During my first internship, I worked at FutureVault Inc., a tech startup that aims to provide solutions in financial services and wealth management. They provide a digital safety deposit box for clients to store critical documents, data, and information.

As a UX/UI designer, I had the chance to work on various design projects from creating graphic assets, making powerpoints for clients, improving the UI of existing features, and also designing a whole new feature that is now being implemented into the web app. 

The problem

Advisors are having difficulty requesting their clients to upload necessary documents into their vault. There were currently no solutions to do this efficiently within the application, and clients without a FutureVault account had to register for one to do so.

There are two separate experiences users can go through during the file upload request: one being the requester's experience and the other being the file uploader's experience. Hence, two user flows were created for this project. Since we had a strict timeline, we had to decide what to show as the minimum viable product (MVP) to clients.

> User Flow - Requester

User task: Use the file request feature and ask others to upload their files within a specific folder of the user's vault.  

> User Flow - File Uploader

User task: Use the received file upload link and upload their files in the dropbox.  

I conducted two rounds of usability studies, one on co-workers and one on stakeholders. The first study helped me realize the features I missed (due to my lack of understanding) and helped finalize the user flow diagram. The second study used an iteration of the high-fidelity prototype to further reveal what needed to be refined or changed again. 

> Usability Study: Round 1 Findings

1. Users want to be able to request multiple files within one request

2. Users want to send a personal message to recipients to easily state the reasoning behind the file request

3. Users want an option to make sure that only the recipients are able to upload files (e.g. password on file upload page)

> Usability Study: Round 2 Findings

1. Users want the option to resend email reminders to certain individuals instead of the whole file uploader group

2. Users want to name their request to easily know what the request may have been sent for (which also helps prevent collaborators from creating the same request)

3. Users should not be able to edit a request after it has been sent, as that can impact the file uploader's user experience

> Refined Wireframes for Both Experiences

> Design System

> Focused Digital Wireframes - Requester

The prototype was refined with the findings in mind. This includes the option to have a password on the request page, requesting multiple files, sending personalized messages in reminders, and naming requests. In addition, there is also an option to send generic links for file upload, where the file uploader can upload any files they want in the vault; there is no specific file being requested. Users can also add unknown contacts that uploaded files on the FutureVault application.

Click here to view the requester's side in the mock-up!

> Focused Digital Wireframes - File Uploader

To access certain request dropbox, an access password must be entered. Additionally, the file uploader is able to upload specific files in each request for easier management.

Click here to view the file uploader's side in the prototype!