Opening the door to celebrate your virtual IPO.
Project Overview
Design a mobile experience for the Nasdaq mobile app to virtually open market when a company IPOs.
Objective
Nasdaq, an American stock exchange company historically celebrated inperson the moment when a company becomes publically traded. When Coronavirus hit, Nasdaq requested assistance reimagining this experience - virtually.
Deliverable
We launched the new ‘virtual bell ringing ceremony’ feature in the app that both delighted and increased user engagement. We also updated the app’s UI and internal Design System during this project.
Client
Nasdaq
Timeline
2021 Oct - 2021 Dec
Product
mobile native app - ios & android
My Role
Product Design
Design QA
Company
Photo Butler
Research
User Analytics
The user analytics data revealed that most users would only use the app once. This meant that the experience had to be an easy user we needed to focus on he FTU experience.
Branding
The version of the app did not match their current brand style nor did we have their brand guidelines on hand. There was also no internal customer design system. I inspected their website’s HTML and began creating our internal design system.
Signature Capture
Other requests from the client were to add a video and a way to capture the users’ signature. We researched how to digitally capture signatures.
Constraints
Limited Design System
The client also requested an update the app’s UI so it could be to be more on brand with their website. We built a brand style guide that was approved by the client.
Short Timeline
6 weeks and competing priorities to launch the new feature before the holiday break.
Invite Only Audience
The marketsite app is only available via invite and the majority of users will only use the app once - their first time! We needed to make sure we created an easy to understand and use experience.
End-User Goals & Priorities
We interviewed 4 users on their in-person bell ringing experience and with the current app. We realized that users wanted to celebrate before, during, and after their company IPOs. Some of our other findings were:
Remote Celebration
This user was not local to the United States, so they needed to be able to celebrate their company’s IPO easily through a remote setting especially during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Notifications
This user had a busy schedule, so they needed to know exactly the time when their company will IPO even in a different time zone.
Signature
This user was the CEO and will need to sign their signature in order to open the market and complete the bell ringing ceremony.
Design Iterations
Introducing the Countdown
After we updated the UI we realized there was an opportunity to visually display the countdown on the homepage. This made a few things easier :
gives users good information on how much time they have until the ceremony starts
gives users a clear space to refer back to when timer reaches 0
for devs it was easy to add this feature’s experience in the app
Design Style Guide
Design Impact & Takeaways
The solution
Adding signature
During our ideation we saw an opportunity at the end of the video to allow for a user to sign like they would at the Nasdaq building in New York.
Design Impact & Takeaways
Deliverables
The updated app experience with the virtual bell ringing was part of a suite of products delivered to Nasdaq. The project was delivered on time and exceeded the clients’ expectations. So much so that the project was submitted to the 2022 Webby awards.
Learnings
Testing Design
We had a few iterations on how the design of the countdown timer to look like. We kept getting mixed feedback about how close the design looked like a button but we also needed it to turn into a CTA once ready.
Be Considerate (Accessibility)
Visually, the app looks more on brand with Nasdaq. But we also solved the contrast ratio issue by intensifying the hue of the background. We also documented the simple words we used for localization.
Opportunity to Grow
This app was a great entry point for virtual events. But with covid becoming less of a threat, gatherings are now picking up again. We took the virtual experience indoors, and expanded the capability of the app.