Empowering Your Legacy

I worked on a project called "Life hub" for the client SunLife. I worked as a senior design in a team of three.

The only information we were certain of at the start from Sun Life was 'We want to build something new for our customers.'

However, the details were quite vague at this point; it could be anything.

The only certainty was the need for innovation to keep their customer base engaged.

Kick-off Workshop

We initiated a kickoff workshop, with the initial focus on building a strong understanding of the client and making sure the team was cohesive. The objective was to explore the client's visions, align stakeholders, address assumptions about the project, and assess their knowledge of customers and the issues they aimed to address through the discovery process.

It's worth noting that the agency I worked for worked on a remote-first model, so we conducted this workshop remotely.

Aims

Get to know the client

Find out stakeholder visions

What are everyone’s assumptions for this project

Who are our customers?

What problem are we trying to solve?

After the workshop, our assumptions were laid bare, and everyone's ideas were visually represented on Miro post-its. We had also pinpointed significant pain points within the current customer journeys of the business, providing a clear direction for the issues we aimed to address.

User Interviews

Additionally, a persona workshop helped us define the customer we were targeting, resulting in the identification of three key personas.

We had gathered some insights provided by SunLife from existing customers. However, to ensure a comprehensive understanding, we sought the perspectives of potential customers who were not yet engaged with the company. We conducted user interviews with individuals within their target demographics, using the personas created during the initial workshops by the clients.

In addition to discussing life insurance and the users' feelings towards the topic of death, we explored various aspects of their lives. Maintaining a broad scope was intentional, as the client sought insights into the day-to-day challenges faced by these personas, uncovering potential areas for assistance. I asked about their comfort level with a life insurer addressing these issues, ensuring we avoided offerings that might seem incongruent with the company's focus.

Ultimately, we conducted interviews with 30 individuals, with 10 representing each persona group. After reviewing the video recordings, I highlighted significant quotes and categorized them into common themes

Persona Statements

We created statements for each persona, for this case study, I will show Stacy's statements.

Competitor Anaylsis

We obtained some USPS (Unique Selling Points) that we believed were not widely explored.

To check this, we conducted competitive research, looking at the strategies employed by other life insurance companies. Our findings revealed that many of them predominantly focused on incentivising physical well-being through reward systems for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However there was a notable gap, as none of the life insurance providers addressed the emotional aspects of individuals.

In addition to studying competitors in the insurance sector, we extended our research to apps outside this domain that involved activities such as diary entries and recording legacies. This comprehensive analysis allowed us to identify potential market gaps and propose features for Lifehub that could address these needs

Mission Statements

After our research stage we were able to come up with some mission statements.

Help customers enjoy life by feeling certain their affairs are in order and providing supportive and empathetic help for their loved ones

To craft a digital solution that empowers people to organise their affairs without feeling like they are preparing for death

Give customers an easy way to manage their policies

Design round 1

Once we had alignment on our mission statements and objectives, the junior designer and I started laying out some features and initiating the design process. Our initial designs, however, had a degree of confusion due to varied client preferences. We received feedback emphasising the need for simplicity while maintaining a distinct Sun Life aesthetic. We incorporated their colours and organised the layout in a straightforward manner, showcasing the dashboard, plans, and locker.

When presenting these designs, the client appreciated the information layout but expressed uncertainty about the overall aesthetic. Seeing the designs made them realise they wanted more akin to their website, characterised by a busier and less clinical appearance. In response, we conducted a UI burndown session, assimilated their feedback, and proceeded to create a second design

Design 1

Design round 2

This updated design exudes a more approachable and friendly vibe. We made the deliberate choice to introduce illustrations and icons, something absent from Sun Life's current design library. Consequently, we had to craft both the illustrations and icons, providing guidance on the style for future replication. This addition was well-received.

The homepage now offers access to curated articles, personalised through the onboarding process, short quizzes facilitating the organisation of personal affairs, and a dedicated locker for storing essential personal details, ensuring readiness for loved ones in case of unfortunate events, along with access to plans.

We designed mainly with the web in mind for the ideation as this is the way the client worked. However, we did try and push mobile as much as possible and were able to create some journeys in mobile.

Design 2

Final thoughts

All in all, the project proved to be a tremendous success. We secured approval and funding from the company, propelling the initiative forward from ideation to the development stage in a mere 8 weeks. During this phase, we successfully addressed the pain points experienced by the current customer base, resulting in the creation of an impressive product. Currently in development, the project is projected to be ready for release in 2025.