razorfishcom schwabcom

RAZORFISHRazorfish provides strategic creative and technology solutions to some

of the worldrsquos most successful digital businesses with more than 1800

employees working in offices throughout the US Europe and Asia

CHARLES SCHWAB amp COCharles Schwab amp Co Inc is a full-service financial services company

offering investment guidance trading and brokerage services and a full

range of investment and financial products

1

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

THE ARTLESS WEBSITEThe design of schwabcom proves that smart in the age

of new media is more substance than style

Design is not the first thing you think of when you enter into the

Charles Schwab website Save for a pulse-taking graph of the

latest market figures and a blue pinstriped banner at the top

the homepage of this top-rated Internet brokerage is almost

exclusively but not overwhelmingly text The banner contains

six businesslike file-tab interface links to sections on accounts

and services investments mutual funds and other similar bus-

iness headings Whatrsquos quickly communicated here is financial

information pure and simple For a company that sees its retail

investors trade over $2 billion in securities each week brainsmdash

and ease of usemdashare definitely more important than beauty

by Glen Helfand

2

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

It is perhaps just those attributes that landed the site which was designed by the Web standard-setting firm Razorfish in the Cooper-Hewitt Museumrsquos inaugural National Design Triennial Included in the exhibition next to the crisp homeyness of Martha Stewartrsquos hallmark pack-aging and page layouts Razorfishrsquos Schwab work seems jarringly tame Yet its presence in that kind of companysignals a paradigmatic shift in the way design enters into the public realm and is evaluated in a cultural moment dominated by Web commerce According to one Schwab employee the first incarna-tion of the sitemdashmostly developed in-house and launched in 1995mdashwas plain old ldquobrochure warerdquo Over the follow-ing few years it grew somewhat organically into an unwieldy patchwork of interfaces (seven separate ones) and information Efficiency clearly was being sacrificed ldquoAs we got bigger and bigger we realized our design really wasnrsquot very modular or extendablerdquo says Ilene Lederman a vice president of electronic brokerage who manages a number of website development teams ldquoWe were just sticking things in places because we didnrsquot know where else to put themrdquo This was 1997 prehistory in e-commerce terms when Razorfish was still a small office in New York and

responding to customer input and spent about six months creating a revamped site Since Schwab has in-house mar-keting and tech departments Razorfish worked primarily on developing information architecture and visual design ldquoOne of our biggest challenges was building tech-nology for the lowest common denominatorrdquo says Lederman ldquoYou often feel like yoursquore losing opportunities to do something cool and new This is especially hard for a cutting-edge design firm because they want to show new bells and whistles but they canrsquot because well wersquore Schwab The customer comes firstrdquo That idea raises a couple of design-related issues Financial customers are clearly not looking for trendy packages when dealing with their money Stability and trustworthiness are more pertinent image goals especially on a not-yet-solidified platform like the Internet From a technological standpoint the general customer would more likely have a slow modem than a T1 line so that download time would be extremely inconsistent One would think that creating something to fit those parameters generates difficult challenges especially for a young company working in Web design Whatrsquos interest-ing about Razorfishrsquos resulting product is that its sophisti-cation is not visible in the usual ways the design is more

peripheral ldquoItrsquos a different kind of adventurousrdquo says Liz Danzico a Razorfish information architecture manager for the Schwab site ldquoYoursquore constantly pushing the bound-aries of structure on a project like this While the site may look clean and simple itrsquos not a simple task for us to pro-duce It doesnrsquot involve Flash or huge graphics but itrsquos putting pieces of a puzzle together seeing how they feel and how people feel using themrdquo One of Schwabrsquos primary interests is in its perform-ance requirementsmdashthat the pages load quickly and easily This is why photographs and images are not often seen and why white space is very much in evidence Brand associations normally conveyed by different images and color treatments are replaced by streamlined content and enhanced by robust information architecture Streamlining is especially in evidence with the mod-ulated color choices The range is limited and stately and the colors are used to create hierarchies of information The site employs dark shades of blue to indicate higher levels of information lighter shades for mid-level material and pale yellow for sub-levels With nearly 5000 pages of material lucid structural threads are imperative ldquoThe color usage is very subtle but we enforce it so that people can anticipate the kinds of things theyrsquore

