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User Centered Design

What is User Centered Design (UCD) in banking and Fintech?

The definition of User Centered Design (UCD) or Human Centered Design (HCD) is: a methodology of creating products or services that provide solutions based on the human or user perspective in a problem-solving process. The term, "user centered design" was first introduced by Donald A. Norman in his 1986 book, User Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-computer Interaction.


The User Centered Design process in banking consists of:

  1. defining the full user context (e.g., user psychology, user behavior, pain points, user flow of using service or product, interactions) 
  2. identifying the requirements 
  3. designing a solution 
  4. testing the results

User expectations are defined in the first stage of the design and became the core of an engineering and validation solution.

User Centered Design in banking, sometimes called Customer Centered Design, is focused on researching and empathizing with banking users to architect financial services that provide for them a delightful user experience. The best service design agencies to hire for such a job are UX design agencies, and especially UXDA, which is the first financial UX design agency of its kind.

User Centered Design methodology includes: 

  • user personas 
  • user scenarios
  • use cases, etc.


The main UCD principles in banking and Fintech:

  1. The design is defined by a deep knowledge of users and their context;
  2. Users participate in design engineering and development;
  3. The design is tested and proved on users;
  4. The design process is iterative;
  5. The solution design provides a holistic user experience;
  6. The UCD team has multidisciplinary experience and knowledge.

The award-winning UXDA design agency has successfully integrated all of these principles into Financial UX Design Methodology to architect world-class digital financial services.

Check out the best articles by UXDA about User Centered Design in banking.

Banking Customers Aren't Stupid; Your App Is Just Confusing

When banking executives face costly digital transformation, they often wonder why customers complain about their "intuitive" services. The real issue isn't the users but the complex and unintuitive interfaces they navigate.

Psychology Meets Finance: 10 Laws for User-Centered App Design

Let's explore the psychology of financial and banking product users by looking into their minds, behaviours and main aspects of why certain products are disliked while others are desired.

Costs of Sales-Driven Mindset in Banking: $23 Billion and Counting

We highlight the differences between thinking in a “new way” versus “the old one.” These differences can explain why some products are successful in the modern digital environment while others are not.

Runrate UX Case Study: Financial Management Platform for Happiness

This is a UX Case Study of the Runrate app's UX design, that seamlessly combines planning, budgeting and investing with a philosophy of manifesting the future.

From Hero to Zero: The Fatal Impact of a Poor Product Launch in Banking

A weak launch strategy results in a range of negative outcomes, including low adoption rates, poor customer experiences, high resistance and even reputational damage. In this article, we'll explore key reasons why a digital product launch could fail and offer tips on how to avoid these pitfalls.

UX Design Review: What GCash Said About UXDA

This is a Clutch review recap of the GInvest investment experience UXDA designed for the Philippine largest e-wallet GCash.

UX Design Review: What Magma Said About UXDA

This is a Clutch review recap of the user experience UXDA designed for an exceptional finance platform - the hedge fund Magma.

10 Red Flags: Is It Time to Redesign Your Financial App?

It is vital for financial product success to deliver according to customers’ needs and wants. How is your banking doing at tackling the challenges of the experience age?

Overcoming Mental Blocks in Financial Product Design

When designing an exceptional user experience for innovative banking products, you must be ready to break the rules.

UX Design Review: What Garanti BBVA Said About UXDA

This is a review collected by Clutch, given by Tevfik Kardelen, the Unit Manager of Garanti BBVA Securities responsible of Digital Channels and Marketing.

From Friction to Flow: Enhancing Customer Journey in Banking

Our key UX architects answering why the User Journey Map sometimes works magic, and how it benefits financial companies.