Developed during my internship with Dentsu Creative, my team sought to reimagine the digital experience for a multinational American bank holding company. Our team recognized the surplus of digital content this company produced to benefit their consumers, and we were inspired to better leverage this content through unique navigation and module design.
Overview
MY ROLE
Experience Design Intern
DURATION
3 Months
MY TEAM
Dentsu Creative :)
TOOLS
Sketch
THE PROBLEM
The surplus of digital content included articles, videos, and podcasts that were organized through a complex category hierarchy. This complex organization along with the wide variety of content made it difficult for consumers to navigate themselves towards what they were looking for.
THE SOLUTION
Create intuitive navigation and embedded article modules that lead users to their desired content and maximize the visibility of resources available to them within the business blog page.
WHERE WE STARTED -
THE CURRENT NAVIGATION STRUGGLED TO MAXIMIZE THE VISIBILITY OF DIGITAL CONTENT.
The current navigation we observed followed a tertiary style with each level corresponding to a different function. The first level of navigation was associated with the user’s personal relationship to the bank holding company, including access to their account and other individualized experiences. The second level featured links to business related resources, and the third level displayed their business blog content categories and their podcast.
Our main priority was to optimize the third level of navigation associated with their business blog. We felt that their current solution could better display the multitude of content they produced in order to maximize traffic to these resources.
WHAT WE CAME UP WITH -
OPTION 1: THE DIVIDER
The first solution we came up with was to use the hero section as a divider between the second and third levels of the navigation. By creating this separation the business blog categories and media types would be highlighted, drawing attention from users.
Ultimately we passed on this idea due to the fact that once the user scrolled, this separation would cease and the desired effect would be lost.
OPTION 2: THE MINIMALIST
Our second idea was to deprecate the second level of navigation, moving these resources underneath the existing ‘business’ link in the primary level. This resulted in a cleaner navigation, improving user experience.
We received feedback that this change was a bit too drastic, which led us to move on to other ideas.
OPTION 3: THE IDEAL
Our third solution was to separate the business blog page from the main website entirely, which we saw as an idealistic version of the site.
However, we understood that this would have to be set aside as a future endeavor and began brainstorming more tangible ideas.
OPTION 4: THE MEGA MENU
Our final solution was our winning idea, where we chose to combine the second and third levels of the navigation. In doing so we were able to clearly display main topic categories, integrate various media, and present subcategories as well.
OUR NEXT STEPS:
WE WANTED TO TAKE CONTENT INTEGRATION TO THE NEXT LEVEL.
Upon completing our navigation solution, we began thinking about other ways we could continue to showcase this company’s digital content. This led us to explore the article pages.
We began by reimagining the article hero section. By creating a carousel option, more imagery could be included to pique further interest.
We also considered users who may not want to or could not read a long article, leading us to include an audio module at the beginning of each page.
Once we included the audio module, our team realized that providing options was key in this situation. This led us to provide an image trio module as well as Instagram reel integration. Not only did these options create a more dynamic feeling page, but it provided a way to showcase related media.
We continued this exploration through fulfilling other imagery needs. After some competitive research we recognized a trend in small images paired with captions that this bank holding company had not yet integrated.
This led us to provide both horizontal and vertical image / caption modules.
Upon completing these modules we sought out other trends that were not yet being leveraged. This led us to notice the use of dynamic tables that allowed users to hide content and learn more about the table components.
One scenario in which we found this to be useful was the breakdown of financial documents. By providing users with the ability to absorb each section of the table at their own pace without being overwhelmed with all of the information at once, proved to make the content more easily digestible.
Finally, with the creation of all of these modules we had reached the end of the article page. We came to realize that the end of this page was arguably the most important in terms of guiding users to additional content. By recognizing this opportunity we were able to come up with both a suggested content and archive module that would act as a footer to every article, like this one!
We wanted the suggested content module to draw users in with a CTA, hence the module title ‘ready to dig deeper?’ This module would display all related content, including both podcasts and videos.
We also recognized that the suggested content within this module may not be exactly what the user is looking for. To address this potential need we created an archive module that would allow users to search for content based on topic and industry.
OUTCOMES AND WHAT I LEARNED -
The navigation exploration and the article module creation that my team and I completed resulted in a balanced and inclusive solution. We were able to highlight the various channels of content, and create a dynamic experience for their users.
OUTCOMES
NEXT STEPS
As a budding UI/UX designer, working with both my Dentsu Creative team and this bank holding company really opened my eyes to the beauty of user experience. When I first began this internship I hadn’t explored what functionality truly meant. Without realizing it I had formed a biased view on user experience, I thought that if it worked for me then it had to work for everybody.
I learned that user experience isn’t about creating a solution for the majority. It’s about creating options for every user in a way that facilitates community, positivity, and efficiency.