ING Bank - Bazar Redesign

After the 2014 launch of ING Bazar, an innovative concept that ING Group rolled out in Romania, 2016 brought the need for a redesign to accommodate new product opportunities and more complex functionality.

As the responsible UX designer for this project, I carried out the process End-to-End, making sure that I thoroughly take on all the challenges that came up. I was in charge with the entire design process from early research stages to final UI fine-tuning.

Based on research and data that was already available from the live product, I defined the new architecture of the app, one that could accommodate new functionality and higher complexity. I then went on to prototyping and testing in a dynamic, iterative manner, until I reached the finest results before building a new visual language and UI style.

I worked closely with the Product Manager of ING Bazar, the Head of Product and the Head of Digital Channels. We set up a working team for the redesign and had weekly meetings to align. Other roles that were part of the project team: front-end devs, back-end devs, Magento devs, POs. We worked in Agile methodology.

Our desired outcome was to offer a better shopping experience to ING clients, so based on the feedback that we had available from the live product, usage and statistical data, we formulated a project scope and a set of assumptions to start with.

ING Bazar is a platform that offers shopping benefits inside our banking app. Clients can claim offers and aggregate their loyalty cards, while at the same time opt for instalments plan, all in one place.

A redesign became necessary, knowing that clients needed a better way to discover and select interesting offers, a simpler way to find their preferred merchants, a clearer, easier-to-use interface and a more visible filtering area (the existing one was poorly performing). Also, we wanted to raise overall product engagement.

We used all the available data: BI statistical data, usage data from Magento, Call Center feedback and insights. We held 26 interviews with different client segments: heavy users, occasional users, first time users, one time users. We tried to understand all the profiles that we needed to address with this redesign.

We tried to come up with the based ideas based on the pain points and customer journey we had mapped out. Through this ample exercise we built a clear image of what the new service should look like to satisfy the needs of users and accommodate new functionality. Using the insights and a priority, we started constructing wireframes and iterating and adjusting until we reached a first
version of our prototype. We tested and continuously improved before handing over the project to the development team, with all the specifications.

We needed a clear entry point that offers equal weight and visibility to all the benefits in the platform. After exploring several UI concepts, I came up with the three buttons with suggestive illustrations that give the client a clear sense of what he can use from the very beginning.

To further clarify available benefits, I introduced a small signifier (?) that automatically changes as the client navigates through tabs, explaining the context and content.

To help clients find their favourite merchants fast and easy, I introduced a search bar right at the top of the page, along with relevant filtering options to support the client in finding relevant offers.

The offer cards acted as flippable content, flipping with a nice UI animation when clicked. The flipped back offered details about the offer. This new interaction helped clients remain in the scrolling context without being taken into a new page, as per the previous behaviour.

This allowed for a more engaging interaction with the app, offering the pleasure of scrolling and freely discovering while satisfying the need to find a merchant fast.