Working as a product designer at N26, my goal is to design banking products that people would love to use. That requires close collaboration across different teams including Product, Brand Design, Design Research, Tech and Data. Together, we create solutions that address real user problems and refine the product vision to reflect the core value of N26. Through this article I want to share how the collective design approach was interweaved in the art direction of Spaces, the bank’s sub-account feature.
Spaces in a nutshell
In August 2018, N26 launched a feature called “Spaces”: Each space is a separate account. You can open up new accounts and instantly move money between them under one login. Whether you are saving up for holiday or big purchases, Spaces enables you to put money aside for your needs in a simple and convenient way.
Insights from user research and data
The project started with a clear vision of creating a financial tool that helps users to better manage their money. As a first step, we conducted user research to understand current behaviour and needs of our target group. One of the key findings was that people had thier own ways of organising their finance. This meant Spaces needed to be flexible to cater different use cases. That is why customisation was a key part of user experience we designed — we engaged users to choose images for their own Spaces to build emotional connections and motivations to reach their saving targets.
In order to get insights on the potential sub-account use cases, we conducted a series of surveys. The most common categories were general savings, holiday, automotive and tax followed by interesting short-term budget ideas.
Then we sourced various types of images such as lifestyle photography, still life photography, illustrations that could represent each of the categories, in order to create mockups. After user testing, we learned that a level of abstraction in images gives more room for interpretation, helping users to relate better with their specific saving purposes. For instance, a suitcase works as a more versatile metaphor than a palm tree or flip-flops to symbolise holidays as well as business trips or relocations. Another finding was that seeing models or hands in lifestyle images make Spaces feel less personal, which guided us to take still life photography to illustrate various saving purposes.
Now more than a year after the launch of the product, we see how users take these limited set of images and imbue their own meanings. A close collaboration with Data team led to the discovery of emerging needs for new categories such as self-treat, wedding or Christmas occasions. This collaboration has been instrumental to developing a feature that resonates with users.
Reflecting the brand
While it is visually engaging to display squared image tiles as an interface for sub-accounts, it was critical that the overall aesthetics should be in harmony with the overall N26 brand aesthetic. Through series of alignments with our Brand design team, we nailed down on the combination of plain objects and subdued background colours which are variations of the brand colours — Teal, Rhubarb, Wheat and Petrol. In this way, we could achieve minimal and calm aesthetic while giving users a good variety of choices to make their Spaces personal.
Enhancing product usability
Since the initial launch, Spaces has been releasing additional features which brought on more emphasis and challenges to the images as an interface. One of which was the background image inside of each space. When users tap a space tile, they can go inside to see details of the space and take actions such as making payments or changing the settings. In this context, the background images are intended to give a sense of orientation, echo the theme of the space and add a delight to user interactions. Also, the objects in the images are right-aligned and 45 degree angled to be responsive and avoid any overlaps with key interfaces. This allows users to have homogenous experience both on mobile and web apps.
Art directing and collaborating with experts
As we steer towards maturity as a brand, it was important to us that we art direct the photoshoot and have a full control over the aesthetics. With a team of three experts — Lena Smirnov (photographer), Oleksandra Patoka and Anna Shenson (set stylists) — we sourced +100 objects, created compositions and produced a series of flat lay images with calm, modern and mature mood.
Resulting impact
As a banking app we take our responsibility, which is to deliver an efficient and reliable financial tool, very seriously. That is why the design of the product is kept simple and minimal, putting forward the core functionality. However, what contributes to the true N26 experience is the seamlessness and the delight that can be enhanced through well-executed design. The images in Spaces are not a decoration or a nice-to-have, but what makes the product experience intuitive and enjoyable. Also, their colours, objects and layout make Spaces distinguishable and become an iconic screen of the app.
Learnings and what’s next
The visual aspect of an app affects not only the product functionality but also the brand personality. That’s why the cross-team collaboration was the key to success. We put in a lot of effort to incorporate diverse feedbacks and perspectives from different stakeholders, and create an approach that can collectively address both the direction of the product and the brand in a positive light. While N26 is constantly evolving and re-defining the banking experience of today, the cross-collaboration will become even more important part of my process as a designer.
Interested in joining our Design team as we grow?
If you’d like to join us on the journey of building the mobile bank the world loves to use, have a look at the Design roles we’re looking for here.