hardly anyone had DSL lines At the same time the whole arena of e-commerce was rapidly making leaps from spe-cialized markets to generalized ones So besides a cleaner more sophisticated interface the Schwab online business needed a more defined brand identity One of the aims according to Lederman was to portray Charles Schwab as a company on the Web ldquoWe didnrsquot want something splashy-funkyrdquo she recalls ldquoand we didnrsquot want something that read as old-fashioned banking We wanted something in-between that would evoke a new version of the companyrdquo Interestingly enough Schwab settled on Razorfish because of the companyrsquos design work not its strategy or technology expertise ldquoWe recognized that working with a design firm that hadnrsquot worked in the financial services industry would be something newrdquo admits Lederman ldquoIt was a risk that we were willing to take because we didnrsquot want to be molded into a certain boxrdquo The working relationship brought together small teams from Schwabrsquos San Francisco headquarters andRazorfishrsquos New York office The core group of producers vice presidents programmers project managers and infor-mation architects at that point numbered fewer than a dozen They discussed goals for the site took into consid-eration Schwabrsquos deep commitment to evaluating and

With nearly 5000 pages of material lucid structural threads are imperative

3

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

going to getrdquo says Danzico ldquoIronically we push consis-tency more than the Schwab people might like The site design is very structured and very predictable which is good since Schwabrsquos brand promise is to be honest secure and trustworthyrdquo Itrsquos such attributes that relate to Schwabrsquos interest in responding to its customerrsquos needs These tie in to all interactive aspects of the companyrsquos business not just the Web ldquoSince day one Schwab has been extremely cus-tomer-focusedrdquo says Lederman ldquoso we have a lot of information on demographics and customer feedbackrdquo Users often remark on how quickly they can get through to Schwab staff by telephone or in-person at a branch office (this is an arena where friendly interaction has an impact on the investorrsquos comfort level) The intro-duction of Web interaction however has altered the course of these other communication modes ldquoIt would seem like the Web would reduce the number of people you have calling but itrsquos not the caserdquo Lederman notes The types of actual conversations that reps are having with customers are more in-depth intelligent and more about planning and advicerdquo Schwab sees other sorts of potential in its site and builds in a schedule to revamp it on a two-year

cycle ldquoTechnology changes and allows you to do more thingsrdquo Lederman says ldquoIdeas you had three years ago but the tech didnrsquot exist now you can implement so you need to redesign for thatrdquo Razorfish continues to work on and oversee the development of the site ldquoIn this industry there arenrsquot many relationships between companies like Schwab and Razorfish that have lasted this longrdquo Danzico explains Ironically in just three years of partnership the pair has also become a model for managing a long-term long-distance business relationship ldquoOther newer and international clients come to the Schwab team and ask what kinds of problems and issues theyrsquove run intordquo says Danzico Within the business itself the partner-ship has achieved case-study status These other clients may also inquire after the secret of the Schwab sitersquos success Danzico suggests that bit of information rests in schwabcomrsquos modernist impulse to give its public something thatrsquos elegantly utilitarian ldquoItrsquos a site built by and for the people who are using itrdquo she says They want it to be fast reliable convenient and consis-tent and thatrsquos what it is The people who have been going there for years are really just getting what they need Itrsquos as simple as thatrdquo

U N D E R S TA N D I N G I N F O R M AT I O N A R C H I T E C T U R E

When a website is really an applicationmdashor in the case of schwabcom a series of transactional toolsmdashgood design can be measured in clarity usefulness organization and usability When creating the navigation of any websitersquos information architecture designers prioritize utility and usability over high-tech tricks and graphical bells and whistles that a wide audience might not be able to access With Schwab Razorfish first focused on the overall brand identity (the name logo color palette etc) of the site moving from SchwabNow to Charles Schwab They then tackled other elements of the user experience including structure and navigation The team replaced seven navigation systems with a single one offering similar function-ality on both the public site and the customer site Today one of the basic objectives in maintaining the Schwab brand is to establish con-sistency across schwabcom This objective requires coordination across sections to maintain a consistent creative direction tone and voice In addition Razorfishrsquos information architects focus on

Bringing interactive value-added content to relevant places in the user experience

Categorizing similar messages about products and services into easily managed content modules

Acknowledging Schwabrsquos audience segments to prove that Schwab can meet investorsrsquo needs as they grow and change

4

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

bull

bull

bull

aigaorg sapientcom 5

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

Volume 1 number 1 2000Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy is published two times a year by AIGA 164 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 212 807 1990

Editorial comments editoraigaorg

Copyright 2000 American Institute of Graphic Arts

Editor David R BrownPublisher Richard GrefeacuteEditorial director Andrea CodringtonDesign Sapient

