2021
Northwestern Mutual
Design Lead
UX, Research, Rapid Prototyping & Delivery
Currently, Northwestern Mutual Advisors employ diverse methods to track revenue and expenses, each responsible for their individual business. Some engage private CPAs, while others laboriously assemble monthly profit and loss reports using manual processes to manage their finances.
I was responsible for leading a team of two to design an onboarding experience that would allow advisors to easily connect with a third party to integrate their financial data into QuickBooks Online.
Facilitated four co-creation sessions to establish foundational design direction
Iteratively wireframed key screens and flows to quickly test concepts
Actively defined requirements and managed scope with stakeholders
Synthesized large amounts of information into actionable insights to inform designs
Paired with engineering to maintain quality and integrity of the experience
Mentored a fellow designer to help build confidence in unfamiliar skill areas
Out of respect for the client's privacy, I can't share many details about this project. I do want to emphasize my gratitude for Northwestern Mutual for allowing me to take part in strategic planning, user testing, workshops, and allowing me to play a part in shaping the future of their organization.
I ran a series of user interviews and design workshops with the goal of gaining an understanding of advisor needs, perceptions, and pain points related to tracking and managing their revenue and expenses. These information gathering sessions helped expedite our understanding of financial information and the level of value to the advisor.
I put together a research plan to understand in detail how users managed, tracked, and leveraged their transactional data to make business decisions.
To deepen our stakeholders knowledge about advisors, I asked four users to prioritize financial metrics in a card sorting exercise to learn which areas they find more valuable.
To ensure precise financial data on the business development platform, Advisors must seamlessly integrate their field financial system data into Quickbooks Online through a third-party connection. Moreover, Advisors should share their data with Northwestern's proprietary platform to receive personalized, data-driven business recommendations.
I created a rough 'order of events' to define the prototype and also provide focal points for the testing questions that would be mapped against the prototype.
I moderated six remote user interviews with current advisors to gain insight about the prototype and their experience tracking and managing their revenue and expenses.
I organized over 100 verbatim quotes from the testing sessions into 10 key themes then into 5 core themes that were used in the following design iterations.
I refined and synthesized user findings into key themes that contained pain points, motivators, and core user needs which led to defining overall core themes.
Throughout this project, I immersed myself in detailed user interactions, guided design iterations with informed decisions, and adapted swiftly within technical limitations. We achieved a rapid, enjoyable, and comprehensive project cycle, successfully launching QuickBooks Online integration to the esteemed private client group.
Constrained to using a third-party scheduling platform for data migration, the design was fixed. I ensured the experience would feel seamless by optimizing the messaging to provide awareness, context, and expectations for advisors.
With testing complete and design finalized, 4 out of 6 advisors said that the experience felt smooth and that they were excited about "getting their hands on this".
I paired with and work closely with engineering partners to provide guidance, support, and suggestions for a cohesive launch to the prestigious Private Client Group.
When this project wrapped, it was a bittersweet moment and a project that expedited my growth as a designer, leader, and conduit between cross-functional teams and people.
Throughout this project, there were opportunities to drive strategic processes at a high-level while also remaining grounded in the design process to provide my expertise in various areas to help our team and client partners navigate ambiguity and improve our users’ experience.
