Client Objective:

Discover Brokerage Direct was launched in 1997 when Lombard Brokerage was acquired by Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. While the investment system was well-received by the public and the press, Discover brokerage sought design and technical improvements in order to provide customers with the best investing experience available online. Following a name change from Lombard Brokerage to Discover Brokerage Direct, it became necessary to design a new logo and develop online experiences appropriate to Discover Brokerage's branding initiatives. To prevail in the intensely competitive online trading market Discover Brokerage knew it needed to attract new clients and keep the ones it had. Their goal was to provide an online trading resource that was equally useful to experienced and inexperienced investors. Discover Brokerage hired vivid to develop their new brand, evaluate their site, recommend improvements, and build a solution.

vivid Implementation:

vivid started the project by conducting an in-depth study of the online trading market and examining the patterns of Discover Brokerage's client base. With a constant eye toward the investor experience, vivid created multiple design treatments for the user interface, which were repeatedly tested and refined. The result is a more streamlined interface which enables investors to find information and make trades with a minimum of delay. vivid simplified the site's navigation and performance through pull down-menus, text-only navigation, and by placing navigation bars on every screen of the site. There are shortcut links to areas of the site that investors visit most often. vivid's designers created a color-coded scheme that indicates to investors exactly which section of the site they are in at all times. vivid also created a customizable homepage, allowing investors to choose the stocks and indices they prefer to see upon launch.

Soon after vivid completed the redesign project, the Discover Brokerage Direct was rated as the top overall online trading site by Barron's The Dow Jones Business and Financial Weekly. Discover Brokerage Direct has built a large and loyal user base because investors know that Discover Brokerage Direct will enable them to manage their investments in a fast, efficient and reliable manner.