Personal Wealth

Project Goal: Develop first consumer product of Standard and Poor's, incorporating their wealth of investment resources with a portfolio advice and management tool.

My Role: Information architect and UI designer

The Story: Like most financial Web sites, Personal Wealth was an enormously complex undertaking. It was on this project in particular that Ikonic realized the importance of developing standards for user interface design. Another UI designer had initially begun the architectural exploration by usability testing a simple prototype. Unfortunately, this "simple" prototype was not simple enough. Users found it confusing, not because of the structure and flow, but because the graphics made it difficult to tell what was a button and what was a graphic. Though intended as temporary graphics, swirls and fuzzy-edged buttons were used and users did know where to click.

After coming on to the project, I simplified the prototype, using standardized gray buttons and black and white rectangles for graphics whereever possible. Ikonic eventually evolved these standard graphics for all user interface designs, whether in schematics or prototypes, allowing clear communication of the design to the client and the production team.

URL: www.personalwealth.com