the big buttons. Looking at the internal screens you'll immediately notice the increased size and the simple and direct content.

Conclusions
Following the long research and the design of the new application, I can only confirm and continue to support my thesis: people are looking for reliability, responsiveness, clarity, transparency and support in their bank. Not surprisingly, in 45% of cases, even bankers themselves are convinced that the bank of the future will be empathetic.

I will continue to be interested in this topic, hoping that sooner or later, everyone will be able to find their soul mate, digitally speaking, but not only.