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Enhancing User Experience and Increasing Business Flexibility

For the first time since 2003, Franklin Templeton Investments set out to redesign its retail website. The main project objective was to evolve the visual presentation, information architecture, and existing CMS functionality to be reflective of business changes, current customer needs and the competitive market. Additionally, the company used the opportunity to modernize the corporate brand.

The final aspect of the redesign was to extend the newly established platform, templates, and brand to the company’s 35 unique country specific websites and create a global, corporate website.

Overall User Experience Design Process

• Internal, multi-team work sessions. Participated in brainstorm session designed to expand existing site product tools and functionality.
• Wireframes. Led by UX architect, participated in concept brainstorm sessions and revisions.
• Art direction of agency brand explorations
• Visual design evolution of brand explorations to site flows. Led visual design discussions, visual direction, client presentations and design-to-development presentation build.
• Translation and application of design to international websites.
• Usability testing of key redesigned pages

Websites

• Franklintempleton.com
• Franklinresources.com
• Franklintempleton.co.uk

Validating Design and Project Objectives

There are many was to incorporate usability testing into a project depending on time line, budget and priority. At Franklin Templeton, the User Experience team conducted a variety of testing methods; moderated, face-to-face testing of production environments, wireframe and visual design prototypes, hallway tests, remote sessions; etc. No matter which style of testing was done, the key was always to test early and test often.

In addition to usability testing, the team has found focus groups also serve as a key discovery resource. This process helps to validate design directions and project objectives before more defined artifacts, such as prototypes or staging, are available.

Overall User Experience Process

• Identify usability testing time frames within overall project schedule
• Evaluate and recommend usability testing tools
• Create test plan and task scenarios
• Develop focus group facilitation scripts and question prompts
• Recruit participants and plan sessions
• Fulfill session roles; facilitator, note taker, observer
• Evaluate session data
• Craft findings presentation

Sample Documents

• Usability test plan
• Facilitation script
• Findings presentation
• Remote testing tools evaluation

Aligning User Needs with Business Goals

Franklintempleton.com wanted to enhance their website’s online literature ordering process. As part of this effort, the team conducted a series of interviews with the website’s primary users, financial advisors, to gain an in-depth understanding of their order literature process.

Based on the Indie Young “Mental Model” methodology, the team then extrapolated core tasks from each interview and grouped them into unique spaces to create a high-level view of financial advisor’s relationship with the fund literature. This visualization was then used to inform the overall redesign process and ensure the project’s defined objectives not only supported the business goals, but addressed the financial advisor’s needs as well.

Overall User Experience Design Process

• Recruit participants
• Develop interview scripts and prompts
• Conduct interviews
• Evaluate transcribed interviews and “comb” for user tasks
• Categorize mental space and build out mental model
• Visualize mental model
• Map business objectives and usability audit to mental model
• Assess business goals vs user needs vs development feasibility to inform project priorities

View Mental Model