Problem

Citibank was facing challenges with attracting millennial customers into their ecosystem. Their existing tools was outdated and not user-friendly, resulting in low customer satisfaction rates and decreased usage of the platform. Citibank needed a solution that would improve the user experience and increase engagement with younger generations while upselling their primary banking services.

Solution

Citibank worked with Code and Theory to create a fintech centric rapid prototyping process through their incubator, CitiVentures. Citibank stakeholders wanted to take advantage of emerging markets being captured by small startups. Through research, strategy, design and synthesized findings teams at Code and Theory presented Citibank stakeholders roadmaps to MVPs and products that possessed viability in the market.

The new tools featured intuitive user interfaces, innovative financial features, and seamless integration with other Citibank services. Each mobile application, platform and feature was rigorously tested using qualitative and quantitative research methods.

I oversaw the user research, concept testing, feature ideation, product strategy, and design process for multiple project streams working with internal researchers, product designers across an ecosystem of 12 different financial products.

Read more about a Citi Ventures D10x mobile app that was launched here.

Background

Citi Ventures is a department of Citibank tasked with accelerating innovation and experimentation of new products and services for its teams and customers. As part of Citi Ventures, Citi created an in-house incubator program called D10X to develop and groom “intrapreneurs” to lead new internal start-up teams around high-potential product and service concepts. Citi Ventures collaborated with Code & Theory to explore, craft and test a large series of innovative mobile services, based on a native mobile design environment, in order to inform short and long-term plan for customers mobile apps.

Code and Theory was tasked with injecting new thinking and process into the Citi incubator program to facilitate stronger ideation and validate hypothesis based on qualitative user research and rapid prototyping. Through a customized Design Thinking process, the innovation program not only scaled over two years, but generated insights and provided larger value to the bank consumer strategy.

Process

Our team conducted extensive research – from initial consumer behaviors and market trends, to quantitative and qualitative problem validation, and to concept testing through in person and remote 1:1 interviews (with prototypes). The extent of this research has generated invaluable insights around user needs and habits for digital banking at large.

By thoroughly auditing our research and presenting monthly learnings to internal staff, Code and Theory identified knowledge gaps and opportunities within the portfolio, from tactical to north-star.

Code and Theory created a bespoke approach to Design Thinking for Citi Ventures to identify and prioritize user problems and workshop non-traditional solutions with stakeholders. With Citi Ventures, our team designed and tested over 50 different POCs for digital products.

The partnership in innovation extends to the realization of advanced product design and development, including the creation of highly personalized data-driven mechanisms. My team worked closely with Citi’s technology team to bring products to market, including completing development, data modeling and AI for analytics for complex products.

Impact

Our team was tasked with injecting new thinking and processes into the D10X incubator program to facilitate stronger ideation and validate hypotheses based on qualitative user research and rapid prototyping. The program needed not only to scale, but also to generate insights and provide larger value to the bank.

50+

Digital products prototyped and tested

6

Products brought to market

1,000+

Hours of user problem and solution validation

Awards

2021 The Webby Awards, Honoree – Worthi by Citi
2021 Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards – City Builder by Citi
2020 Fast Company Best Urban Design – City Builder by Citi
2019 BAI Global Innovation Awards

Team

My team led user research and design, fused with product strategy in collaboration with Citi’s in-house start-up teams to explore, craft and test a large series of innovative mobile services based on a native mobile design environment in order to inform short- and long-term plans for customers’ mobile apps.

Team Member #1 - Project Manager
- Oversaw the project from start to finish, ensuring that all deliverables were met on time and within budget
- Liaised between CitiVentures and Code and Theory teams to ensure effective communication throughout the project
Team Member #2 - Producer
Team Member #3 - UX Researcher
Team Member #4 - UX Designer
- Designed the new mobile and platform features fueled from user research insights
Team Member #5 - Visual Designer
- Lead the visual design of the new mobile and platform features
- Re-envisioned the branding of each mobile concept, including the logo and all brand assets
- Animated prototypes for concept testing
Team Member #6 - Lead Developer
- Developed the new online banking platform using cutting-edge technologies
- Oversaw testing and quality assurance processes to ensure a bug-free launch of the newly designed features

AI/Blockchain: Citi Ventures — A Design-Driven Approach to Innovation in Banking