UX Principles
10 BECU UX Principles
BECU UX Principles
How to Use Design Principles
Our Design Principles are organized around BECU's Core Values to help guide how you think about design. These guidelines can help align stakeholders to the vision of what it means to 'Be BECU.' In other words, they're more a frame of mind than a book of rules.
The Principles represent the collaborative work and expertise of the User Experience Design and Research practitioners at BECU. Through the application of these Principles, we help align our design in a way that drives the organization toward an inclusive human-centric experience.
Using the Principles
These principles are available in a printed card deck. To learn more, contact the BECU Digital UX Team.
Download PDFBECU Value
Do the Right Thing
We design for the full range of our member diversity.
UX Principle 01 of 10
BECU is for Everyone.
Good design serves all. Doing the right thing means we are committed to inclusive design that meets the full range of our member diversity. Our design is inclusive and pushes the boundaries of modern and engaging experiences.
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Our greatest asset when we design is human diversity.
-Tim Allen 1
1 Creative Mornings, 2017: "Inclusive design uses diversity to guide innovation"
UX Principle 02 of 10
Yes, protect data, but be innovative in the way we do it.
The confidentiality, integrity and availability of our systems are non-negotiable. We leverage creativity to design controls to prevent the misuse and abuse of our members' data and trust.
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Security UX (sic) is the first experience. So in essence, it's not mobile first or content first, it's security first because that's the thing the user runs into first.
-Jared Spool 2
2 UX Immsersion: Interactions, May 2017: "Insecure & Unintuitive: How We Need to Fix the UX of Security"
UX Principle 03 of 10
This looks like BECU.
We embrace design patterns to create familiarity and strengthen usability. We communicate with our members in a consistent voice that builds trust. We document what works and reuse it when it makes sense.
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Consistency is one of the most powerful usability principles: when things always behave the same, users don't have to worry about what will happen.
- Jakob Nielsen 3
3 Alertbox, 1999: "Top 10 New Mistakes of Web Design"
BECU Value
Members First
We design with a deep commitment to understanding our members' needs, wants, goals and dreams.
UX Principle 04 of 10
You are not the user.
Projection of internal knowledge onto our products assumes that our users will behave just like us. The reality is that our users don't have the same understanding about banking, finance and our systems. We always practice a user-centric approach when designing solutions.
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Want your users to fall in love with your designs? Fall in love with your users.
- Dana Chisnell 4
4 Co-Director, Center for Civic Design http://usabilityworks.com/
UX Principle 05 of 10
Why would a member use this?
If the most well-designed widget is not useful to our members, it will be the most well-designed, non-useful widget. Our designs should look to solve a documented need from our members.
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Don't find customers for your products, find products for your customers.
- Seth Godin 5
5 This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See (Penguin, 2018)
BECU Value
Know Your Stuff
We design following established methods and methodology. We share the learning journey with our teams.
UX Principle 06 of 10
Use what works.
User-centered Design is a process of design about people. We use a documented, repeatable, and iterative process that defines the system of design, concurrently driving organizational and member goals.
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Your primary role should be to share what you know, not to tell people how things should be done.
- Steve Krug 6
6 Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (New Riders, 2014)
BECU Value
Be Real
We design for humans. The BECU brand is only as good as the experience our members have using our products and services.
UX Principle 07 of 10
Allow life to happen.
Our designs should be flexible in that they integrate into our members' lives - allowing for the interruptions, distractions and complexities of daily life.
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If we want users to like our software, we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous, and helpful.
- Alan Cooper 7
7 About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Wiley, 2003)
UX Principle 08 of 10
Speak my language.
We don't use banking jargon, we break down complex concepts into easily digestible and actionable information. Interactions with BECU should feel like talking to a trusted friend.
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Pay attention to the way you talk about the work you're doing. If you design for people, use people language.
- Julie Zhuo 8
8 Medium: The Year of the Looking Glass, 2018" Design for People, Use People Language"
BECU Value
Own It
We find real problems and we design to provide real solutions.
UX Principle 09 of 10
Get out of the way.
The best designs are the ones that aren't noticeable. We provide our members the help they need in the way that's most useful to them.
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With technology, many customers have a tendency to blame themselves for not being able to figure out the changes on their own… In essence, they feel excluded. The impact on people can be deeply emotional.
- Kat Holmes 9
9 Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (MIT Press, 2018)
UX Principle 10 of 10
Design with intent.
Each interaction, no matter the size, is a puzzle piece to the larger overall experience. Seemingly small problems today could equal large problems tomorrow. Focus on the elegance and simplicity of the micro-interactions to guide the entire experience.
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Don't be a complainer; make things better, let it go, or take action to make it better.
- Tina Roth Eisenberg 10
10 99u, 2015: "Tina Roth Eisenberg: Don't Complain, Create"