Etrade
One week , 2026
Team:
Failenn Aselta
The Challenge +
Hannah
28 year old Hannah Goodman has 100k in her e*trade and is a retail swing trader. Her mom first opened her etrade account when she was 15 and wants to stay with the site but finds it clunky and not up to date with other platforms. She struggles to compare data and move quickly through the site, often she misses crucial moments in trading due to its overwhelming UI.
How might we improve user retention by 40%?
By increasing a swing traders' success through speed,
decisiveness and cognitive clarity by at least 10%.
Website feedback
After a walk through and user feed back on e*Trade and three of the top trading websites. A handful of solutions backed by in depth research brought new ideas to fruition.
Lo-Fi Wireframe
Winner was the design on the far left due to most white space and most modern layout. Studies show traders work faster and perform better with more white space and curved edges.
Mid-fi Wireframe 1
Mid-fi Wireframe 2
Mid-Fi Wireframe 2 was selected for its right-sided icon bar. While research shows users typically follow an F-shaped reading pattern, scanning the left side first, trading platforms reveal a different behavior: users often fixate on the lower left when analyzing data.
To align with this pattern, the icon bar was moved to the left, creating a more intuitive layout and allowing quicker, more efficient access to the watchlist and customization tools.
Research Defense
Conclusion
By treating the E*TRADE dashboard as a high-stakes 'data environment' rather than a static website, I applied architectural rigor to solve for user retention. The redesign moves the platform from a state of 'Display Disorder' to 'Systemic Clarity.' This redesign proves that when design is anchored in clinical research, like the MIT AgeLab’s findings on glance time, we can move beyond aesthetics to engineer behavioral outcomes. For Hannah Goodman, this means at LEAST a 10% boost in success from traders which directly drives the 40% retention goal.
Transitioning from architecture to UX, I realized that both fields share a common 'North Star': the human nervous system. Whether designing a building or a trading platform, the goal is to manage environmental stress to facilitate human success. This project proved that when we anchor design in clinical research, we can move beyond 'aesthetics' and begin engineering behavioral outcomes that solve real business problems, like a 40% increase in user retention.
Figma Click Through
Bibliography
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Failenn Aselta