BfB: the journey

Early Stages: Differentiating Through a real Understanding

At the begining of our year-long collaboration, we embarked on a journey from the project's infancy, aligning with brand pillars of good consumption, human values, and inclusion. Our qualitative research delved into people's relationships with money, needs, financial ecosystems, and expectations for an ideal bank. We crafted several opportunity spaces as interesting directions for BfB to move towards. We Identified the relevant personas and aligned on the most interesting one for BfB (Conscious Life).

Jobs-to-be-Done and Differentiation

Identifying key Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) from the analysis, we categorized them into hygienic and differentiators. Our focus on the Conscious Life segment, individuals committed to positive impact and financial prudence, guided our efforts. This phase laid the foundation for our differentiation strategy.

Supporting Product Squads: Trial and Error

Transitioning to the support phase, I collaborated with the specific product squads, guiding them in research needs and methods. Iterative user testing, in collaboration with internal and external partners, refined our product discovery process. Establishing a structured approach, squads delved into independent discoveries, while my role involved hypothesis formulation and ongoing support.

Unified Experience: Service Blueprinting

Concurrently, I crafted an end-to-end service blueprint alongside product discovery. Breaking silos, this exercise identified gaps in the user experience. Lead PMs took ownership of the evolving blueprint, facilitating a holistic view. This blueprint streamlined research efforts, visually guiding us on user-tested areas.

Consistent Testing Efforts: UXR Transformation

Centralizing our User Experience Research (UXR) efforts, we consolidated our team, handling testing independently. Addressing challenges in documentation, we implemented some Atomic Research principles. Despite tool limitations, we creatively used Figma, creating a repository for testing sessions. This fostered collaboration, enabling stakeholders to engage, provide feedback, and drive strategic choices for product design improvements. How the project has progressed?

The project is still ongoing, and the involvement of the Madrid studio is gradually decreasing. I stepped back from the project some time ago but stayed in the loop to see its progress. The app is now officially in the market, allowing you to check the scores and reviews. If you happen to find yourself in France, you can even apply to become a new member :)

🥸 Why I selected this project? It was a complex and challenging setting where I had to wear multiple 'hats' as a UX researcher and a service designer. We faced several challenges: language, location, ways of working, how to establish usefelu long-lasting rituals. One key point is that our contribution helped the client set up a design-driven culture, repositioning its role in the re-launch programme, through the co-creation of a good collaboration model.

Certainly, this project stands out as one of the most challenging in my career thus far. However, it's equally among the most rewarding experiences, not only in terms of delivering a high-quality product across all facets—research, design, and more—but also in fostering strong team bonding and human support. Throughout the journey and during each trip to Paris, we nurtured a robust relationship with our counterparts in France, which made the process quite enjoyable and worthy.