Unique Solutions For Unique Lives
How we approach product design at Current
One of the most exciting parts of being a Product Designer at Current is having to think of radically new solutions to solve problems. Fintech is in its infancy, and there are very few examples of other apps to pull from for how to solve X, Y or Z.
If you were to design a social media app, or video app, there are hundreds of examples, from YouTube, Vimeo, and Daily Motion, to intricate video player concepts posted on Dribbble.
Fintech, and banking more specifically, doesn’t have that luxury. When you search “Bank” you get a flurry of similar looking designs that I call “concept car” designs. They look extremely pretty, super deep shadows, bright colors and textures, but have no real function, typically feature a giant debit or credit card, and solve no real problem other than looking like a prettier bank.
A great example of a unique problem came up with our teenage card product. A parent can sign up for Current, add their teens, and manage allowance, chores, spending, and more.
When it came to figuring out how to quickly access multiple financial accounts, we had to do so without disrupting the entire app. It also had to be flexible for the new (at the time) individual checking accounts we launched, and to maintain consistency both from a structural point of view, but also in the event an individual upgraded and added teens to their account.
We could have added an account switcher similar to Instagram inside of the Profile screen, but it’s very hidden, and would disrupt the entire app — Every tab would now be for my teen’s account. What if I leave the app and come back, and forget I’ve switched to my teen? This could lead to a frustrating experience of having to constantly switch back and forth between your teen in the profile page to make sure you’re accessing the correct account.
Account switching is a large disruption for a parent who may want to take a small, or uncommon action. An example with Current, specifically, could be blocking a teen’s ability to spend money at liquor store’s. You probably do that once and never think about it again.
We had this unique situation. A parent that has access to their teen accounts, needs a quick way to switch between these accounts without disrupting the entire app or providing a potentially confusing experience when they return to the app, and it has to be flexible enough to work with individual checking accounts. This isn’t something that you can go on Dribbble and easily find an answer for. Additionally, the way accounts and products are managed from a backend point of view made for an unusual experience that we needed to not feel unusual.
We spent a long time trying to crack this problem, and eventually solved it with a custom component (Every developer’s favorite words!) The solution was a “View All Accounts” “accordion” switcher.
A parent can easily tap “View All Accounts” to see their Teen, and it would have no effect over the other tabs in the app. I could look at my teen, then go to the Money Tab, or Profile and still be within my account. This maintains a mental model of the app, and keeps actions taken inside of one tab to only affect that tab. It can confuse a user when you make changes inside of one tab and it affects something in another tab.
The additional benefit of this solution is that you can easily check your Teen’s balances.
For individual users, we maintained the same structure, just without the switcher, which made it seamless to build and provided for a consistent experience.
What I like most about designing at Current is that this is just one of countless examples where we had to think outside of the box, and couldn’t easily reference something. We had to look deeply at the problem, and design the specific solution for this specific need.
As we continue to grow, there will be many more design problems like this to solve. It’s an opportunity that really allows us to put our product design thinking to work. We’re going to need more fire power to continue to push out innovative solutions, and are always looking for some kick ass designers to join us on our mission of improving financial outcomes for people and their unique lives.
Send me an email, or give our career’s page a look. We’ve only just begun!
In the next post, I’ll dig into our product design philosophy, and how we maintain design consistency across features.
Cheers,
Stephen M. Levinson
Lead Design @ Current
