Designing a Compliant and User-Friendly Broker Profile Page

Project Objective

The project’s goal was to design a compliant broker profile page that streamlined data collection while adhering to legal verification requirements. This information was crucial for developers to make informed choices when selecting brokers, ultimately enhancing trust and transparency within the platform.

Challenge

Ownspace needed a profile page for brokers that collected and verified data while maintaining compliance with legal regulations. This data needed to be both accessible and reliable, as it was used to assist in decision-making, requiring a balance of functionality and user-centered design.

Process

1. Understanding the Problem: I conducted user interviews, stakeholder discussions, and consulted with the legal team to uncover both user pain points and compliance requirements.
2. Defining Scope and Objectives: Collaborated with the product manager to align business goals and compliance constraints with user needs, ensuring that the design met all criteria for functionality and regulatory adherence.
3. Ideation and Iteration: Brainstormed multiple concepts, focusing on a structured layout that emphasized data accuracy and user convenience. Feedback from stakeholders guided refinements, leading to a clear, compliant design.
4. Testing and Validation: Conducted usability testing to validate the design, focusing on data accessibility and ease of use. This process highlighted areas for improvement, particularly in handling pre-filled data accuracy.

Design Iterations and Pivots

• Initial Approach: The design initially restricted brokers from editing auto-filled fields (like name and address) to prevent manual errors and ensure compliance.
• Pivot Based on User Feedback: After usability testing, we found that this restriction frustrated users, particularly those with outdated government ID information. To address this, we pivoted to a more flexible design that allowed brokers to edit certain fields while incorporating verification checks for data integrity. This adjustment enabled users to update their profiles more accurately and reduced barriers to registration.
• Registration Flow Optimization: Integrated Stripe’s ID verification within the registration process to streamline broker onboarding, reducing manual input and ensuring automated compliance checks.

Lessons Learned

1. Balancing Compliance and User Flexibility: Designing a process that complies with strict legal requirements while remaining user-friendly required close collaboration with legal and development teams. This taught me the importance of flexibility in design to accommodate compliance without sacrificing usability.
2. Importance of Error Prevention and User Control: Enabling auto-fill for broker information initially seemed ideal for ensuring data accuracy. However, we encountered issues when users’ government IDs were outdated or included unexpected name formats (such as multiple middle names or irregular spacing). This highlighted the need to balance automated controls with user flexibility.
3. User-Centric Iteration: User testing revealed that brokers needed the ability to edit certain pre-filled fields, leading to a pivot in our design approach. In the final design, we allowed users to modify their details while maintaining verification steps, which ultimately improved user satisfaction and reduced registration friction.

Outcome

The final design significantly improved user experience by reducing registration frustration, enabling accurate data collection, and balancing compliance with flexibility. The streamlined profile pages increased broker-client engagement, reinforcing trust and transparency within the platform.

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The Profile Page (Iterations)

The Profile Page (Final)

The Prompts

The Flow