To design a financial app that simplifies complex information and enhances CTA, ensuring users can easily access and act on key insights.
Type
Company work
Time
2022
Role
UI/UX designer
Team
Project Manager
UI/UX designer
Developer
Korea’s first app for empowering retail investors in shareholder activism.
Case Study Goal
Project Overview
〰️
Project Overview 〰️
Retail investors face challenges with shareholder activism due to complex data. Bside delivers insights and collaboration to help users take action and drive change.
By delivering a clean, personalized home screen that reduces overwhelming information, users are guided toward activism in a friendly and stress-free manner.
A clearer hierarchy and a more defined CTA leading to campaigns.
PROBLEM
Minority shareholder
Why is it so difficult to exercise shareholder rights?
Someone who wants to practice activism.
How can retail investors easily and effectively engage in shareholder activism?
Problem & Improvement requirements
Our app’s structure is too complex, and the outdated aesthetics don’t match modern fintech standards.
CEO
Right, and the layout feels disconnected, which makes it less user-friendly for fintech-savvy individuals.
PM
We also need to address poor user accessibility, ensuring everyone can easily navigate features like shareholder meetings and votes.
CEO
Let’s focus on a streamlined UX and a modern, fintech-friendly design that resonates with users in their 30s to mid-40s.
PM
Pain points & Goals
How can we simplify access to shareholder meetings and voting in Bside's app for a quick release, targeting users aged 30–45?
Analyze the design, create a system to identify issues, and provide feedback for each component.
Issue 1
Lack of design consistency due to unclear design guidelines.
Issue 3
The user interface elements do not clearly differentiate the call-to-action buttons, and it is also too complicated.
Issue 2
Overly flashy design intended to appear bright and light, resulting in UX problems.
Discovery & Research
Is the app effectively addressing its target audience and aligning with their needs?
Not really—the target audience is too broad, and there's a mismatch between user needs, user numbers, and the app's planning.
User Perspective
Users desire a cleaner app and do not want an overwhelming number of features.
They want a community where they can easily exchange opinions.
The primary user base is comfortable with fintech and has experience with other trading apps, so they are familiar with the basic app structure.
Developer Perspective
Developers need clearer guidelines.
Current design system hinders development due to lack of clarity and excessive graphics.
Propose My Idea
We should focus on improving the main feature that stands out.
The most serious issue is the lack of clarity and user guidance, which can be resolved by creating straightforward tutorials and clear design.
User Research
70% of users abandon apps due to confusion (2021 study), and over 80% of South Koreans in their 30s and 40s prefer intuitive designs.
Design Improvement
Revise UI/UX for clarity; simpler interfaces can boost satisfaction by 50% (2019 report).
Data Analysis
Identify struggle points; 65% report frustration with navigation
(2020 research).
Testing and Iteration
Use A/B testing to enhance features; iterative testing can increase adoption rates by 30% (2018 studies).
Final Scope of Beside
Bside aims to simplify shareholder activism for retail investors by making complex data accessible and actionable. To achieve this, the app must address key design challenges, including poor CTA visibility and inconsistent, overly complex design that hinders usability. By streamlining navigation and creating a cohesive design system, Bside can empower users with insights and tools to drive meaningful change effectively.
This case study will focus on the following points.
Poor CTA visibility and inconsistent
First Round Design
During the first three weeks, I created the initial app design through a design challenge. However, I quickly received various feedback from the PM, CEO, and testers.
First Round Design - Feedback
-
Reduce clutter by prioritizing key content and using collapsible sections to improve clarity.
-
Standardize icon design in terms of shape, color, and size for better visual coherence.
-
Adopt a cleaner, grid-based layout with strategic whitespace to enhance navigation and usability.
-
Incorporate branding elements prominently, such as the logo and colors, to strengthen brand identity and emotional connection with users.
Comprehensive Solution
To improve CTA visibility, a clean, neutral background will be implemented to complement diverse bank logos and article thumbnails while avoiding visual clutter. By reducing background colors and incorporating subtle design accents, CTAs will become more prominent and easier to identify within the interface.
Update the top navigation bar to include meaningful information, allowing users to easily and consistently track high-priority shareholder meeting schedules.
Streamline campaign hierarchy with simple graphics to ensure clear, clickable components on the home screen.
Final UI Design
Redesign the home screen to focus on active campaigns and essential details, removing unnecessary information for a clearer layout.
An improved navigation bar for easier distinction.
The final design resulted in a significant improvement in usability and overall user satisfaction scores, as demonstrated by internal user testing.
Takeaway
This project taught me the importance of balancing clarity and functionality in design. By addressing user pain points through intuitive navigation, cohesive visuals, and streamlined content, I learned how thoughtful design can empower users and drive meaningful engagement.