From whiteboard to market in 120 days
The year was 2014: Apple had just announced the existence of an upcoming product called Apple Watch. We helped our client, Citi become the first financial institution to launch an app on this device.
The team was faced with the ambiguity of designing for hardware that was still under development, interface guidelines that had not been defined, and an SDK that was still months away from public release. With information being scarce to non-existent, we turned to frame-by-frame breakdowns of Apple’s announcement video, speculation coming from the MacRumors website, and fair amount of trial and error.
With our 3D-printed watch models in hand and iPhones duct-taped to our wrists, we set off on the journey to build the world’s first banking app on a screen roughly the size of a postage stamp.
Architecting the experience
With Citi customers at the heart of our design, we crafted an elegant and discreet way to access financial data while on the go, encouraging financial mindfulness with the twist of a wrist.
Simplicity
The content and graphics were designed to be easily glanceable and were simplified to their most basic forms.
Timeliness
Contextual interfaces surface the information that users need, when they need it.
Efficiency
Interfaces were created to help customers accomplish their desired tasks quickly and effortlessly while on the go.
Credit overview
Simple visual indicator of your credit limit and current balance.
Account balances
All of your account balances available at a glance.
Transactions
Easily track recent purchases and spending.
Results
The Citi Mobile® app became the first-ever banking app on the Apple Watch. It was selected as the premier financial services application by Apple and featured as the exclusive banking application in the Apple App Store at launch. Subsequently, it was recognized as one of the 15 Coolest apps for Apple Watch by Time Magazine, A Must Download app by Yahoo, The Most Promising Banking App by BankRate, and was named one of the 50 Most Beautifully Designed Apple Watch apps by Crittercism.
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