Designing a Seamless Investing Feature to
Advance Robinhood’s Mission of
Democratizing Finance for All
UX Design
Interface Design
Student Project
Project Overview
Robinhood’s mission is clear, “to democratize finance for all.” As a financial investing service, Robinhood is growing popular among first-time investors and wants everyone to have access to the financial markets.
The scope of this project is to help Robinhood define what’s the best way moving forward to continue democratizing finance, and provide them with a prototype of a feature, integrated seamlessly within the rest of the app.
The scope of this project is to help Robinhood define what’s the best way moving forward to continue democratizing finance, and provide them with a prototype of a feature, integrated seamlessly within the rest of the app.
Design Goals
Design an investing feature that embeds within the current Robinhood platform and works smoothly with the rest of the app.
Research Goals
Understand the latest investing platforms, portfolio creation, risk management, technical analysis, and stock selection.
Competitive Analysis
I took a look at a few investment platforms to see what features they have and how users build their portfolios. No brokerage fees, fractional shares, technical analysis, and low-cost funds were some of the features and tools I discovered.
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User Research
I interviewed 5 stock investors who use online investing platforms to understand how they create an investing portfolio and what factors aid their process.
Research Findings
• Growing money over time is important and is done by investing in ETFs.
• A step-by-step process is familiar to stock investors, as well as being able to effectively view a chart to see where their investments are headed.
• Risk is managed through diversification and setting a budget.•
Participants value technical analysis to view stock performance and set a target price for the future.
• Having news articles is important to research stocks and participants like investing in companies that are ethical.
• A step-by-step process is familiar to stock investors, as well as being able to effectively view a chart to see where their investments are headed.
• Risk is managed through diversification and setting a budget.•
Participants value technical analysis to view stock performance and set a target price for the future.
• Having news articles is important to research stocks and participants like investing in companies that are ethical.
Persona
The user research findings such as investors wanting their money to work for them and using technical analysis provided a solid foundation when creating this persona.
Sitemap
When deciding where to insert the Simple Portfolio feature, I decided to place it on the initial investing screen below "Stocks" since it's a more complex feature. I also chose this area right below "Stocks" to make it easier to find for the user.
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Task Flow 1
Based on the user research, stock investors like to manage risk by diversifying their portfolio and set a monthly budget for investing. Task Flow 1 allows the user to do that by selecting individual stocks, target weights, and set up recurring investing based on their budget. This task flow remained the same throughout the design process.
Task Flow 2
Originally Task Flow 2 didn't exist but was created to allow further diversification to the user in building their portfolio. Task Flow 2 changed a lot throughout the design. To allow the user's to manage their risk, I have the users select an investing strategy.
This has pre-set stock selections and target weights for the user based on how they want to grow their portfolio over time. I previously had the users select an investing strategy, and then pick stocks based on that, which would've made investing harder.
This has pre-set stock selections and target weights for the user based on how they want to grow their portfolio over time. I previously had the users select an investing strategy, and then pick stocks based on that, which would've made investing harder.
Sketches
I began sketching ideas for the features based on design patterns Robinhood already had on the application. I ended up choosing Robinhood's recurring investing design pattern to base the features around since it was simple and the research showed that users are familiar with a step-by-step onboarding process.
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Wireframes
I ended up using screenshots from the Robinhood application to help create wireframes for the screens. This is also where I began applying the design patterns to the Simple Portfolio feature.
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UI Kit
After the wireframes were finished, I began creating the UI Kit in Figma. I investigated the Robinhood app again to look at all their colors, typography and states.
Since some of the Robinhood elements are custom, I was able to recreate icons by enlarging, tracing, and then shrinking them back down to their correct size.
Since some of the Robinhood elements are custom, I was able to recreate icons by enlarging, tracing, and then shrinking them back down to their correct size.
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Applying the UI Kit
I began creating my high-fidelity screens by using the components, text styles, and color styles I had organized in the UI Kit. The following images are the high-fidelity screens I designed.
Prototype
In order to conduct a usability test, I created a prototype using Figma including the screens created from the previous step. I referred back to the Robinhood app several times to make sure the animations and speeds of the transitions were consistent.
Usability Testing
This usability test was conducted with a prototype in Figma with 5 stock investors performing the test via Zoom. The participant's tasks were to build a portfolio by investing with individual stocks, as well as use an investment strategy.
Usability Testing Goal
1. Test the overall quality and ease of use of the design.
2. Test how easily users can build a portfolio by selecting individual stocks.
3. Test how easily users can build a portfolio by using an investment strategy.
4. Observe users confidence in building a portfolio with the investment methods.
2. Test how easily users can build a portfolio by selecting individual stocks.
3. Test how easily users can build a portfolio by using an investment strategy.
4. Observe users confidence in building a portfolio with the investment methods.
Usability Testing Results
All of the participants were able to locate the simple portfolio feature, and use it to build a portfolio by selecting individual stocks and using an investment strategy.
• 5 out of 5 investors located the new simple portfolio feature.
• 5 out of 5 investors stated that changing the risk level from aggressive to moderate met their expectations.
• 3 out of 5 investors would use this feature to create multiple portfolios.
• 5 out of 5 investors located the new simple portfolio feature.
• 5 out of 5 investors stated that changing the risk level from aggressive to moderate met their expectations.
• 3 out of 5 investors would use this feature to create multiple portfolios.
Affinity Map
The affinity map shows the successes, frustrations, and observations I made of the participants. The investors were all able to locate the new feature after their scenarios and tasks were given.
Other strong takeaways include investors wanting to create multiple portfolios and that changing risk levels met user expectations.
Other strong takeaways include investors wanting to create multiple portfolios and that changing risk levels met user expectations.
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Revisions
Based on the usability testing results, to improve the feature I decided to display stock shares on the final home screen, changed the wording at stock purchase confirmation, and made the stock selection area bigger. Below show the changes of the final home screen.
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Reflection
Overall it was great to work on a project using Robinhood's framework. I learned how to design a new feature using Robinhood's existing framework and design patterns. I also learned how to take the feedback from the usability testing to further improve the feature.
The most challenging part of this project was nailing down the design pattern for building a portfolio using an investment strategy. It started off being customizable through editing the allocation of the stocks, but I decided to make it limited to further differentiate it from the other investing method. Designing a new feature within an existing framework in a popular application was challenging, but continues to motivate me to improve existing products.
The most challenging part of this project was nailing down the design pattern for building a portfolio using an investment strategy. It started off being customizable through editing the allocation of the stocks, but I decided to make it limited to further differentiate it from the other investing method. Designing a new feature within an existing framework in a popular application was challenging, but continues to motivate me to improve existing products.