Best Bank App
Testing whether users can confidently complete essential banking tasks without confusion or unnecessary friction.
PROJECT TYPE
UX / Usability Testing / Redesign
METHODS
Usability Testing · Problem Definition · Affinity Mapping · Information Architecture · UX Recommendations · Wireframing · Prototyping
Overview
BestBank, a mid-sized fintech organisation, was preparing to launch a mobile banking app offering money transfers, bill payments and account management.
Before launch, the objective was to understand whether users could successfully complete essential banking tasks using a mid-fidelity prototype and identify any areas of confusion, friction or poor discoverability.
I conducted usability testing with eight participants representing two different user groups: younger professionals who were comfortable using digital products and older adults who were less familiar with mobile banking.
By observing participants completing realistic banking tasks, I identified recurring usability problems around task completion, navigation and information architecture, and content clarity.
These findings were then translated into prioritised design recommendations that could inform the next iteration of the product.
The Challenge
Mobile banking relies heavily on trust, clarity and efficiency. Users need to feel confident that they can find important features and successfully complete potentially high-stakes actions such as transferring money or setting up payments. The prototype included the required functionality, but the key question was whether users could actually discover and use those features without assistance. The challenge was therefore to evaluate the usability of the prototype and identify where its structure, navigation or terminology prevented users from completing common banking tasks efficiently.
Research question
Can users confidently find and complete essential banking tasks without assistance?
Testing Methodology
I used moderated usability testing, asking participants to work through a series of realistic banking tasks while I observed their behaviour. Rather than explaining how the interface worked, participants were encouraged to navigate independently and talk through what they were thinking as they completed each task.
I recorded where users:
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successfully completed a task
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hesitated or backtracked
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selected an unexpected option
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struggled to locate a feature
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misunderstood terminology
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required assistance
The emphasis was placed on observed behaviour rather than preference alone. This helped reveal usability issues that participants might not have consciously reported themselves.
Participants
Number of participants: 8
Participant profile:
Young professionals (who are comfortable with technology) and older adults (who may struggle with digital banking tools).
Testing across different levels of digital confidence helped reveal whether the interface relied too heavily on users already understanding common mobile banking conventions.
Test tasks:
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Log in and transfer £500
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Update contact information
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Set up recurring payment
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Find recent transactions
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Locate customer support
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Download monthly statement
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Change notification settings
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Check account balance
Observing User Behaviour
During each session I recorded behavioural observations alongside participant comments. I paid particular attention to hesitation, repeated navigation, backtracking and occasions where users selected an unexpected route. Rather than treating individual comments as isolated problems, I compared observations across the eight sessions to identify recurring patterns. This helped distinguish one-off difficulties from broader usability issues affecting multiple participants.
Prioritising the Findings
I prioritised each usability issue based on two factors:
Impact — How seriously did the issue affect the user's ability to complete the task?
Frequency — How consistently did the issue appear across testing sessions?
Issues that prevented users from completing core banking activities were treated as the highest priority, while problems that slowed users down without preventing completion were considered lower priority.
High frequency + high impact → Critical
Lower frequency + high impact → High
High frequency + lower impact → Medium
Low frequency + low impact → Low
Key finding 1 critical priority
Task Completion Challenges
Users struggle to successfully complete key tasks due to poor discoverability and flow design.
“I spent too much time just trying to find how to transfer money.”
“Setting up a recurring payment felt hidden.”
“I couldn’t find any way to edit my details.”
“I kept searching instead of actually completing the task.”
Recommendation
Feature common and important tasks early on key screens. Reduce clicks required to complete important tasks such as Transferring money or viewing transactions. Show progress indicators within task flows and clear feedback when complete.
Expected impact
The task success rate will increase driving revenue to the business from high value actions such as transfers. Support costs will decrease as users will be more autonomous.
Key finding 2 high priority
Navigation & Information Architecture
Users cannot predict where features live. Mental models do not match system structure.
Frequent phrases: “couldn’t find,” “hidden,” “unclear location,” “too many clicks”
Recommendation
Reorganize IA around user expectations (Accounts, Payments, Profile, Support). Organise card sorting activity with the user group to see where they expect items to be.
Expected impact
Navigation will feel more effortless to users because it aligns with their preconceived mental model of where things should be.
Key finding 3 high priority
Content Clarity & Labelling
Labels and naming do not match user expectations.
Phrases: “unclear labels,” “expected…”, “not obvious”
Recommendation
Replace internal/system-driven terms with standard banking terms that users will be familiar with. Create a consistent naming system across the app.
Expected impact
Users find features faster without trial-and-error. Less cognitive load for users and increased satisfaction.
Defining the Problem
To bridge user research findings with design execution, I defined a structured UX problem framework using the Who, What, Where, and Why method.
Who? Diverse banking customers (spanning tech-savvy millennials to older adults).
What? Struggle to navigate the mobile app, locate core features, and complete routine banking tasks.
Where? Across primary navigation tabs, task workflows (transfers, recurring payments), and account settings.
Why? Complex menu hierarchies, obscure jargon, and hidden task triggers make the experience frustrating, time-consuming, and prone to error.
UX Problem Statement
BestBank customers across all digital literacy levels need a more direct and intuitive way to navigate the mobile app and perform key actions because obscure navigation, technical jargon, and deeply nested task flows create unnecessary effort, reduce user confidence, and lead to task abandonment.
