Amir Dotan WUD2012

A Glimpse into the World of User Experience in London's Financial District Amir Dotan / LAB49

UX and the City

World Usability Day 2012 Usability of Financial Systems

About me User Experience architect at LAB49; a technology consulJng firm that builds advanced soluJons for the financial services industry

BA (Hons.) Mul.media Arts (Middlesex University)

User Experience Architect -‐ LAB49

User Experience Researcher – Centre for HCI Design, City University

Degree Lecturer – HCI and Web Development -‐ SAE InsJtute

Flash Developer -‐ SHAPE InteracJve Digital Agency

2010

2007

2003

2000

MSc Human-‐Centred Systems (City University London)

3. Considera.ons and UI design guidelines

1. Working as a UX professional in the financial services industry

2. The trading floor work environment

I’m going to talk about

Typical UX projects – Investment Banking Working in the financial services industry

Trading systems (Single and MulJ Dealer Pla\orms)

Research, news, economic events, market senJments etc.

Dashboards – AnalyJcs, monitoring and reporJng tools

Por\olio and Risk management

Data-‐rich, mission criJcal systems

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jovriens/4592933854/

Working in the financial services industry

(e.g. investment decisions)

There is a need to display and organise large data sets and support criJcal workflows

Diverse user groups

hap://www.flickr.com/photos/d-‐kav/4629934426/

External users -‐ Small-‐medium businesses, mulJnaJonal companies,

Working in the financial services industry

Internal users -‐ Sales teams, traders, management, back-‐office

central banks, governments etc.)

Diverse needs, workflows, level of experience

professional investors (Insurance companies, pension funds,

Investment banks are relaJvely new to UX Working in the financial services industry

Scope for innovaJon

“Fat Finger” syndrome Working in the financial services industry

Poor usability can be very costly

Working in front of 3-‐6 monitors

hap://www.flickr.com/photos/27244534@N08/2539318470/

The trading floor work environment

Very limited screen real-‐estate, the user has to pay aaenJon to many things at once

and mulJple data entry devices

Rear-‐view mirrors aaached to monitors The trading floor work environment

Users are olen distracted

Heightened state of alert

Busy and olen unavailable users

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artemuestra/2941677924/

The trading floor work environment

Lab-‐based usability tesJng and other structured evaluaJon methods are difficult to implement

Use of colour Considera.ons and UI design guidelines

Colour blindness consideraJons – Not relying on colour alone to convey informaJon

Standard components: Considera.ons and UI design guidelines

Established mental models and industry convenJons we need to consider

Trade bloaer, dealing panels, charts, tables

Maximising screen real-‐estate Considera.ons and UI design guidelines

Empty spaces are rarely welcomed

Not always possible to use real data in

hap://www.flickr.com/photos/fredjk/276849773/

Considera.ons and UI design guidelines

prototypes and mockups

Difficult to simulate condiJons and test concepts unJl the system is built

Keyboard-‐friendly interfaces

hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_garland/2268928575/


Keying data can be a considerable part of a workflow

Avoid interacJons that require changing from keyboard to mouse Consider tabbing order in forms

Consider keyboard shortcuts

Typography and numbers

hap://www.flickr.com/photos/zoezolka/313115700/


Numbers are very important but in many cases have to be displayed in small font

CustomisaJon is key

hap://www.flickr.com/photos/seven13avenue/2080281038/


Make interface elements detachable and collapsible

Enable users to customise the UI


Tabular representaJon has its strengths

Don’t visualise data just because you can

Consider offering mulJple view modes

Is the user looking for insight or single data element?

[email protected] @UX_links @UX_for_Finance

Thank You

Technology

Amir Dotan WUD2012