Interface design for retirement planner
May 2003

Fidelity Investments wanted to design a planning tool for retirees to gauge how much money they would have during retirement. I was hired to develop the user interface.

CHALLENGE
Fidelity uses consistent style standards throughout all of their web sites. This tool needed to work within those standards as well as tie in with related print material. Also Fidelity wanted the functionality to offer users a quick estimate of projected retirement income, but also to allow planning in greater detail for people willing to invest more time.

SOLUTION
Although much of the look is drawn from the Fidelity standards, I introduced some new icons and conventions that have since been adopted more broadly. Most screens provide the choice of Quick or Full data entry paths to suppport a range of users, and interactive "What If" features allow users to see the effects of different investment decisions over long timeframes and changing market conditions.

The interface received very high marks in usability tests conducted by Fidelity research personnel.

incomeplanner.fidelity.com (Fidelity account required)