Under needed a way to ensure that their clients were able to communicate effectively with end users.
Under is a financial services platform that helps financial services companies improve their onboarding process by providing digital applications, identity management and direct integrations. By doing so, Under hopes to make the onboarding process more efficient, positive and convenient for both Under Clients and End Users.
The problem that Under wanted to solve was the communication problem between the Under Client and their clients, the End User. UCs and EUs needed a direct line of communication without relying on emailing and calling to get the required information, which is what they were currently doing.
Since I was new to Under and did not have a deep understanding of their business needs yet, I started by sitting down with some members of the team to understand what they wanted from this product.
They explained that there was no way for the UCs and EUs to communicate with each other on Under’s platform and this was essentially diverting users away from the platform. If the EU had any questions about the information they were required to share or if the UC needed more information from the EU, they had no streamlined and convenient way to do so.
Using the information provided, I created user personas for the two user groups we were designing for:
After the initial brainstorming and ideation, our team came together to decide what we wanted our platform to look like. We decided on a three-panel layout that followed similar design patterns to messaging platforms of companies such as Air Bnb. We decided this layout was the most useful for UCs to be able to see all the required information they needed for efficient communication with the End User.
Then, to delve further into the content needed for each panel, we assigned each panel to one designer on our team. My responsibility was to work on the message panel in the middle.
To design a successful message panel, I needed to ensure it met the following user needs, provided to me by the Under team:
I started by sketching out a layout that met all the listed user needs.
While I had initially planned to include linking URLs and inserting documents on the text bar, the Under team decided that they would prefer if these were included as short actions through the keyboard for the MVP version.
My final design of the message panel met the UC needs for allowing them to track whether their messages had been delivered or sent, allowed UCs to see the full names of the End User, and allowed them to pick how to send their messages. I created an initial state of the screen, which guided users on how to get started with the conversation.
I worked with existing components in the Under library, as well as created new ones to indicate different states.
After completing the individual designs, we combined them and made them responsive to work as one cohesive product.
While the Under team only wanted a simple, MVP version of the messaging platform for the time being, I spent some time making a mockup of a ticket tracking system that would help the Under Client track all applications they were working on.
This project was very valuable to me because it made me learn how to think about business and product needs of an already established product. Working with a team of designers where everyone was working on different parts of the project was exciting because it allowed us the freedom to explore our own ideas while also making sure they went well together and with the existing product.
For any questions and concerns, feel free to contact me or the Under team at under.io!
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