Adhere to perceived affordance of a mobile phone to avoid alienating the user. Target users are unfamiliar to banking te
Mobile Banking For Developing Countries
Christopher Darby | Daniel Choudhury | Stuart Holland
Target Device
Monochrome display 128x128px resolution
Selector Keys Multifunctional
Navigation Keys 4 directional keys Number Pad Standard 12 button
Low Memory
Basic graphics
Vibration, Play sounds
Challenges to m-banking adoption ‣ Mental model of a mobile phone
- “Is it a phone or a wallet?” - Does it store my money, or only transfer it?
‣ Trends in use-cases
- Transfer between family members - Payments that can reduce travel
‣ Social/Cultural issues
- Is it safe? - Can I bill my customers through SMS?
‣ No exposure to computer systems
- No concept of menus or hierarchical navigation
‣ Human mediators
SCOPE & PHILOSOPHY
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Design for the lowest common denominator
ETHNOGRAPHY
‣ Cultural attitude towards, and usage patterns of mobile phones ‣ Symbolic relationships ‣ Illiterate and semi-literate demographic
CONSISTENCY ‣ Unusual decisions to maintain consistency, related to the demographic. ‣ Interaction that adapts to most makes and models of phones
DEVELOPMENT COMPLEXITY
‣ Consider the implications of UI decisions on implementation of solution ‣ Balance cost of implementation with user experience
”
Functionality
Adhere to perceived affordance of a mobile phone to avoid alienating the user
Target users are unfamiliar to banking terminology
Functionality
Target users are unfamiliar to banking terminology
Adhere to perceived affordance of a mobile phone to avoid alienating the user
1
Balance Check Shows current balance in m-banking account
2
Top Up Scratch card or merchant credit transfer
3
Credit Transfer Transfer funds between Mbanking accounts
4
Bill Payment Pay bills based on prior invoices
Interface simulation
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Users are uncomfortable with the use of multifunction soft keys
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Lock Screen ‣ Simple padlock symbol is universal ‣ Users introduced to concept of pin-code security Symbolism ‣ Low literacy user base Soft key mapping ‣ Maintained throughout interface ‣ Cross is delete on editable fields Voice annotation ‣ 5sec hesitation delay before prompting ‣ Human-like interaction for users
main Menu
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Avoids the use of hierarchical structures
‣ Grid layout ‣ Arranged by frequency of use Symbolism ‣ ‘?’ is universal ‣ Similar icons used elsewhere in interface ‣ Concept of bill payments unfamiliar to users Navigation ‣ Extensible to other control layouts Mental Model ‣ All main functions accessible from here ‣ Interface only affords these functions
”
Balance CHeck
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User base is able to recognise numbers, but confused by text
Minimalism ‣ Avoids confusion for the user ‣ Only one possible mental model Consistency ‣ Mobile symbol used as ‘account’ everywhere Navigation ‣ Both soft keys return to main menu
”
Top UP
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User base is able to recognise numbers, but confused by text
Guidance ‣ Card symbol for recharge card ‣ Number of X’s helps user identify number Easy to read ‣ Auto-indentation on entering the number
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Top UP Confirmation
Confirmation ‣ Amount shown for user confidence Building Consistency ‣ All confirmation screens are vertical ‣ All feedback screens are horizontal Language ‣ May be right to left in some regions
Credit Transfer
Balance Displayed ‣ Anticipating user need Contact Lookup ‣ Simple icon for contact list Consistency ‣ Emboldened fields are active ‣ Mobile phone as a symbol for ‘account’
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Avoids the use of non-numeric / syntactic text input structures
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Credit Transfer Feedback
Symbolism ‣ Literal representation of transfer Feedback Consistency ‣ Horizontal animation ‣ Typical check mark to indicate success
Bill payment
Symbolism ‣ Introducing new concept of bills Affordance ‣ As similar to a contact list as possible ‣ Illiterate users recognise by numbers ‣ Limit amount of words Consistency ‣ List items highlighted by inversion
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Minimised the use of scrolling
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Bill payment Feedback
Consistency ‣ Consistent with all other feedback screens
System Failure
Vibration Haptic feedback for invalid input
Try again Returns to previous screen
Data Validation
Vibration Haptic feedback for invalid input Invalid Data Colour inversion Cursor returns
overview
Simple. Accessible. Universal. Citations Medhi et al. 2009, Microsoft Research Donner 2008, Microsoft Research Huenerfauth 2002 Mas et al. 2009
