Design Challenge
Assume you work for the credit bureau and the lender is your customer.
Your challenge is to provide a workflow diagram and UI mockup of the enhancement needed to support this business scenario:
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Lender attends open house to pre-qualify interested home buyers for mortgage loans.
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Lender does not want to be carrying paper and will be using mobile devices to pre-approve borrowers for loans. Ideally, the lender leaves the mobile devices locked to a table/wall for potential customers to enter their personal information and see their credit score.
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Lender needs to obtain authorization from the borrower before a credit report can be ordered. Ideally, the authorization will be saved with the credit report order.
For the mockup, we only need to see the screens/content that show the potential customer’s authorization. There is freedom to broaden the mockup and include other screens if you feel that it will enhance the design.
Time allotted: 3 Hours
Allotted Presentation Time: 10 Minutes
Business Context
The workflow for a home buyer obtaining a pre-approval for a mortgage loan consists of the following steps:
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Lender provides an authorization form to borrower via email, mail, or in-person.
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Borrower signs authorization form and returns it to lender via digital medium, mail, or in-person.
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Lender provides the signed authorization form to the credit bureau and requests a credit report on the potential customer.
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Credit bureau provides a credit report to the lender.
A “credit report” is defined as “a report containing detailed information on a person's credit history, including identifying information, credit accounts and loans, bankruptcies and late payments, and recent inquiries. It can be obtained by prospective lenders with the borrower's permission, to determine his or her creditworthiness.”
Appendix
The Process
The timer was set and I realized I had a small window of time to design for this challenge. First, I started to think through the process to see how I wanted to set-up my design. I looked over the challenge multiple times and decided to start sketching out a storyboard.
Storyboards
Sketching a storyboard helped me visualize the product’s purpose, who the potential customers will be, and the user’s experience. After sketching the storyboard, I identified customer wants and needs. In this scenario, there are two types of users: the Lender and the Potential Home Buyer.
Personas
Lender
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Wants to get business from potential home buyers in real-time.
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Needs to go digital with the credit authorization form; afraid of losing confidential paperwork.
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Wants to quickly see who has good or bad credit.
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Wants an easier process to get credit reports.
Potential Home Buyers
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Wants to know if they qualify for a loan immediately.
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Needs a process that does not compromise their personal security.
After developing a quick overview of the personas I mapped the user flow since the product is going to be an application on a tablet. By making out the User Flow, it helped me organize the user’s experience and manage the two types of users that I am designing for.
User Flow
In this applications, there are 2 modules. One module is the Lender experience, which is designed so lenders can see their potential customers' credit ratings, copies of signed authorization forms, and whether or not they qualify for a loan. The second module is the Potential Home Buyer experience, labeled as "New Customer Report." In this experience, the users (potential home buyers) first fill out the Borrower Authorization Form to start the process of getting their credit score. At any time the user can cancel their request and the data will be erased from the tablet. However, once the user receives their credit score, the lender will also get a copy of the signed authorization for their records.
Once I mapped the Use Flow I realized I only had enough time to focus on the Potential Home Buyer experience. I focused my energy there because the true customer is the Potential Home Buyer. In this design challenge it was C (Company), 2 B (Business), and 2 C (Consumers).
Redesign
I started to review the layout of the Borrower Signature Authorization Form to see what enhancements might be needed.
The original authorization form asked for 3 things: the borrower’s signature, social security number (SSN), and date. I wanted to enhance the form in order to provide a better experience of the credit application process by adding additional fields to the process in which it will auto-populate into the Credit Order form when users are moving forward with their application.
First and Last name are now added to form.
Continue Button is for users ready to start their request for their Credit Report.
For user to cancel at any time.
Signature, SSN and Date will still be kept.
Email and mobile number are now added to form. For users to get a copy of their completed Authorization Form.
After redesigning the Authorization Form, I thought about the user’s perspective, believing users want instant gratification and dislike re-inputting information they have already provided. Therefore, I thought that the application should transfer any information that was provided on the Authorization Form onto the Credit Order. The User can then add whatever additional information is required to get their Credit Report. All that’s left is for the user to hit continue and receive their credit report.
Name is auto-populated added from the Authorization form.
SSN is auto-populated added from the Authorization form.
Mobile Number is auto-populated added from the Authorization form.
Email is auto-populated added from the Authorization form.
There is no redesign of the credit report itself in the application, except for a refresh button so another user can begin using the app. There is no redesign because the users are in a public space and so the application provides a limited amount of information that users can view. However, users will receive a detailed credit report sent to their email so they can view it with more privacy and at their own discretion. In addition to the email, they will get a text notification which allows them to feel comfortable that their request has been processed and ready to view.
STOP
TIME IS UP
Presentation
I shared my design with the Meet-Up group about my process. I presented my storyboard and explained how it helped me discern who the potential buyers will be. From there I started creating a user flow and redesigning the Borrower Authorization Form and the Credit Order. However, I did nothing to the Credit Report. Next, I showed them a Hi-Fi prototype of the Potential Home Buyer experience.
Hi-Fi Prototype - For Potential Home Buyer
Step 1:
User is a Potential Home Buyer.
User tap on the "New Customer" button to start the process of getting their credit report.
Step 2:
Authorization Form
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User immediately gets the Authorization Form first.
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When signed and provided all the necessary information, User taps "Continue" button.
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After tapping Continue, User will get a text notification that User has provided personal information and receive an email copy of the signed document for their personal records.
Questions and Feedback
Audience Questions:
Q: Do you stand by your design?
A: Yes, I do stand by my design.
Q: Do you think there would be any more improvements?
A: Sure, this was the first draft of this design. I am open to improvements.
"I liked the concept of deleting data when users change their mind or cancel their application."
- Samual P
