Concept.
To create a website that allowed Gen Y and Millenial users to interact more directly with financial experts and eventually allow those users to interact with the very active community on AARP.org. We wanted to create a website where users could not only get advice from experts, but to also get down-to-earth advice from a community of users with tons of real-life experience.
Vision.
With this project, I knew that the documentation would be passed around beyond my client presentation. This meant that the strategy documentation had to be understood at a glance -- a visual executive summary, of sorts.
Concept infographic, product goals.
To make it easily digestible, I created a series of infographics illustrating key concepts that executives, product owners and other stakeholders so that they could understand the goal and other important information at a glance.
Concept infographic, desired audience.
Product goal.
By framing the goals, the desired users and the solutions at the very beginning of the project, everyone knew the direction we were going at every stage of development.
Interaction design.
The structure of the site was very important - we wanted to guide users through a process of learning how to manage their finances, but also give them the freedom to visit any primary page they desired. The navigation had to allow users to get around the site easily and also get a sense of the site's structure.
Wireframe, primary navigation design, site header.
What set Lifetuner.org apart from other financial websites was that it allowed users to ask questions to an active community of financial experts, an Ask the Experts feature.
Wireframe, Ask the Experts page.
Part community discussion board, part advice catalog, the question asking process was Lifetuner.org's most important site interaction.
In order for it to be successful, this feature needed to not only be easy to use, but it also needed editoral support as a primary component of the overall content strategy: Questions couldn't sit around unanswereed and experts had to engage the audience for this feature to work.
Wireframe, Ask the Experts feature interactions.
As the user types their question, the system displays similar questions that users had asked before as links. This prevents question duplicates, saves time for the experts and editors, and lets the user find help right away.
Visual Design.
Final visual design for LifeTuner was created by Cindy Vazquez.
Above: LifeTuner, home page; below: Real Stories landing page. Visual design by Cindy Vazquez.
