Thomson Reuters OnBalance

Thomson Reuters OnBalance

A small business accounting product by Thomson Reuters
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At Thomson Reuters, I worked on a small business accounting product called OnBalance. This was a brand new product that we built from the ground up, and I was involved with this project since it first began.

I worked closely with multiple teams to define and design the product and to understand the differences required for users of various business sizes in various countries. I owned the mobile design (iOS & Android) and I assisted with the web design. I also worked with other UX Designers to perform user research for the product.

 

 

Flows

Before design began on new features, it was common for a Business Analyst or UX Designer to create flows. We then reviewed these flows as a team. I created the flows for trial and purchase of the product, which I used to start requirements discussions.

 View trial & purchase flows 

Screenshot of trial flow

 

 

User Research

Every time we started working on requirements for a new group of users, based on company size and country, we kicked things off with a survey to learn more about that user group and to build a list of potential participants for further research. I took part in creating all of those surveys and analyzing the results.

I also assisted with interviews and usability testing for the product. We ran a small pilot that was run by the UX team. As part of that pilot, we  conducted surveys, interviews, and usability tests. We got regular feedback from participants throughout the pilot, wrapping up with another survey. A more junior UX Designer primarily coordinated this pilot, and I mentored her and assisted as needed.

 View example survey findings 

 

 

Screenshot of survey findings

 

 

Prototypes

The mobile designs began in the form of an Axure prototype. Early on, we needed to sell this product internally, and using a somewhat high-fidelity clickable prototype was the most effective way to do that. I continued to build on the prototype and it was initially how I communicated designs to the mobile team. For both iOS and Android, I provided mockups or added notes as needed to explain what should differ between platforms. We met every 2 weeks to discuss designs.

 View iOS prototype 

 

Screenshot of iOS prototype

 

 

Annotated Designs

I  worked with the mobile team to identify how our design deliverables could be improved to better fit the team’s need. We decided to switch to annotated designs so that expected behavior can be documented more clearly, without the need to discover by clicking around a prototype.

 View example annotated design 

 

Screenshot of annotated design

 

 

Visual Design

The mobile team and I took an iterative approach to working on the visual design of the app. I created some visual design specs early in the project to get things started. Subsequently, the developers showed me what they were working on and made tweaks as I gave them feedback.

 View example iOS visual design spec 

 

Screenshot of iOS visual design specs