Loan Management Software
First American Bank needed to redesign its internal loan management software, which consisted of three different applications that needed to be merged into a single user experience.
My Role
Lead Designer: I was appointed full design ownership and process manager over this product
Problem
The end-users in question were internal FAB users, most of whom have used the same loan management software for over 20 years. Therefore, any modifications to their behavior would need to be implemented in the form of intuitive design changes that are not too disruptive and do not fundamentally alter the user's established workflow.
Scope
The main functionality of the software must include workflows for creating orders and managing new and existing customers.
Solution
After conducting user interviews, I found that much of the manual input data could be loaded to the back-end logic since there was a lot of easily accessible "safety net" information and functionality in the current interface.
Kickoff Workshop
I organized a kickoff meeting with the product team, dev leads, and CTO to understand how their current system worked. During this meeting, I discovered the crucial workflow behaviors that their internal users carried out daily. I understood the primary product goal was to design a solution to enhance the user's efficiency without disrupting their current mental model.
Early User Interviews
After talking to users, I realized that I needed to stick closely to the current screen layouts. I changed my design strategy since each task followed a systematic step-by-step flow. Instead of overhauling the entire workflow, I focused on enhancing the usability of the visuals.
Re-Design
The redesigned interface provides users with more flexibility and control. It is easy to interact with an order and complete a common task.
Designing For Complexity
The previous UI may have appeared unfriendly, but it was essential to differentiate between what could be hidden and what should be visible.