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How a redesign helped users trust CPF again....

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a key pillar of Singapore's comprehensive social security system. Its mission is to enable Singaporeans and PRs have a secure retirement, through lifelong income, healthcare financing and home financing.

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The aim of this project to to discover how we can improve the brand image and to give users a better experience when navigating the site.

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*This is a speculative project and not associated with the CPF board.

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         Product Team

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  • Cassandra Chen

  • Elvin Ong

  • Ashley Tan

  • Chen Keyue

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          My Roles​

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  • Research

  • Ideating

  • Usability Tests

  • Iterations

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         Highlights​

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          Methods used

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  • User interviews

  • Competitive and Comparative Analysis

  • Sketch and Ideate

  • Card Sorting

  • Usability Testing

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          Time Line​

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  • 2 Weeks ( July 2021)

    • ​Research​​

    • Ideate

    • Design

    • Product testing

    • Re-iterations

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User Interviews

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We started by trying to understand some of the perception that people had of CPF in general. Interviews were conducted with 22 working adults who had visited the CPF site in the last 3 months and has given thoughts about their financial health and future.

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Data was then synthesised by means of affinity mapping.

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From the interviews, we found out that there was a sore lack of understanding about the whole concept of CPF and its schemes. What added to it was the difficulty in navigating the site when trying find and access information. This led to CPF illiteracy which resulted in a lot of misconception about it.

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Online research further supported these data where we came to the conclusion that there is a mistrust and lowered confidence in CPF as people called for greater transparency, and easier access to accurate CPF information.

Research
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Meet Raymond, our persona 

Raymond is a newly wed in his early 30's. He has just gotten married and is planning to start a family soon. 

Raymond worries about his parents' as well as his own retirement. 

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He has heard so much about CPF's retirement schemes that support Singaporeans and PRs through their retirement. 

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However, when Raymond tried to understand more about them to plan for the future, he was only met with frustrations and more questions after trying to navigate the wordy and overwhelming CPF site as he could not find what he was looking for!

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He eventually found the information on third party sites which led him to wonder if CPF is deliberately trying to make information inaccessible so as to 'hide' things from them.

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Raymond then went on to plan for his own retirement with the notion 'CPF is not going to be enough for my retirement. I don't even know what they are doing with my money!'

Problem and Solution

The Problem

Raymond need a clear and simple way to understand how CPF benefits him so he can trust CPF and feel more secure about his retirement plans and financial future

By designing a Interactive customisable dashboard with schemes grouped by milestones in life, we can let Raymond see only what is relatable to him and easily find the information that he wants which eventually helps him to understand what CPF is about and it does for him and his family.

The Solution

The Product

Faded Sandpaper

Personalised Welcome Dashboard

Research and Ideate

The Research

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To understand what a brand does in order for users to trust them, we did some online research on various brands' site that won 2021 Trusted Brands Award

 

Research shows that a website will be most clients’ first touchpoint with a business and that business’s first opportunity to start building trust with the client. 

One of the key factors that plays an important role is that the pages are well structured and easy to navigate.

Key Findings

Easy access to help

Having the help feature prominently  accessible on the home page helps to convey the message that assistance is readily available.

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Copywriting

By having a warm, conversation like tone instead of plainly stating facts, it reassures users that the company has their best interest at heart.                                       

Clear and easy navigation

This would help user find information easily and quickly instead of wondering where the related article would be.                                                                                    

News and updates

Making news and media about the company as part of the main category lets users have easy access to the latest updates so they are not left second guessing facts. 

The Card Sort

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A Card Sorting exercise was also conducted with 16 participants to help us better improve the Information Architecture of the site.

Click on image to enlarge
 

Original site design

The Design

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Redesigned site design

To complement with the existing Design System in line with the Smart Nation Initiative, we used the UI design system kit from the Singapore Government.

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Accessibility and Inclusivity checks were also conducted to ensure that we can reach a large audience.

We also created a theme for the site which will inspire the look and feel it will bring to the users.

Faded Sandpaper
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Using the Singapore Government Design System

We went through a few rounds of Ideate + Sketch (Design studio) that helped us to visualise how our final product should look and feel.

 

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Sketches Version 1

Usability Tests

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Usability tests were conducted with 5 users​

 

The two tasks that were given to them were - 

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Scenario 1

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You’re worried about the amount of money in your parent’s CPF Retirement Account, and you’d like to find out if there’s anything you can do about it.

Task:
Find out more about the Retirement Sum Top-Up Scheme. 

Scenario 2

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As an owner of a HDB Flat, you periodically login to the CPF website to check the amount of CPF usage for your mortgage. You’d like to see if there’s a way you can do this quickly and painlessly without having to navigate through the website each time.

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Task:

Find a way to customise your dashboard to easily access your mortgage details.

Search box was redesigned to make it more prominent .

Category Selection Bar on Home Page

2 of 5 users did not feel that the  bar looked 'clickable'.​

 

Therefore, the design was iterated.                                                                                                                                                                        

Search box was redesigned to make it more prominent .

Search Bar on Widgets selection page

2 of 5 users did not notice the Search Bar at the top to look for the widget they wanted to add. 

 

Search header was redesigned to make it more prominent.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Search box was redesigned to make it more prominent .

'See More' Button on schemes page

2 of 5 users were confused by the 'See More' button under the scheme. They were unsure if it would show them more about the scheme on top of it, or would lead them to see more schemes.

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The text in the Call to Action button was changed from 'See More' to 'See more schemes' and an arrow was added. Position of the button was also adjusted.

Usability Tests Findings

Before Usability Test

Iterated Design

Search bar was redesigned to make it more prominent by increasing contrast and visual weight .

Before Usability Test

Iterated Design

Category Selection Bar was changed to slider design and 'See more' was renamed to 'See more Schemes' with an arrow.

Try out the prototype

Usability Test

Conclusion and Next steps

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We believe that with the resigned website, users are now able to customize their personal desktop thus allowing them quick access to items they use and see often.

 

The redesigned schemes pages also let users see the content easily without being cognitively overloaded with text.

 

They can now easily find and understand CPF and its schemes and better plan for their financial and retirement needs.

Square Stage

Going forward, we will continue iterations as users' needs evolve. Considerations for redesign will be extended to the rest of the site. 

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The existing mobile app can also be revamped using the same concept to cater to users who need to check their account on the go or simply for the convenience of being able to check and transact on their phones.

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Implementation success can be measured by means such as website analytics and app store downloads and ratings for the mobile app going forward.                         

Conclusion & Next steps

Key learning and Takeaways

I believe that one of my biggest learning from this project is trust. I learned to trust that each team member are working with a common understanding of the project and each will deliver to the best of their ability. 

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We shared many late nights, many debates about concepts but in the end, we all learned from each other and friendships were forged. Each of us grew in our own ways, as we supported each other through the project.

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A big thank you to my team members, I will not hesitate to collaborate on another project with them!

Key Learnings

Check out my other projects too!

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