Purpose
Responsive web app called OnBalance, a tool for small business accounting
Role
Lead UX Designer
UX methodologies
Feature Ideation, Information Architecture & Interface Design, Functional Spec, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Definition
This project was a new undertaking for Thomson Reuters to enter into the small and medium business accounting market. We created an MVP tool to allow sole proprietors to manage their sales and expenses in one easy to use cloud-based application. This tool was created as a foundational template to be used across the US, Argentina, Brazil and UK markets.
User Research
We began this project with a survey to define the user-base in each market for the MVP approach. We collected demographic information along with a high-level understanding of user behavior. We followed-up our survey with a set of user interviews and concept user tests to validate our feature set. We used this information to form some preliminary personas to use as our basis for future feature and design work.
Image: Persona
Design System
Though we had an existing design system to start from, the system was created for a completely different customer segment, which required more complexity and flexibility. Our customer base for this tool needed a much simpler and cleaner interface, since they were by no means experts in accounting software. In order to accommodate, we adapted the existing design system and made adjustments, validated with users, where necessary. We created a re-usable style guide and component library for future use within this product, and any new products that were to be created for this user-base.
Image: OnBalance style guide
Information Architecture & Interface Design
We tested multiple user flows to ensure that our navigation was correct for all areas where it would be used. The accounting processes are quite varied from country to country, so we needed to ensure that our navigation and IA was as consistent as it could be, without sacrificing usability for each user-base.
Image: OnBalance site map
OnBalance designs
User testing
We tested the design with users using multiple methods, including moderated in-person testing, moderated remote, testing, and unmoderated testing. Changes were made to prototypes and re-tested when possible.
User tests run in Argentina and Brazil were completed by analysts who spoke the language, with coaching and support from the UX team.
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