How can a legacy company like MoneyGram compete with easy-to-use cash transfer apps like Venmo? 

MoneyGram had previously set themselves a part from their competition by offering the fastest cash transactions across the globe. The problem? As the competition became more digital and easy to use, MoneyGram needed a compelling digital solution to compliment their brick and mortar locations - one that would benefit not only those sending money, but those receiving the money too. 

Facilitate a Discovery Workshop

First, we had to understand the complexity behind MoneyGram’s international business, their challenges, and their goals. Then we had to deep dive into their customers and current pain points. Using data and customer insights, we began to understand the needs of two very different personas - the sender and the receiver. 

Example of a “Lo Fi” Discovery Activity

Personas, Mission Statement, Competitive Advantage 

When the time came to define the product mission statement, we couldn’t shake this idea of a complex relationship between two people - sending money is a difficult and uncomfortable process for the person sending and the receiver often has feelings of guilt and shame. How can we design something that not only gets a job done, but actually brings these two together, bringing to life MoneyGram’s primary vision and value? 

Mission Statement Progress

Personas - Based on customer data from Marketing and customer pain points

Product Concepts  

Instead of delivering a one-size-fits all solution, we advised MoneyGram to consider a different set of technology capabilities to match the needs of each side of the transfer. For the sender, this may look like a fully native comprehensive app. But for a receiver, the majority living in locations that do not have high levels of connectivity or access to the lates technology and smartphones, this type of solution could be a huge barrier. We purposefully created an ecosystem that includes a lightweight, more accessible PWA solution for these receives.  

A presentation of three individual “stories” that would shape how customers use the product.

A high-level sketch detailing a product ecosystem, including a native app and a PWA

We test assumptions as early and often as we can, at lo fi, mid fi, and hi fi resolutions. Prototypes will either be created with wireframes or designs in Invision or if closer to the end of the project, in code.

Development Details

After landing on the overall direction of this ecosystem, the Art Director applied a visual design to truly bring to life this connection between two worlds. From there, we entered an Agile approach to delivery - documenting out flows, iterating on each small detail with based on engineering needs and API capabilities.

Before I get into the details, I like to make sure I understand everything first. Most of the time, this means putting something up on a whiteboard that can be edited and brainstormed real-time with my teammates or client.

A detailed wireframe of a single complex flow in the MoneyGram app

I worked closely with the server team and the engineers to include API details in the documentation -
things that may dictate what we’re able to do on the screen.

Today

MoneyGram launched the new design of their mobile app on November 28th, 2018 and has steadily been adding updates to it ever since.