Optimum Life | A Complex Task Mobile App Case Study
Timeline: 5 weeks
Tools: Sketch, Principle, InVision, Miro
Role: Research and synthesis completed as a team, each designer contributed individual design solutions.
Deliverables: Moodboards, Style Tiles, User Testing,
Data Synthesis, Wire framing, GUI designs,
Prototyping & Design System
Overview
Our client is a property insurance company that wants to expand into the life insurance industry with a simple, self-driven platform that leverages the IoT. The company has provided us with a UX handoff and our task is to create a new brand and streamline the application to win users' trust and simplify complex tasks.
Challenge
Design an intuitive platform that allows users to manage and modify insurance plans, control their personal data, and easily access their plans. Additionally, the platform should drives sales and retention, and integrate wearable tech.
Research & Analysis
The space for online sales of life insurance is not yet over saturated, traditional methods are still the norm, however the team took a deep dive on three direct competitors:
Indirect competitors were chosen for their reputation with users, marketshare and track record of making complex tasks simple:
Highlights
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Employing a casual yet informative brand voice.
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Designing an easy to understand platform with a focus on explaining complex content.
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Creating an environment that makes an intimidating experience approachable for everyone.
Subject Matter Experts
Obstacles
Two industry experts were consulted, both advised of substantial roadblocks to the clients specific ask:
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Wearable tech is not used in the underwriting process
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Life insurance policies can not be modified
The design process continued while solutions to these obstacles were sought.
Solutions & Hard Discussions
When advising the client of the SME interview results, suggestions to combat those issues were also presented.
The user flows requested were designed with some modification and next steps were outlined that would enable some of the clients goals.
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The health quiz would sort out those whose needs were too complex which presents an option for referral business.
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Consumers can not adjust their fixed life insurance policies however, can request a policy review for lower premiums if they complete smoking cessation or significant weight loss. These approaches will enable the wearable device to be useful and the app can in addition have typical health tracking tools.
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To further encourage app retention a payment system should be added to assist policy holders with that task and avoid risk of cancellation.
Exploratory Design & Visual Testing
Mood boards and early logo designs lead the way to convergent and divergent style tiles for two rounds of testing. In each round the tests were moderated, remote and explorative in nature.
Testing Goals
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Identify emotional reactions - initial impressions are crucial when working with sensitive data.
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Explore visual elements for further refinement.
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Gauge user experience and willingness to engage with a mobile insurance platform.
Insights
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Overwhelmingly users responded to cool color palettes, high contrast and larger elements with simple, welcoming interfaces.
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Trendy and vibrant designs were soundly rejected.
Of my three design contributions users favored my red white and blue tile with soft curves, large UI and a personable voice.
Reflecting back on the competitive analysis it is clear why leaders in industry have utilized similar color palettes. When divulging personal information,making monumental decisions or purchases, consumers are not looking for trendy, they insist on trust, predictability and percieved stability.
“ I like the colors…I feel like they guide me… ”
Product Name & Logo
Product names were presented to users free from formatting and logo marks allowing us to gauge the initial impression and overall sentiment with each name. From the finalists, Optimum Life was chosen nearly unanimously.
I designed this word mark with a rounded typeface, which employs the use of a gauge graphic - The symbolism of the gauge resonating as a measurement for “optimum”.
“It makes me think of optimum health. Like I want to be the best and the healthiest me.”
Moving forwardwith the chosen logo and product name, I refined the user preferred style direction by adding a complimentary dark blue/black for text and dialing back the saturation on the original red.
Design Solutions
I made some modest revisions to the wire frames based on subject matter expert input, and executed my design within hi fidelity screens. See the Payment Management Flow prototype here.
Summary & Recommendations
By leveraging research and testing heavily, we were able to create an approach that is palatable to users and viable for the stakeholder. Complex tasks are made less intimidating and the building blocks for the app to become a staple are in place.
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Continue vetting life insurance policy content with subject matter experts.
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Continue prototype testing.
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Create New Persona to align with users who have simple insurance needs and like autonomous shopping.
