Intro
This project was driven by the experience I gained trading common stocks. When I started, information was scattered, terminology was vast, and understanding how to make money through the market was an intimidating experience. Through the years, I’ve grasped my own methods to analyze and interpret information in order to learn the many facets of trading. Online brokerage services should address this curve to educate its users on delivering an effective learning experience. This sparked my study in relation to the E*trade platform. Their attempts to fill the gaps from a novice to experienced investors is still overlooked and through research I intend on creating efficient solutions to this problem.
Problem
My first thought led me to breaking down how people learn, and what is considered as the best way. This created the notion of a wicked problem. Because there isn't a definitive answer to the topic I had to curate my best interpretation of what a successful learning environment entailed.
Solution
My starting point included familiarizing myself with popular platforms used as learning tools such as Khan Academy and Youtube. I also decided to implement a learning segment for the brokerage platform. By prioritizing the original location of the FAQs and sources page to being one of the main options of the platforms navigation. Viewers would have more direct access to an immediate guide for the platforms utilities and resources.
Personas
I took notes from a few people that invested in the stock market. I took note of their lifestyle, how they got into the market, how long they've been involved, and how they perform now. In addition to their preferred style of learning. I created personas for their cases to reference later on. It narrowed my data points and validation process to real life investors similar to myself.
Cognitive Theory and Design
During my studies I kept coming back to cognitive theory which addressed the multiple ways people process their learning experience. With this in mind I knew my designs had to reflect this principle. Influenced by Youtube, and other interactive learning platforms i was ideating for a layout that embodied these traits without straying away from common web patterns.
Site Map
The platform was big, i had to understand how information was organized before making my additions. I took notes and wrote down ideas to use the other pages as leads back to the tutorial feature.
Low Fidelity Wire-Frame
Hi Fidelity Design
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With my final design in place, I'm able to survey additional users as candidates to my case study for usability testing and validation to my solution.