CardCritics

Project Overview

The CardCritics redesign aimed to expand its audience by appealing to a younger demographic aged 20-30 while maintaining engagement with its existing, older user base. The project focused on creating a modernized look and feel that resonated with younger users without alienating the established audience.

As an in-house designer, I worked closely with product managers, developers, and key stakeholders to craft a solution that balanced user needs with business objectives, ensuring the redesign achieved both aesthetic appeal and functionality.

Problem & Goals

Through user testing and competitive analysis, we identified significant pain points in the homepage experience. Users were struggling to navigate the site and complete essential tasks due to unclear navigation and a lack of trust signals. This confusion led to high abandonment rates on the homepage and a notable drop in monthly conversions.
Additionally, the site failed to attract and retain a younger audience, limiting its reach and growth potential.
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To address these issues, the project focused on three primary objectives:
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1. Streamline Navigation: Simplify the user journey to reduce friction and enable users to access their desired credit card category quickly and effortlessly.
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2. Build Trust: Introduce trust-enhancing elements to instill confidence and credibility in the platform.
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3. Expand Audience Reach: Attract a younger demographic by creating a user-friendly and visually engaging experience, with the aim of increasing conversions by 15%.

Approach

To address the identified challenges, a structured and collaborative design process was implemented to ensure the success of the redesign:

‍1. Research and Discovery
• Conducted an in-depth audit of the existing design to identify pain points and areas that hindered user engagement.
‍• Performed a competitive analysis to benchmark industry best practices and identify opportunities for improvement.
‍• Compiled a mood board showcasing effective design elements, helping to align the team on a shared vision for the redesign.

‍2. Ideation and Prototyping
• Created low-fidelity wireframes to explore and validate potential solutions for improving navigation and trust-building.
• Collaborated with product managers and stakeholders to gather feedback, refine ideas, and align the design direction with business objectives.
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‍3. Design and Implementation
• Developed updated brand guidelines to establish a consistent and modern visual identity for CardCritics.
• Designed high-fidelity wireframes incorporating the new brand language, user-centered design principles, and solutions to address navigation and trust issues.

‍4. Collaboration and Iteration
• Worked closely with developers to ensure the final designs were implemented seamlessly within the project’s timeline.
• Conducted design reviews throughout the process to address any technical constraints or last-minute adjustments.

‍The redesigned homepage has been launched recently, and we are now monitoring user engagement and conversion metrics to assess the impact of the new design.