Increase identity security by being
proactive
CLIENT
Identity Force
MY ROLE
User Research, Ideation
Prototype production (low-fi wireframes) and
Conceptual hi-fi mock-ups
TIMEFRAME
2 Weeks
TEAM
Meredith Nelson, UX-designer
Omid Moayedi, UX-Designer
TOOLS
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Sketch (Wireframes)
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Illustrator (Imagery and icons)
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Photoshop
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InVision (Prototyping)
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Zeplin (Annotations)
IDENTITY FORCE
Identity Force is one of the front-runners in identity security and credit protection for individuals, businesses and government agencies.
THE CHALLENGE
IdentityForce’s main form of communication with their subscribers till thus far has been via email. However, this communication method does not allow sufficient communication regarding proactive identity security measures their users should be following. IdentityForce needs to find a mutually beneficial method of encouraging and incentivizing their current users to practice proactive identity security.
SNEAK PEEK AT OUR SOLUTIONS
1. Central Information-hub
Users can access important identity security best practices from their mobile applications. This feature creates a central location for information and tips regarding identity security best practices.
2. Gamefication
Users will receive points for completing tasks, which would pro-actively contribute to protecting their personal identity information. These points could then be exchanged for discounts on their service plans or unlocking prime features not available in their current service plan.
3. Increasing Convenience
Users are able to set and manage personal reminders regarding their information and personal security updates.
DESIGN PROCESS
How did we determine our solutions?
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Business Needs and Analysis
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User Research and Archetype development
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Competitive and Comparative Analysis
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Product Prototype Development
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Usability Testing and Next Steps
1. Business Needs and Analysis: What does the client need?
From our research, we found the client/business needs included:
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Revenue: The business needed to generate revenue, so offering a free service wasn't within their scope
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Reputation: They have a reputation to uphold and needed their users to trust in their services
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Compliance: They needed their users to be proactive and comply with stipulated guidelines and advice
2. User research and Archetypes: Our empathetic approach to determine what our users needed
Survey participants: 40
Interviews participants:10
We gathered survey information from 40 participants, following 10 user interviews with users currently utilizing identity security services. Synthesizing the qualitative and quantitative data provided, with a research technique called affinity mapping, we had a better idea of the types of users we had to cater our solutions to, allowing us to create three archetype groups and determine what their main characteristics and needs are. This will give us a better understanding of exactly who our users are and how we should tailor our design solutions to satisfy their needs.
This information will tell us...
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What users already knew regarding identity security
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What motivated current users to subscribe to these identity security services
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Which proactive measures they were currently taking to protect their personal information
From our research, we were able to determine 3 archetype groups, which would represent our target user base.
These included:
Our solution needed to satisfy the needs of both parties involved, namely the business as well as our users
Luckily for us, our business- and user- needs were aligned: To create a more engaging communication channel between the mobile application and their users.
Seeking Inspiration...Now that we knew who we had to tailor our solutions, we had to determine what competition we had and how our solution could stand out from the rest
3. Competitive and Comparative Analysis
At this point, we knew who our users were and what they wanted from this experience. We just needed to determine what mental models our users have developed and what worked really well for them. Enter competitive and comparative analysis.
Competitive Analysis
Identity Force's biggest competitors were determined to be LifeLock and Identity guard. Since convenience was one of our main user needs, we decided to focus predominantly on mobile applications. In this case, Lifelock has been a front-runner in intuitive design and heuristics.
Comparative Analysis
Comparators who stood out amongst our users seem to be Acorns (Grow your knowledge page) as well as Credit Karma (Automated messaging system)
Credit Karma: Automated Message System
Acorns: Grow Your Knowledge
4. PRODUCT PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT
After synthesizing our research, we had a good understanding of what the business goals are and what our users needed from this experience. The next step would be to start ideating on possible solutions. My team and I performed a design studio to get our creative juices flowing and ideate on possible solutions for the challenge at hand.
This process started with:
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Drafting a solution map: this would help us determine the constraints of our project and help us to prioritize solutions based on their level of impact, but still be within our scope for this project.
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Drawing up some rough sketches of our ideas
Design Studio! Brainstorming and visualizing our ideas
Wireframes (medium-fidelity)
After choosing which ideas to move forward with, we created our medium-fidelity wireframes. In this case, medium fidelity would suffice to test our concepts.
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From the home screen, the user would be able to view their current points level, as well as access important alerts and then manage their profile account.
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To improve their points rating users will be able to complete a series of tasks resulting in an increased point level while taking control and educating themselves on their information security.
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Here the user has a central location to learn more information regarding the protection of their identity security. This functionality was modeled in the Acorns application “Grow your knowledge feature”.
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Once a task is completed the user is notified that their points have increased. Taking a page out of our comparators’ handbook, trusty credit karma, we decided to present this modal of achieving a goal in this way to create a positive tone for completing a task. This way the user is positively congratulated on completing a task and we’re keeping to the “gamefication” theme
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A/B testing was performed to determine which layout for the reminder functionality would resonate better with users. Although both versions tested equally well with users in terms of functionality, users did appreciate the option to have pre-set reminder options to choose from. Thus, for this prototype we settled on option 2.
Primary Iterations
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Points percentage indicator changes to a points progress bar. This representation tested better with users, since progression and progress in usually indicated with a forward progression from left to right.
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In terms of functionality, users appreciated the option to have pre-set reminder options to choose from. A click-through reminder setting method was iterated on to allow for pre-set toggles. This function is similar to the native alarm application on IOS, thus allows for increased learnability since most IOS users would already have a mental model of how this feature works.
Prototype in action
5. Usability Testing Insights
Information Hub
The learning center (information hub) functionality tested really well, with users following the user flow intuitively.
"Improve your rating" CTA
CTA for users to Improve their score wasn’t attention-grabbing enough. Many of our users were a little confused by the incentive game functionality at first when opening the application since it’s not generally expected from an identity security application.
However, users seemed to understand the concept quickly enough once they reached the incentives page, but ambiguity between “alerts” and “reminders” came forth as a point of contention.
The learnability of this new concept might be a steep learning curve for IdentityForce’s current user-base. The concept would need to be tested further and added to the current application via gradual implementation.
Next Steps
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Improved User Communication - More Robust Feedback and Support
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Resolve Issues from First Prototype - Disambiguation of Alerts vs. Reminders
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Determine Awards Structure - Points Per Action, Rewards
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Incentive Hub and/or Embedded Incentives?