Initial Sketches
Following the usability testing, I began exploring how the key issues could be addressed through a revised interface.
The first stage was to create a series of low-fidelity sketches focused on the core money-transfer journey. Keeping the designs deliberately simple allowed me to concentrate on layout, hierarchy, navigation and task flow before introducing visual styling.
The sketches focused on four key stages:
Home screen
I brought the most important banking actions directly onto the dashboard, including Send, Pay, Regular Payments and Update Info. This responded directly to the testing findings that users struggled to locate common features.
The account balance and recent transactions were given strong visual prominence, while persistent bottom navigation provided clear access to Home, Payments, Help and Profile.
Recipient selection
The second screen introduced a dedicated recipient-selection stage with a prominent search field, frequently used recipients and a longer contact list.
This was designed to reduce unnecessary searching by allowing users to either quickly select a familiar recipient or locate someone using search.
Enter amount
The third sketch simplified the amount-entry screen by showing the selected recipient clearly at the top, followed by a large monetary value and numeric keypad.
A visible progress indicator — Recipient → Amount → Review — was introduced to help users understand where they were in the process and what would happen next.
Review and confirmation
The final sketch gave users an opportunity to review the payment before sending it.
Key information including the amount, source account, recipient, reference and fee was grouped together in one place. I also introduced a clear primary action for sending the payment and surfaced the option to create a recurring payment as a secondary action.
Design rationale
Across the sketches, I focused on three principles identified through the usability testing:
Make important actions visible
Frequently used banking features should be immediately discoverable rather than hidden within deeper navigation.
Make progress predictable
Breaking the transfer journey into clearly labelled stages helps users understand both their current position and the remaining steps.
Provide confidence before commitment
The review stage gives users the opportunity to check important financial information before confirming the transfer.
The goal was not to add more functionality, but to make existing functionality easier to find, understand and complete.
Refining the Wireframes
Developing the strongest ideas into a more complete user flow
After reviewing the initial sketches, I developed the strongest concepts into a more detailed set of wireframes.
The refined flow expanded the original four sketches into five screens:
1. Home
The dashboard provides an immediate overview of the user's account balance, recent transactions and most important actions. The four primary actions remain prominently positioned beneath the account card, making common tasks easier to discover without relying on menu exploration. Recent activity is presented directly on the home screen to support another common banking behaviour: quickly checking recent transactions.
2. Select recipient
The recipient screen combines three different ways of finding someone:
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search
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frequently used recipients
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the complete contact list
This provides flexibility for different user behaviours while keeping the most likely choices immediately accessible.
The progress indicator also establishes a clear three-stage journey from Recipient → Amount → Review.
3. Enter amount
The amount-entry screen reduces distraction by focusing attention on a single task. The selected recipient remains visible at the top of the screen, reinforcing who the payment is being sent to. The large amount display, dedicated numeric keypad and separate reference field create a clear input hierarchy, while the Continue button establishes an obvious next action.
4. Review payment
The review screen was designed to reduce uncertainty immediately before the transaction is submitted.
The amount is given the strongest visual emphasis, followed by a structured summary showing:
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The source
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Selected recipient
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Reference
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Payment reference
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Any associated charge
The primary Tap to Send Now button creates a clear point of commitment. The option to create a recurring payment remains available, but is visually secondary so it does not compete with the main task.
5. Payment confirmation
I added a dedicated success screen to provide clear system feedback after the transfer has been processed. A prominent confirmation icon, the message “Payment Sent!”, and supporting text reassure the user that the action was successful. The screen then provides a simple Back to Home action, giving the journey a clear endpoint.
This was an important addition because financial transactions require particularly strong feedback: users should never be left wondering whether an action has successfully completed.
Interactive Prototype
I developed the refined wireframes into an interactive prototype to demonstrate the complete money transfer journey, from the home screen through recipient selection, amount entry, review and payment confirmation.
The prototype introduces clear interaction feedback throughout the flow, including button states, progress indicators and confirmation messaging, helping users understand what has been selected, where they are in the process and what will happen next. The experience was deliberately kept simple and predictable, reflecting the usability findings around discoverability, navigation and user confidence.
Creating the prototype also gave me a more realistic version of the redesigned experience that could be used in a second round of usability testing to evaluate whether the changes had successfully reduced friction.
How the design responds to the usability findings
Finding
Users struggled to find important banking features
Design response
Core actions such as Send, Pay, Regular Payments and Update Info are surfaced directly on the home screen.
Finding
Navigation and task flows were unclear
Design response
The transfer journey has been divided into three explicit stages:
Recipient → Amount → Review
Users can see their progress throughout the flow.
Finding
Users lacked confidence when completing tasks
Design response
The redesigned flow introduces stronger system feedback through:
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clearly selected recipients
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visible progress indicators
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a dedicated review screen
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a prominent payment confirmation state
Finding
Recurring payments were difficult to discover
Design response
The recurring-payment option is surfaced directly from the payment review screen, where it is contextually relevant.
Conclusion & Reflection
This project demonstrated how usability testing can uncover issues that are not always obvious from reviewing an interface alone. By observing how users completed realistic banking tasks, I was able to identify problems around discoverability, navigation and clarity, then translate those findings into a more focused and intuitive transfer flow.
The process reinforced the importance of designing around observed user behaviour rather than assumptions. If I continued the project, the next step would be to test the revised prototype with another group of users and compare task completion, confidence and ease of navigation against the original experience.