Bank of Hawaii
Finding Branches Made Easy
At a Glance
The branch locator is a high-traffic tool for customers searching for branches and ATMs. Despite its importance, it faced usability issues such as unclear icons, low visibility of the “Use My Location” feature, limited filter options, and inconsistent design elements. This project aimed to enhance the existing design while incorporating Allpoint® ATMs into the locator as part of Bank of Hawaii’s new partnership with the network.
Project Type
Internship
Timeline
June 2025 - Aug. 2025
Tools
Figma, Hotjar
Team
Brian Craven, Project Manager
Darren Matsuda, UX Designer
Alexander Wright, Content Specialist
01. Research & Analysis
Heuristic Evaluation
I first started by documenting my initial impressions of the locator, looking at clarity, layout, and how easy it was to understand key actions and elements. Some issues that stood out were the oversized and inconsistent UI, and the fact that the “Use My Location” button was hard to spot.
Secondary Research
I then looked into whether there was any existing research on locators in general. I came across an NN/g article that explained how successfully using a locator involves three steps: visiting the locator, finding the desired location, and getting directions. Step 2—identifying a suitable location—is where most usability issues happen, often because locators are either overly complex or too simplified. Another common issue noted was that the “Use My Location” button is sometimes too hidden or missing entirely—which was exactly the problem we had.
Source: Nielsen Norman Group
Competitive Analysis
After some preliminary research, I analyzed the locators of three local banks and one major U.S. bank to spot strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. I found that one key feature our locator lacked—compared to competitors—was an explicit link for holiday hours, as well as details on specific banking services like notary. I also noticed that we didn’t have dedicated branch pages.
Hotjar Insights
I then checked our Hotjar data and didn’t find any pressing issues, like rage clicks in a specific area. However, I did notice that most users were looking for open branches but rarely used the “Use My Location” button. This could be because they were already relying on cookies, or they simply didn’t notice the button.
Most people are primarily looking for open branches by unchecking the ATM box. "Use my location" is not used as much.
Refining Current Filters
Once I gathered my initial findings, my team and I shifted our focus to refining the existing filter list to improve the locator’s usability. I conducted a competitive analysis of local competitors and major U.S. banks to identify common filter patterns. From there, we determined which services were available at all Bank of Hawaii branches, narrowed the list to branch-specific services, and confirmed everything with the Branch team to ensure accuracy.
Bottom contains evergreen filters with top containing branch-specific filters.
02 Design
Design Explorations
As part of our design exploration, we created mid-fidelity wireframes to map out and refine layout and user flow ideas before moving into high-fidelity design. From the three concepts, we selected one direction and further refined it in preparation for user testing.
User Testing & Changes
Because of my internship’s time constraints, I was only able to observe the initial round of user testing with 10 participants from different age groups. Still, I was able to make significant changes based on their feedback before the next round of testing. Here are the changes I made:
Unified Service Filters
Users expected to find certain services under the ‘Services’ filter but were momentarily confused when they didn’t see them. To reduce friction and improve discoverability, we consolidated the two.
ATM Icon and Map Cartography
Users had difficulty recognizing the card icon as representing an ATM.
Additionally, when the map was populated with cartographic details, the icons for branches and ATMs appeared nearly identical, making it challenging to distinguish between the two.
Increased Checkbox & Current Location Clarity
Updated the color contrast and font size to improve visibility of Branch and ATMs checkbox. Gave current location a text treatment so it’s less confusing.
Final Designs & Recap
