Tandem
Designing a bank to fix people's relationship with money
Tandem Bank was created to fix people's relationship with money. I was lucky to join the team at an early stage when both digital and financial offerings were undefined.
About 16 months later the design team have delivered and validated an iOS & Android app, a website to explain the proposition and a credit card product to help with spending habits.
As a team lead I was less involved in the final production of designs. The UI and print designs you'll see below are the handiwork of the amazing designers: Bernardo, Christoph, Jacob, Rebecca and Rob.
What's in a good bank?
The ethos of Tandem is to always deliver a win-win solution to its customers. For us this meant that it was not enough to deliver the next cool thing in fintech - whatever we designed had to make a real difference and help those who otherwise would struggle sustaining a healthy financial life.
We used the Jobs to be done framework to uncover people’s end goals when it comes to managing money. With the help of in-home interviews and stakeholder workshops we identified key jobs that customers would hire our product for.
Defining success
We summarised the research in a simple statement that specified the outcome for our customers using our product.
Moment of truth
By mapping out our acquisition and activation journeys we identified the key moment when a customer would get reassured that Tandem could help them have healthier financial habits. This moment was seeing how much money they could safely spend until their next payday.
Designing for growth
The design team was tructured around two key stages of the customer lifecycle; growth (acquisition, activation & referral) and engagement (retention, servicing & communication). I was responsible for the output of the growth sub-team.
First time use
The growth team's main focus was to introduce the brand to the market and get people start using our app. We held workshops with the wider team to create service maps that clearly visualised the role of each channel at every step across the customer acquisition journey.
Removing friction
Our service maps also highlighted the points at which there was a higher risk of dropping out so we could come up with strategies for helping people get through those steps.
Onboarding done right
We held fortnightly in-office testing sessions with customers and threw away many designs before we found the right flow and interaction patterns.
We eventually settled on a chat interface which felt effortless for the more relaxed users but also offered options for more support for those who were a bit more cautious about security.
Building the brand
As a new player in the market it was important for the team not only to deliver great value to our first customers but also to prepare for those who may take a bit longer to decide to sign up.
Through a consistent visual language we made sure that our audience can get familiar with the brand while they consider opening a Tandem account.
Role: Lead Product Designer (contract)
Client: Tandem Bank