Robinhood UI Secrets: How to Design a Sky-Rocket Trading App

When it comes to such a highly competitive domain as fintech, one of the things allowing companies to stay on top is proper UI design. Its role can not be overestimated as it directly affects the user experience, which is the major driver for a trading solutions’s success on the market. Here is why you should pay proper attention to the design of your app’s users interface:

Build product identity

Product identity is crucial in the market, where competition for new users can be fierce, because it not only compels people to try a new product, but also influences them to stay loyal to a company longer. And a completely different, exciting brand experience is closely linked to the design of UI.

Introduce simplicity by creating a clear user flow

Finance in general and trading in particular can be very complex for the average user. Fortunately, a well thought out UI design can simplify everything and make things as clear as possible for users, helping them complete their tasks on the go and winning their love for your app.

Enable users make better decision faster

Better decisions are data-driven decisions. By presenting information in an easily understandable form, you give users actionable insights about their money. Therefore, the right UI enables them to make more rational decisions and helps to achieve their financial goals, resulting in higher user satisfaction score.

One of the solutions that is widely known for superior user experience and excellent UI design is Robinhood trading app. Robinhood’s app design is like no other trading app on the market. Users highlight its convenience, high usability, and interactivity. In this article, we will explore what makes Robinhood stand out from its competitors and what best practices used in its interface you can pick up to create a vibrant and eye-catching UI for your trading app that will delight users.

3 UI Secrets From the Robinhood App

The central point of Robinhood UI and overall design approach is to present the most relevant and useful information to their customers as clearly as possible so they can make informed decisions about how to manage their assets. For many years, financial services firms, including brokers and various digital platforms, had been reinforcing barriers for users with cluttered, poor design solutions. Robinhood has decided to take a different approach. Their goal is to simplify access to investments for participants in the U.S. financial system. And that’s exactly what they are doing with their app and its clean, spotless user interface.

To understand the extent of the app’s design brilliance, let’s look at some facts about it. In 2015, shortly after its release, the iOS app won the prestigious Apple Design Award for its clean, content-centric design. A year later, in 2016, Robinhood UI won another trophy, the Google Play Award for Best Use of Material Design. There aren’t many fintech apps that can boast such broad recognition for their design achievements, are there? That’s why the app deserves special attention, so read on to learn more about the Robinhood app UI tricks.

1. Users in the center of everything

The customer-centric, design-first approach has made Robinhood a tool of choice for a generation of mobile-first customers eager to invest on the. Therefore, the first Robinhood UI design lesson is to put your users in the center of everything, because to win users love, your app needs to be friendly and welcoming, rather than intimidating or condescending to users. Of course, text is important, but is there anything other than words? For sure, it’s the design that creates the overall experience around the product. So make sure it conveys exactly the message you intend.

2. Focus on simplicity

You should leave complicated and confusing user interfaces where they belong — in the past. Accessible, user-friendly and informative — these three features are the new standard for any fintech that aims to win user loyalty. Obviously, you might want to introduce more features over time, but the key point is to stick to your design approach and consistency to keep the app simple, user-friendly, and informative.

3. Communicate clearly

Well, we all know that push notifications are a great tool when it comes to increasing user retention and engagement, boosting conversion rates, and so on. The point is, they are often annoying and useless. Robinhood’s product designers claim that notifications meant to drive engagement create artificial barriers between an app and its users. Instead, they have simply enabled merely informational notifications that keep users up to date on their transactions or inform them of important account activity. What’s more, their notifications contain all the necessary information, so users do not even have to launch the app to find out the rest. This is exactly what real concern for users looks like.

Trading App Design Best Practices

Now that Robinhood UI is explained and you know what sets it apart from other investment solutions, let’s explore best practices for trading app design.

Intuitiveness and simplicity

The main idea is to allow users to complete their tasks through your app without any extra effort. They need to understand how the app works once and be able to apply that knowledge in different contexts, rather than learning new workflows in each new context. To this end, the interface need to be clutter-free and free from any unnecessary information that might distract users from their primary goals. This is called intuitive UI. Intuitiveness increases adoption rates by allowing users to sort out app functionality in a very short time without having to go through complicated manuals or instructions.

Gamificatiton

Gamification increases engagement by introducing an entertaining element. It also helps to encourage users to take actions you want them to take. However, you should not overload your trading app with gamification features — it’s important to strike a balance, as it’s money that needs to be taken seriously.

Functional animation

Functional animation is subtle animation embedded in UI as part of the functionality of that interface. In user-centered design, where people are the focus, UI should be intuitive, responsive, and human. This is where functional animation comes into play. It strengthens the user interface design, guides users through the app, helps reduce cognitive load, and prevents users from being blind to change.

Micro-interactions

These are events that have a single purpose: to delight the user, create an engaging and welcoming atmosphere by providing feedback on user actions. Although microinteractions are tiny design elements, but it’s the attention to detail that creates outstanding experiences and distinguishes an ordinary design from an extraordinary one. And ultimately, it all boils down to making users delighted with your app, doesn’t it?

Data and information visualization

The art of visualization is to present data in a way that makes it easy to understand and work with. Data visualization transforms raw numbers into easily digestible information that brings value to usesrs. When data is presented in the form of charts and graphs, complex information is easily interpreted and users gain more actionable insights into their finances.

3 Reasons to Entrust the Design of Your Trading Application to Itexus

✅ Design thinking as a strategy for innovation

All our processes are based on the design thinking concept. We thoroughly research your target audience to understand their needs and painpoints, redefine problems and develop innovative, responsive and user-friendly solutions that ensure a great user experience.

✅ Years of experience in designing apps for fintechs

Since 2013, we’ve been developing our skills in designing user interfaces and experiences. To date, we’ve learned all the ins and outs of fintech design and look forward to sharing our expertise with you and delivering top-notch design concepts, prototypes, graphics, and visual elements to create engaging, intuitive, and user-friendly apps.

✅ Flexible and customer-centric approach

We strive to create and deliver better, unique experiences for our clients — just as we help them do for their users. Putting you at the center of everything, we align every steps with your needs, goals, and expectations, which leads to smooth interactions and great results.

Summary

When it comes to fintech design, there are multiple nuances to consider if you want your app to resonate with users. It should be simple yet visually appealing, engaging yet balanced and not overloaded with gamification, etc. A single mistake can ruin the entire project success. Therefore, it is advisable to entrust such a sensitive matter as trading app design to experts.

At Itexus, we’ve developed and designed apps for fintechs of all sizes across the world, accumulating a wealth of knowledge along the way. Now, we’re excited to apply that knowledge along with best practices to create a consistent and engaging UI that will make your trading app stand out and earn it the love and loyalty of its users. Contact our design team to find out what benefits Itexus can bring to your project.

Originally published at Itexus Blog on August 9, 2022.