Investor Survey

Project
A San Mateo-based financial institution wanted a forward-thinking visual aesthetic for its new investment taste profile survey.
Primary Issue
Generating an accurate taste profile requires a lot of feedback from the user but crafting an engaging user experience around a long-form survey is difficult.
Challenges
- The survey had eleven sections, some with multiple sub-sections.
- The survey design required a clean and consistent way to communicate instructions, hints, and headers that may not be present on every page or every section.
- The survey required a progress bar that gave users an indication of their progress.
Users
The survey was primarily targeted at new investors between the ages of 30-55 with a high interest but little experience in personal investing.
Solutions
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To keep the survey engaging for users, I employed several different presentation methods.
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When a section required additional context, I used subtle contrast techniques to insert elements such as sub-section headers and the Likert value key.
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I used subtle light and shadow effects to make the interactive elements of the survey, such as sliders and rating scales, pop in contrast to their flat contextual counterparts.
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Contrast also played a large role in communicating user’s selections.
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I designed a colorful yet inconspicuous progress bar to help users see their progress at a glance.
Retrospective

Design has gained some traction in the financial services industry, but its importance remains largely misunderstood at the strategic and tactical level with respect to the user experience. In designing this survey, thought was given to the language used to communicate with the respondent, however the UX team didn’t initially consider visual design in developing an engaging user experience. I was able to deliver the design elements even though I was brought on to the project late, however, I learned that when visual design is considered earlier in the development process, the team can work more efficiently to deliver a high-quality product.