Information Architect (Jun 06 - Mar 07)
Fidelity International is the world's largest independent investment management organisation and a leading provider of financial services.
This project, which ran in tandem with the redesign of the 'Research funds and shares' section of Fidelity's UK website, was centred around redesigning the companies' fund search and selection tool - Fund Finder. This application is used by clients to choose investment funds from a range of over 1600 available through Fidelity's fund supermarket.
The objective was make this critical tool more useful to Fidelity's online client base. To achieve the desired user experience for novice, average and advanced users, major steps forward in the tool's usability, visual design, search filters, results page layout, and general technical functionality were required.
Responsibilities and tasks
- Meet with business stakeholders to ensure that their objectives and requirements were considered at the project planning stage
- Work with one key business representative to ensure that her vision was implemented in a way that would work online from a usability perspective
- Create wireframes, site map, and a content matrix
- Propose a robust information architecture that supports user information finding needs
- Identify site usability problems and propose and implement solutions to address these issues
- Produce visual designs for consideration to help solve usability issues identified
- Work to ensure that a new 'user profiles' concept is added to the application in a user centric manner
- Provide input regarding the labelling of key navigation and search controls
- Request special search features be added to the solution to cater for senior management's requirement for a 'best seller' ranking option
- Write copy where required
- Liase with 3rd party supplier to ensure that more complex pages were designed with an acceptable level of usability
- Ensure that 3rd party AJAX solutions were developed in an accessible manner
- Ensure all relevent search filters were in place and functioning in the correct manner
- Ensure that the new application fitted seamlessly into the information architecture of the newly designed 'Research funds and shares' section of Fidelity's UK website
- Liase with the 3rd party provider of the fund factsheets to ensure that their web pages fitted in with the new Fund Finder tool from a design and technological point of view
- Work with the technical team to ensure that the new tool worked with Fidelity's existing shopping basket functionality
- Ensure that all user journies were concluded in the most effective manner
- Be part of a team conducting 2 rounds of user testing of the proposed solution in 3rd party usability labs. Make adjustmentments to the solution where required
- Analyse the results from user testing and make adjustmentments to the solution where required
Project result
The resulting fund search and selection tool has made it much easier for both experienced and inexperienced investors to research and select funds for investment.
The inclusion of investor profiles is thought to be a first in the investment world, and the AJAX powered functionality has been a major benefit for the more advanced user.
The redesigned Fund Finder tool can be viewed at Fidelity International's UK website (external website).
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