Brand Identity for Real Estate Brokerage App
Objective. Polish the UX/UI for bank loan iOS app
Background. Digital Alchemy is a white label financial product for real estate brokers and agents. It non-intrusively guides home owners and house hunters through each stage of the complex home financing process with in-depth information uncommonly found in tools for mass markets.
Duration. 9 months, completed in 2017
Approach. I worked with Digital Alchemy's leadership team to refine their existing UI and provide branded mockups for client presentations. For particularly cumbersome interactions, such as searching for properties on a map, messaging, and reviewing ever-changing mortgage rates, I presented multiple user flows and animation for them to consider.
Mortgage Options
Keeping an eye on interest rates is top-of-mind for house-hunters. I explored a few design concepts that would allow users to cycle through saved mortgage rates without having to navigate through the app to get to them.
Saved mortgages. The ability to save mortgages made it easier to shop for the best rates.
Shortcut for saved mortgages. Mortgages were displayed in the tab bar to help keep an eye on fluctuating interest rates.
Stock-ticker style mortgages. This design treatment allowed users to glance at interest rates without having to interact with the tab bar. They could drag along to view previous and next rates.
Expanding tab bar. A long-press would animate to display mortgage details, and allow the user to cycle through a few saved mortgages.
Mortgage Application
The app drastically reduced the burden of finding properties, gathering and comparing mortgage estimates, and hunting down loan officers' contact information. Once a house-hunter found their ideal property, the app made it convenient to connect them with a loan officer directly to begin their mortgage application.
Dynamic sliders. Users could explore financing options based on their desired downpayment.
Saved for comparison. Weighing the pros and cons of each loan was made easier by consolidating saved estimates in one place.
Cash-to-close. Cash to close is a complex set of calculations, so scrolling is required to see it all (hover to scroll).
Convenient in-app messaging. Rather than having to hunt down a number for a loan officer, users could simply click a button to be connected with one in-app.
Loan Application Status. Once an application is submitted, house-hunters can see the status as it moves throughout the lengthy approval process.
Recent Threads. If a discussion had previously been initiated, the thread would conveniently appear above the message box so users didn't accidentally contact multiple loan officers.
A face to go with a name. The loan officer's portrait appears next to the status bar to reassure the user they're in good hands.
Confirmation. Once the loan is approved, a confirmation message is displayed, and the loan application process is marked complete.
Messaging
Discussion threads support conversations with verified loan officers assigned via the app, as well as personal contacts, such as a spouse who may need to co-sign documents. Images, property links and documents are consolidated from messages in a separate area for easy reference.
New Message. Contact names would populate as users typed.
Message inbox. Arranged with most recent messages on top.
Contacts. Loan officers' images were automatically imported, and were used to help build trust.
Contact search. Dynamic search made it faster to find contacts by typing the first letter or two.
Shared—Empty State. Until property links or documents are shared, this is displayed.
Shared Content. Both property links and documents could be communicated in-app, cutting down on cluttered email inboxes.
Message archives. Discussions can get long, so the app archives them by month. Tapping on the count unfurls them for viewing.
Unarchived messages. After a session, the messages archive again to keep threads tidy. (hover to scroll)
Built-in organization. Important content is consolidated in one place keeps all parties organized throughout the process.
Save time uploading. Rather than using a scanner, users could take pictures from their phone and upload important documents to keep things moving.
Automatically locked content. As an extra security precaution, sensitive documents could be set to expire after a number of days.
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