Barclays at Ease | Stress-free banking for all

My Role

UX | UI Design
Prototype
Motion Design
Case Study

My Team

Hanbyul Kang
Kate Ma
Rui Sun

Duration

Dec - Mar 2023 (2 Months)

Recognition

D&AD New Blood 2023,
Graphite Pencil

Creative Conscience 2023,
Digital and Technology Shortlisted

Overview

Barclays has been a pioneer of technology in finance and banking. They have been helping people with banking and want to help neurodivergent. The neurodivergent population makes up 20%, and we can't even imagine what they are struggling with banking. We've added features to assist the unique needs of neurodivergent.

Design Challenge

Neurodivergent individuals face unique barriers in banking, including but not limited to reading, focusing, and budgeting difficulties. For example, those with dyslexia may feel overwhelmed reading bank statements, while those with ADHD struggle with budget management.

The Solution

We have developed two banking features to help neurodivergent individuals with difficulty managing their finances, particularly in number recognition and budgeting.

Barclays is a multinational universal bank headquartered in London, providing retail, corporate, and investment banking services. They always have been at the forefront of banking innovations by unveiling the world's first ATM in 1967 and releasing UK's first debit card in 1987.

Current Offerings | Barclays is currently offering multiple services throughout branches and apps to help neurodivergent individuals.

  • Pin Reminders

  • PinSentry: Easy Pin

  • Accessible Statement

  • Screen Reader

  • Video Banking app

  • Audio Cash Machines

Neurodivergent describes people whose brain differences affect how their brain works.

Neurodivergent is a broad term covering all people with brain differences.
We tried to find similarities between their banking struggles.

Findings

Impulsivity and other behavioral issues that affect money management were found in people with Dyslexia and ADHD. They struggled with budgeting, impulse purchases, keeping savings, and bill management.

Due to their difficulty with reading and writing, they needed help logging into their banking accounts and managing their finances.
Reading, writing, and focusing issues were found among those with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and Dyspraxia.

The current Voice Over feature was hard to navigate and wasn’t enough. They need assistance reading their account details - numbers and words - not just the buttons and the top of the categories. Due to security reasons, we can’t just read them out loud either.

From our idea generation, we settled on the idea of “Text call out and written numbers” and combined “Set spending allowance” and “A saving game.” We developed task flows and UI to finish these ideas as features.

After low-fidelity testing, we developed a more precise system for the saving game - different levels and plans, plus points, etc.

Feature 1 | Birdie Guide

For those who may have difficulty reading numbers, it writes out numbers (e.g., 176 as "one hundred seventy-six") to clarify them. Users can also enable voice-over with individual numbers highlighted to assist with reading.

Feature 2 | Nest Egg

For those who struggle with budget management and saving, it encourages them to be more aware of their spending by relating saving to the goal of collecting rare birds.

Next Step

Researching and defining the problem was the most challenging part of the project. Although we found multiple issues due to the amount of time, security reasons, and technical difficulty, we had to focus on the problem we could solve.

I want to solve more personal problems like security credentials, fraud, and scam-related issues if I can. These accessibilities are important because they are not just limited to neurodivergent individuals. We need these features and assistance with security credentials and fraud as well.

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