Client: TD Bank (Direct Investing / Wealth Management Division)
Role: Senior User Experience Designer
Project Overview
TD Bank wanted to modernize its online trading portal, a core platform for retail and active investors to research, trade, and monitor investments. The objective was to create a high-performance, intuitive, and accessible trading experience that met the needs of novice and advanced investors alike, while aligning with TD’s enterprise design system and accessibility standards.
The redesigned portal aimed to improve how users analyze market data, execute trades, and personalize their dashboard for real-time decision-making.
The Challenge
The legacy trading interface was functional but dated. It suffered from:
- Information overload—dense tables and charts with little hierarchy or focus.
- Fragmented navigation, forcing users to switch contexts across multiple tools and screens.
- Limited mobile support and poor responsiveness across devices.
- Accessibility and compliance gaps under WCAG 2.1 and AODA standards.
- An inconsistent visual and interaction language that deviated from TD’s broader digital design system.
The goal was to redesign the experience into a modern, responsive, and data-rich interface that supported deep functionality without sacrificing clarity.
My Role & Contributions
As the Lead UX Designer, I was responsible for the research, design strategy, and delivery of the new platform interface.
- Discovery & Research
- Conducted user interviews and contextual inquiries with both casual investors and active traders to understand their decision-making workflows.
- Collaborated with business analysts and trading system architects to identify key data integration requirements (quotes, watchlists, market depth, and trade confirmations).
- Created personas and journey maps representing different trader types (novice, research-driven, high-frequency).
- Information Architecture & Experience Strategy
- Defined a modular dashboard architecture where users could customize data panels, news feeds, and portfolio summaries.
- Streamlined navigation into three primary zones—Research, Trade, and Portfolio—to reduce cognitive load.
- Designed data visualization patterns for charts, candlesticks, and performance summaries that aligned with accessibility standards and financial accuracy.
- Interaction Design & Prototyping
- Designed responsive layouts and interaction patterns in Figma and Axure for both web and tablet.
- Introduced progressive disclosure for detailed market analytics, reducing visual noise for casual users.
- Built high-fidelity prototypes to simulate real-time trading interactions, quote refreshes, and confirmation flows.
- Created dark mode accessibility prototypes to support low-light environments common in trading contexts.
- Accessibility & Usability Testing
- Applied WCAG 2.1 AA principles to ensure chart colors, contrast, and keyboard navigation met accessibility criteria.
- Conducted usability testing and eye-tracking studies to analyze how users scanned data-dense screens.
- Partnered with accessibility QA teams to validate ARIA labeling for complex chart components.
- Collaboration & Agile Delivery
- Worked within Agile sprints using JIRA and Confluence for iterative design and feedback cycles.
- Collaborated with developers, QA, and compliance teams to ensure technical feasibility and adherence to trading regulations.
- Delivered annotated UX documentation, content guidelines, and a scalable design system extension for financial data visualization.
Outcomes & Impact
- Reduced average trade execution time by 25% through streamlined workflows.
- Increased active user engagement on the platform by over 30%.
- Enhanced user satisfaction scores in post-launch surveys, particularly for ease of use and data clarity.
- Achieved full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, positioning TD as a leader in accessible trading experiences.
- Established reusable financial UI components later integrated into other TD Wealth products.
Reflection
This project exemplified how complex financial tools can be made intuitive, responsive, and inclusive through thoughtful design.
By balancing the needs of sophisticated traders and everyday investors, I helped TD transform a legacy platform into a human-centered digital ecosystem, a trading experience that feels professional, personal, and trustworthy.
