Easy bank

The Brief

"Could you check my balance for me, please? I've rung twice and still haven't got through."

We heard that more than once during early research at a local branch. The bank already had a feature-rich mobile app — but it wasn't reaching everyone.

The brief came from within the bank's own IT team. Not to overhaul the main app, but to build a simpler companion for senior customers: people who preferred in-person banking but were willing to try digital, as long as it didn't feel intimidating. We had 8 weeks to ship an MVP.

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The Problem We Were Actually Solving

Branch footfall was high. Call centre queues were long. And a large segment of long-time customers was being left behind by digital transformation — not because they lacked smartphones, but because they lacked confidence.

We reframed early: this wasn't a technology gap. It was a trust gap.

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Research: What We Heard at Branch Level

We spoke directly to customers at branches, shadowed call centre agents, and reviewed support logs. Four patterns emerged clearly:

• Login friction — Password rules were too complex; recovery was worse
• Single-device lockout — Partners and family couldn't share access
• No spending visibility — Users described money "just disappearing"
• Slow, cluttered apps — Existing apps loaded slowly under banners and promotional offers

The clearest signal: most in-person visits and calls were avoidable with the right tool.

We designed around three user types — senior primary users, family members who shared devices, and first-time digital users — keeping seniors firmly at the centre.

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Calm home screen
Five clearly labelled actions, stacked vertically. No carousels, no promotional banners. Plain language throughout — "View Transactions" not "Statement", "Track My Spending" not "Ledger." One job: help users feel in control.

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MPIN + fingerprint login
We A/B tested three methods — alphanumeric password, 4-digit MPIN, and fingerprint. MPIN and fingerprint won decisively. Fast, secure, nothing to forget. Passwords were dropped entirely.

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Shared Trust Access
One of the most repeated questions in interviews: "Why can't my partner check the balance too?" We built a read-only secondary access feature — a spouse, adult child, or caregiver could view balance and transactions. The primary holder gets a notification on every access and can revoke it at any time.

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Budgeting without jargon
Users didn't want financial tools — they wanted visibility. Budget screens used plain category names ("Food", "Utilities"), visual spending cues, and gentle nudges. Pen-and-paper logic, digital execution.

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Testing & What We Fixed

25+ participants aged 55–70. Think-aloud protocols. Real-world tasks like "check your last 3 transactions" or "set a grocery budget."

SUS score moved from 58 → 84 across three iterations.

Key fixes that came directly from testing:

• MPIN setup screen lacked digit guidance → added helper text: "Enter a 4-digit MPIN"
• Debit and credit transactions looked identical → introduced colour-coding and visual indicators
• Error messages like "Invalid credentials" caused self-blame → rewritten to: "That didn't work. Please check your MPIN and try again."
• Help options were overlooked when users were frustrated → "Call Support" made persistent across screens
• Icons too small for reduced dexterity → minimum tap target raised to 48×48px, labels added to all icons

3M+ downloads. 4.7 stars on the Play Store. Balance-related branch calls dropped 25%. In-person walk-ins fell by 20%. 90% of users completed common banking tasks without any outside help.

But the number that mattered most internally was the SUS score moving from 58 to 84 — because that meant the design was earning confidence, not just downloads.

And that was always the real goal. Designing for senior citizens isn't about simplifying — it's about understanding the rhythms of their lives, their unspoken hesitations, and earning trust one small decision at a time. Most of our users didn't want full digital banking. They just wanted to feel in control of their money.

"If it's too complex, I'm out of here."
— Lata, 58

We kept her in mind at every step. Turns out, designing for Lata made it better for everyone.