BeamUp App case study | Flying Bisons

BeamUP

BeamUP app combines two functionalities, suggesting ways to spend time together and providing a way to share payments. At our initial meeting with BeamUP, the stakeholders specified that they wanted these two activities to be on one interface. This was the first challenge faced by our project team.

A combination of research and iterative development of the app enabled us to create a useful and functional product. After successfully testing the prototype, we went on to design further solutions in line with longer-term development plans. Flying Bisons were delighted to be able to deliver comprehensive help at every level on the implementation of this perspective-oriented start-up.

Goal

To make sharing money easy and fun

Industry

Finance Technology

Platforms

01 Goals

Seamless experience across different functional areas

The goal was to combine marketplace and fund sharing functions in a way that results in seamless experience. This was crucial to the project, and it improved both the look and usability of the app.

02 Process

Iterative design process

We knew that we had to look at unusual interface solutions to achieve our goals. We started our work with open minds, and came up with lots of creative ideas that we then tested repeatedly to find the best solution.

03 Effect

200 000 transactions

After just three months, over 50 000 users had registered, and over 200 000 transactions had been made, BeamUp was very well received by users, who gave really positive feedback.

Send, Ask, Share

BeamUp is an app that solves the problems of joint shopping and city trips. Thanks to functions such as bill-sharing or organising whip-rounds, collecting money for different occasions becomes problem-free. Also, the funds transferred between wallets appear in the blink of an eye.

Seamlessness of the processes was crucial, so the ease of use and navigation inside the BeamUP application was a big advantage over other similar solutions. From a wider perspective, it hopes to attract users away from traditional banking applications and other e-wallets.

Transparent marketplace

What distinguishes the BeamUP app from other electronic wallets, is a rich marketplace full of offers for entertainment with friends. Most importantly, offers are easier to take advantage of, cheaper and in one place.

The solution to the navigation inside the marketplace uses swipe, so the user can view content quickly and comfortably. This aimed to allow the user to find what interests them quickly, with the least amount of effort, meaning that the user can make a choice with the minimum amount of information necessary.

Electronic wallet & market

Getting the balance right in essential information was both the goal and guide that BeamUP gave us during the first workshop.

The first major challenge that our team encountered was reconciling two very different functions on one screen, when neither could take precedence over the other. It turned out that the simplest solution worked best, which is why we agreed that we should use a split screen. One part for the wallet and payments, the other for the market and its sales functions. Of course, in the designers' minds, separating the screen and forcing users to use half of it for each function was a terrible idea.So, the natural solution was to create a seamless, fluid navigation that allowed users to switch between full screens for both functions.

Design complexity

The creation and implementation of a project with 391 screens required a lot of work between teams and was resource-heavy. Creating the architecture of such an extensive application, while maintaining the simplicity and intuitiveness of usability and its visual coherence of interfaces needed several designers working on it at the same time. The weekly statuses with the client were also invaluable. During joint workshops, the azimuth of the BeamUp application development was determined, and we could clearly see the overall shape of the app.

Quick actions

The first layer of the extended BeamUP application architecture was developing the user experience to effectively combine two different elements. While the history of shopping and marketplace is straightforward and easy from the point of view of processes, in the case of BeamUP, payments were the most demanding function.

This function must maintain full fluency and simplicity, with spontaneity, quick actions and decisions. Therefore, even when navigating the sales section, access to fast payment functions is guaranteed.

Purchases processes unification

The number and diversity of the product categories directly affected the number of different forms for the purchasing process. In addition to one-time purchases like tickets, there are also renewable subscriptions.

It requires logging in to other websites or group offers. Therefore, they had to be thought out so that, while maintaining consistency and ease from the user's side, it was possible to flexibly collect the various data required for purchase.

Research

During the implementation of the project flow, we carried out usability tests. Only thanks to them we were able to notice some shortcomings and eliminate them early in the information architecture design phase. Users are best at verifying poorly designed user experience - based on this idea, we repeatedly researched to create the best final product.

The last phase of the research cycle, carried out just before the release of the final application, was based on a high-level hi-fidelity prototype. In addition to the entire user experience, it had all the animations, graphics and interactions of the final product, and was a great imitation of the final product. Its main goal was to fully confirm the functionality of the application and verify that no errors would occur.

Weekly iterations

The introduction of the product to Appstore and GooglePlay did not mean the end of work on it. During the weekly status, we presented our observations collected as an external observer and consultant. In addition, we planned and selected the key functions for the development of the project.

All added processes and screens were implemented in accordance with long-term development plans and with full visual coherence within the entire application.

BeamUP

Paweł Trocki CEO AT BEAMUP

„Flying Bisons understands the client’s needs and the specifics of a project in no time, and helps you to achieve the goal as planned. They have the ability to keep things simple and back their rationale even when the idea is not in line with clients initial thoughts.”

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