Considerations

Customisation
We want the user to have agency over the page and customise it to their needs. 

Ease of use
As well as ensuring customisation, we want the site to be accessible and easy to use.

Hierachy
A lot of information regarding retirement and pensions is important to users, but the hierarchy of importance changes depending on the user.

Figma

Tools used

Objectives

Miro

Userzoom

I began my research with a competitive benchmark. I looked at other companies, services and products offering a similar concept. Whilst there was a fair amount of variation in content and design, there seemed to be a trend in checklist patterns.

The GOV UK website appeared to be the closest match to our design objective. However, we wanted to add a more personable and holistic approach to our checklist ideations. 

discovery

From the initial benchmark, I then started to map out the journey process. As we wanted to give the user agency, it felt insular to just provide a checklist when every person would have different circumstances. 

Instead, we aimed for a three step system, with a quiz at the beginning of the flow. The quiz would be able to indicate the users current state, enabling the checklist to become more customised. For instance, someone may have already completed a Lasting Power of Attorney, meaning it could already be ticked off their checklist. Step two focused on the checklist itself, whilst step three looked at how a user could save their progress and encourage return visits to the site.

I produced wireframes of the three steps to better visualise the idea. I played around with variations, looking at one question or multiple questions per page.

Additionally, I wanted to give the user further agency so created a "Now, Next, Later" design. The idea for this was that users could customise their checklist by dragging and dropping tasks to a hierarchy that suited their individual needs, making it easier to consolidate cognitive load.

design

For the first design iteration, I opted for an orange colour scheme and a scale illustration to aid visualisation of progress.

I was fortunate enough to be present in two focus groups showing the first design iteration. From the findings, participants liked the holistic approach in the "Guides" section and the "Now, Next, Later" block. They also felt more excited about retirement after viewing the page.

There was less enthusiasm surrounding the colour palette and scale illustration. For the scale, there was concern that it might trigger anxiety in some users who are already feeling anxious regarding retirement. Furthermore, participants felt that the colour palette was too detached from Co-op branding. 

With that in mind, I iterated on the design. I added more holistic elements, signposting to mental health support and Co-op community involvement. In addition, the colour palette was changed to blue and the scale was removed. 

From the focus group, participants also liked the idea of printing off or downloading the checklist as a static PDF. We kept those options in. Unfortunately, "Now, Next, Later" was not in scope, so I created a numbered checklist. This was a more linear design than originally intended, but we were able to keep "done" tasks as a pre-checked off element.  

The final result focuses on retirement planning, with a design aimed to assist the user. 

We achieved the project objectives, creating an entirely new service page for our customers, whilst maintaining the Co-op brand and ethos of working together. 

You can check out the final result on the Life Planning website.

FINAL RESULT