The CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research) publishes a wide range of books, journals, conference proceedings, and industry-focused research. The institute’s online bookstore is its main Web-based venue for purchasing CFA Institute publications. As it implemented a new back-end e-commerce application, the institute asked Dynamic Diagrams to improve the bookstore's user experience and visual design.

Improving the store’s user experience was not only a matter of simplifying the shopping process and making it aesthetically pleasing, but also accommodating the needs and priorities of three types of customers: those fulfilling CFA program requirements (CFA candidates), those eligible for a discount upon login (candidates and members), and those with only occasional interest (other individuals in financial sector and the general public).

To improve the store, we needed to better understand the existing shopping process. In addition to the gathering of stakeholder and user requirements, our analysis phase included a usability study of the store's extisting interface. From these activities we developed a list of recommended improvements and created a visual diagram for a more efficient e-commerce process. A key addition to the store's architecture was an area focused on CFA Curriculum Materials, where CFA candidates could easily view a list of required readings and purchase a complete curriculum package in a single transaction.

Base on our recommendations, we designed and built a Web-based prototype of the store that we tested with CFA Institute members. Results from the testing helped us to fine-tune the new design to create a much more usable site. As the project's technical vendor integrated our designs into their e-commerce platform, we supported the process with style guidelines, sample HTML code, and a number of minor adjustments to bookstore features that helped streamline the project to completion.

 See the CFA Institute Bookstore.