At Capital One, I had the unique experience of working with the brick and mortar aspect of the bank, designing for large interactive screens situated in our café/bank locations. As part of a small agile team, my role as an interaction designer was to improve the user’s connection to our products. We identified two opportunities to enhance the use of the screens: as an entertainment medium for children and a presentation tool. However, part of the challenge was that the screens were not meant for personal use but were designed as a shared experience.
Upon my joining, the design work was being outsourced to a design agency called Huge. However, after assessing their work and the future of the project, we decided to move the design process in-house. To create a full-stack team capable of swiftly generating ideas, we filled the gaps in our team by bringing on a graphic designer and a content designer.
Our initial step in addressing this challenge was to conduct a field study of various touch screens in retail environments. We noticed issues with screen layout, call to action, and general user neglect. We also observed that our screens, large and perpendicular to the ground, were oriented differently than typical personal touch screens. Since these screens were ergonomically set up for group usage, we needed to design experiences that multiple people in the room could enjoy together.
As an integral member of our team, which included a 2 UX designers, a content strategist, and three developers, I played the role of an interaction designer and was the interface between our wider design team and developers. By involving our developers throughout the design process, we ensured that backend development was well underway by the time designs were delivered, and frontend work could commence swiftly. Recognizing the need for a visual designer with event and branding experience, I took the initiative to define the role and push for a hire, strengthening our team's ideation capabilities.
Evaluation of our designs was conducted through observation of customer interactions with the screens, along with in-person interviews in the cafés. Our testing primarily revolved around qualitative questions, as our focus was on user sentiment during the interaction. We also gauged if users could navigate through the experience without needing guidance. Our unique medium necessitated innovative interactions, which were regularly tested and iterated upon.
As the content was intrinsically connected to the experience, we all occasionally played the role of content designers. We often used mind-mapping sessions as a means to kickstart new experiences, ensuring all team members were aligned with the rough idea and the content was fitting for our experience.
We created multiple experiences for the interactive teams. One experience that we delivered to the café was a Tinder style quiz. This experience included adorable outsourced illustrations that I animated, along with an interaction model that we took through several tests to ensure the interaction CTA was clear and the quiz resulted in a clear sense of accomplishment and next steps for our customers.
Ryan has an excellent eye for visual design, and I would say this is his greatest strength. He sees the fine details that others might not, and can explain those details easily. He also has a calm and laid back presentation and interaction style that serves him well. He is able to communicate well, whether it’s his own design decisions or the reasoning behind something the team has agreed on. -Dell Naskoviak (Design lead over Bank Products)
Ryan is a UX Motion designer that considers branding and content essential to the user experience.