Close Brothers
Adopting a human centred approach, I was integral in the creation of the Close Brothers digital design system. Conceived from the ground up, this robust scalable library is now used for all their digital offerings from back-end tools to consumer facing websites.
Role: UX and interaction design lead | Agency: Art Studio London
Challenge
Close Brothers are a merchant banking group providing a host of financial services. Their digital products lacked consistency with the global brand and had little consideration for design and user experience.
My strategy was to create a design system which would allow the bank to create products and services for each different business unit using a suite of patterns and assets. I led and defined the visual direction, working closely with the in-house CX team and stakeholders.
Approach
An audit of all the bank’s back-end and consumer facing products was required, highlighting areas that most needed digital enhancements. This contributed to creating a live application and website which would form the basis of a final design ecosystem.
We used a design thinking approach to gather information first hand from the users. This enabled us to educate the business on the design process and it ensured clear stakeholder engagement. Our discoveries were then utilised to form a scope and then on to the design process.
Design thinking workshops
The team led design thinking workshops, which allowed us to view activities across the business and identify tasks quickly and methodically.
User journeys
User journeys helped identify and plot the user’s behaviour. My visuals were presented to the stakeholders to obtain approval on the design and product development tasks.
Storyboards
Telling each actor’s story, I visualised a series of scenarios. This allowed us to empathise with the end-user and realise the challenges and improve the experience.
Low fidelity wireframes and rapid prototyping
Simple thumbnail sketches gave us a first visual representation of the functionality required to service the user’s needs.
Product architecture
I created a set of multiple sitemaps and user flows depicting the products pages, views and end to end journeys.
Ideation
Sketching out ideas enabled me to rapidly design unique solutions for the design tasks.
High-fidelity wireframes
Creating screen designs with minimal visual styling allowed stakeholders and developers to focus on the functionality and page hierarchy. We could test and implement feedback quickly in bi-weekly sprint cycles.
Design and prototype
In parallel to the wireframes, a full set of designs were created and put into static and dynamic prototypes to test with the user. The feedback was then implemented in iterative cycles until we had fulfilled the best possible solution, addressing the brand and user perspective.
Result
I was integral to creating a suite of products and services across the business, which laid the foundation for the banks first digital design system. The union of the brand with a human focussed approach would be adopted across the business, paving the way for a series of successful digital products. Close Brothers would maintain a competitive edge, keeping abreast with competing technologies with the creation of a methodical and considered digital experience.
Digital design system
From the nuances of UI patterns to the assembly of a full page template, the digital design system would form the foundation for all visual and experience outputs.
The design was reflective of the new global brand guidelines and by using atomic design principles, a new toolkit was produced to ensure continuity across the business groups.
Being modular and responsive, it allowed us to expand and accommodate future iterations seamlessly whilst maintaining it’s core brand integrity.
“Arthur has worked as a lead designer for me on numerous occasions now on a variety of project types. He has a good breadth of design and UX skills and played an important role in kicking off the definition of our design system.
He’s hard working, reliable, a creative thinker and has good stakeholder engagement skills. Alongside that he is a top guy. I’d hire him in a second if he wanted to come in-house!”
— Ian Hunt, CEO Close Brothers