INSURANCE│Church Extension Plan
Mobile App design helps financial nonprofit modernize
A financial service nonprofit goes from “We need an app” to building trust, improving user adoption, and growing partnerships with a full UX/UI refresh and development-ready mobile app and web portal designs.
Modern mobile app design delights current users and attracts potential partners
- 20-40 employees
- Mobile app for investors to check balance, manage security, view documents
- Web portal app for investors, church admins, and CEP staff
- Development-ready designs dramatically reduce dev time
- Modern, seamless UX/UI between website and app improves user adoption and builds trust with users and potential partners
It has been reassuring to know that the money we spent with Praxent was the best investment we could have made. Instead of repackaging what we already had as a mobile app, we’re getting something new and better that people are excited to see.
Christopher Lund, Programmer & IT Manager, Church Extension Plan
Overview
Our expert designers and strategists worked closely with the IT and marketing teams at Church Extension Plan (CEP) on a UI/UX technology design for their mobile app, considering the diverse needs of their multigenerational user base and their goals for creating a seamless experience between the app and their web platform.
Whereas CEP previously attempted to rearchitect and rebuild its outdated portal (built in PHP) themselves, Praxent partnered with them instead to apply design thinking to a mobile app and portal design, resulting in high-fidelity clickable prototypes they were able to deliver straight to outsourced developers, who were blown away by the quality of documentation and elegance of the designs—designing for their users to build the app they need potentially saved the client from investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in building what they already had in a different shape.
The problem
Charitable religious institution or not, an outdated web portal was not a good look for a financial services organization entrusted with handling people’s money. Existing users wondered if the technology was secure, their data and info were safe, and their money and investments were in good hands.
Prospective users and partners dismissed client outright as “not a real company” with a website that “looks like it’s from 10 years ago.” “You don’t have an app in the App Store.”
Client thought they could jump straight to “build” but lacked capability in house to develop their own native web app let alone create more a modern UX/UI across platform and mobile app that would appeal to needs/wants of multigenerational, cross-functional user base.
How we helped
Design Thinking Workshop guided creation of design prototype, considering needs and requirements for all three user bases. Design Style Guides accelerated frontend development in parallel with testing. Three High-Fidelity UI Designs and Clickable UX Prototypes for 1) mobile app for investors and 2) portal web app for investors, church admins, and CEP admins, which shared same design principles with additional functionality for the portal. A detailed style guide ensured the UI felt unified and consistent.
It was very exciting to find creative and intuitive ways to bring the desktop functionality to a mobile experience that would enable CEP to serve its customers everywhere.
Garrett Harvey
Principal Delivery Lead, Praxent
The outcomes
A modern, intuitive user experience, and a seamless integration and consistent look and feel between web portal and mobile app.
Effortless transfer to outsourced build team thanks to well-documented code that was built to be maintained.
Ease of transfer and reusable components dramatically reduced development time.
While waiting for build process to finish well ahead of schedule—and as a direct result of working with Praxent on this project—client is re-evaluating other technologies, re-orienting to future thinking across the organization.
The team
Garrett Harvey
Principal Delivery Lead
Karen Rodriguez
Principal Delivery Lead
Elise Entzenberger
Product Designer
Taylor Roemhildt
Associate Product Designer
Nick Comito
Product Design Director
James Moughon
Technical Director
FAQ
What was the scope of their involvement?
They modified some of the code files to change our fonts, colors, and iconography. They were also part of our recent launch conference, presenting what they worked on to our customer credit unions and other fintech partners. Finally, they made a few recommendations that we’ll look at in the future to modify different areas of our platform.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
We ran into them at a conference while back and talked about their work.
What is the team composition?
We worked primarily with four people: a project manager, a couple of engineers, and a designer.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The feedback we’ve received is that the app is much cleaner and more concise than it was previously. People have also said it’s much more consistent in terms of its look and feel. Our clients’ users think it looks great as well.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
We had weekly calls with our project manager, as well as additional communication as needed. They also kept us updated with regular posts and reports in terms of our financials and what they’ve accomplished.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their focus on the fintech space stood out for us. Our project was even a bit different in that we had to work in the confines of our platform, but they’re also capable of working from scratching and molding it into the unified visual experience the client is looking for. I’ve never worked with a firm like them before that’s specifically focused on the fintech arena. This specialization allows them to engage with industry people and conferences and deliver better services.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I don’t think so. It took them some time to ask all their questions in the beginning and get the right resources involved, but we had tight confines for them to work within. We’re certainly happy with the engagement.
n/a
Quality
4.5
Schedule
4.5
Cost
5.0
Willing to refer
5.0
Stars
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