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Design For
T. Rowe Price’s
Japanese Websites
Led a global team of 7 designers to redefine the digital experience for T. Rowe Price's asia-pacific investors
Project Summary
T. Rowe Price was undergoing a global overhaul of their web experiences, including transitioning the APAC region (Japan, China, and Australia) websites to their global AEM platform, with T. Rowe's design system. I led a diverse team in redesigning three Japanese microsites and a larger APAC website.
The primary goals were to ensure a consistent experience, transition to the global platform, and reduce costs by 40% by eliminating reliance on local partners.
Project Details
Role :
Product Design Lead
User Researcher
Product Designer
Duration :
14 weeks
Tools :
Miro, Figma
Deliverables :
Challenges
Decrease Cost to Serve
Globalization
T. Rowe Price was a very matrixed organization, where regions were not required to be on the global AEM platform. A few of the countries, like Japan and Australia, were not on the platform.
Those who were not on the global platform were not able to use the global design system, as well as were not maintained by global web team.
We developed an intuitive and culturally relevant design aimed at resonating with the discerning Japanese audience, despite the design team's limited experience with the Japanese language and culture. Only two of us had significant experience with design in Japan. Although not fluent in Japanese, I effectively collaborated and coordinated with Japanese market leaders.
Results
40% decrease
in cost
to serve
12.5% increase
in individual investment
12.5% increase
in individual investment
accounts
Process
My team designed the web application for T. Rowe Price’s Japanese and APAC websites using a pretty standard design thinking process. Our intent was the design a culturally relevant experience for Japanese investors while adhering to the global design standards.
EMPATHIZE
DEFINE
IDEATE
IDEATE
IDEATE
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
PROTOTYPE
TEST
My team developed an intuitive and culturally relevant design aimed at resonating with the discerning Japanese audience, despite the design team's limited experience with the Japanese language and culture. Only two of us had significant experience with design in Japan. Although not fluent in Japanese, I effectively collaborated and coordinated with Japanese market leaders.
We started with competitive research, then concepted, designed and prototyped four websites for the Japanese audience (Japan home, and three fund specific microsites.
PROTOTYPE
Key
Team Members
Product
Design Lead
(me)
Product
Designer
(me)
Visual
Designer
Motion
Design
User Research
With our timeline we didn’t have enough time to do proper research, so we interviewed a few investors, and created personas from the research to drive design.
Competitive Analysis
We started with competitive research, then concepted, designed and prototyped four websites for the Japanese audience (Japan home, and three fund specific microsites. We looked at and dissected T. Rowe Price’s competitors iin Japan.
User Personas
As part of the user interviews we spoke with a few investors and created personas to guide the team through the design phase.
UX
After research, I led the design of wireframes for both the Japanese homepage, as well as 3 investor microsite. As part of the process I also worked the a translator to help define the site’s content strategy, and ensuring the sites all had the content investors needed. All while the content was in Japanese, with most of my team not proficient in Japanese.
1. Lоw Fidelity
First I started with low-fidelity concepts concepts to iteratively generate as many unique ideas as possible.
02.Medium Fidelity
Then I iteratively started adding components to the wireframes, adding fidelity to the designs, and created wireframe prototypes to validate with users.
03.High Fidelity
Once we finalized the wireframes, we added visual elements, such as colors, typography, photography, and illustrations to complete the high fidelity mockups, and the created final prototypes.
Design
Working with another UX designer, motion designer, and prototyper, we created four prototypes, with Japanese content, global branding components, and motion guidelines from T. Rowe Price’s design system.
