In my Bachelor’s thesis I focused on the question of how design can influence security and trust. The goal was to prove my findings and conclusions by redesigning a banking app.

The starting point was extended research and analysis about both topics, including the basics of the concepts behind trust and security and the banking industry itself (e.g. market development, competitors and infrastructure).

One of the most important things to keep in mind: absolute security is more of an ideal than a truly reachable goal and trust is a completely subjective emotion. 

So, in conclusion and especially in the background of banking services, the fear and perceived emotions are the TRUE factors to focus on.

Armed with these valuable insights, I developed clear guidelines for both the visual design and user interactions on which to focus my redesign and, in effect, prove the hypothesis. 

Both fields can be influenced by a multitude of rules and actions that can improve all of the five main factors that guide the users perception of security and trust: understandability, competence, honesty, selflessness and communication.

For the end result and proof of my findings, I focused mainly on the mobile app to make use of the little time available. I aimed to make at least one interaction point of the user feel as whole as possible. 

But, to achieve ideal goals, of course the whole banking service infrastructure (service centers, ATMs, office branches, website) would need to be adjusted accordingly as well.

While redesigning the mobile app, I tried to apply as many of the aforementioned findings across a variety of use cases that the typical banking app has to offer. 

Some examples can be seen in the following pictures but, for a more detailed rundown of the app in action, feel free to view the video below as well.

All insights and guidelines have been compressed into both, a book and an animated presentation to conclude my body of work. If you are interested in the full thesis, feel free to contact me.