AIGA Board of Directors

President Michael Bierut

Executive director Richard Grefeacute

Secretarytreasurer Beth Singer

Directors Bart Crosby Marc English Peter Girardi Bill Grant Eric Madsen John Maeda Clement Mok Jennifer Morla Emily Oberman Mary Scott Sam Shelton Thomas Suiter and Petrula Vrontikis

Presidents emeriti Lucille Tenazas and William Drenttel

presented by

Author biography

Glen Helfand is a freelance writer critic and curator His writing on art

culture design and technology has appeared in Art amp Auction arttext Nest Limn Wired the San Francisco Bay Guardian and many other

publications His most recent curatorial project ldquoMuseum Piecesrdquo

opened at San Franciscorsquos de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park

in fall 1999

It is perhaps just those attributes that landed the site which was designed by the Web standard-setting firm Razorfish in the Cooper-Hewitt Museumrsquos inaugural National Design Triennial Included in the exhibition next to the crisp homeyness of Martha Stewartrsquos hallmark pack-aging and page layouts Razorfishrsquos Schwab work seems jarringly tame Yet its presence in that kind of companysignals a paradigmatic shift in the way design enters into the public realm and is evaluated in a cultural moment dominated by Web commerce According to one Schwab employee the first incarna-tion of the sitemdashmostly developed in-house and launched in 1995mdashwas plain old ldquobrochure warerdquo Over the follow-ing few years it grew somewhat organically into an unwieldy patchwork of interfaces (seven separate ones) and information Efficiency clearly was being sacrificed ldquoAs we got bigger and bigger we realized our design really wasnrsquot very modular or extendablerdquo says Ilene Lederman a vice president of electronic brokerage who manages a number of website development teams ldquoWe were just sticking things in places because we didnrsquot know where else to put themrdquo This was 1997 prehistory in e-commerce terms when Razorfish was still a small office in New York and

responding to customer input and spent about six months creating a revamped site Since Schwab has in-house mar-keting and tech departments Razorfish worked primarily on developing information architecture and visual design ldquoOne of our biggest challenges was building tech-nology for the lowest common denominatorrdquo says Lederman ldquoYou often feel like yoursquore losing opportunities to do something cool and new This is especially hard for a cutting-edge design firm because they want to show new bells and whistles but they canrsquot because well wersquore Schwab The customer comes firstrdquo That idea raises a couple of design-related issues Financial customers are clearly not looking for trendy packages when dealing with their money Stability and trustworthiness are more pertinent image goals especially on a not-yet-solidified platform like the Internet From a technological standpoint the general customer would more likely have a slow modem than a T1 line so that download time would be extremely inconsistent One would think that creating something to fit those parameters generates difficult challenges especially for a young company working in Web design Whatrsquos interest-ing about Razorfishrsquos resulting product is that its sophisti-cation is not visible in the usual ways the design is more

peripheral ldquoItrsquos a different kind of adventurousrdquo says Liz Danzico a Razorfish information architecture manager for the Schwab site ldquoYoursquore constantly pushing the bound-aries of structure on a project like this While the site may look clean and simple itrsquos not a simple task for us to pro-duce It doesnrsquot involve Flash or huge graphics but itrsquos putting pieces of a puzzle together seeing how they feel and how people feel using themrdquo One of Schwabrsquos primary interests is in its perform-ance requirementsmdashthat the pages load quickly and easily This is why photographs and images are not often seen and why white space is very much in evidence Brand associations normally conveyed by different images and color treatments are replaced by streamlined content and enhanced by robust information architecture Streamlining is especially in evidence with the mod-ulated color choices The range is limited and stately and the colors are used to create hierarchies of information The site employs dark shades of blue to indicate higher levels of information lighter shades for mid-level material and pale yellow for sub-levels With nearly 5000 pages of material lucid structural threads are imperative ldquoThe color usage is very subtle but we enforce it so that people can anticipate the kinds of things theyrsquore

hardly anyone had DSL lines At the same time the whole arena of e-commerce was rapidly making leaps from spe-cialized markets to generalized ones So besides a cleaner more sophisticated interface the Schwab online business needed a more defined brand identity One of the aims according to Lederman was to portray Charles Schwab as a company on the Web ldquoWe didnrsquot want something splashy-funkyrdquo she recalls ldquoand we didnrsquot want something that read as old-fashioned banking We wanted something in-between that would evoke a new version of the companyrdquo Interestingly enough Schwab settled on Razorfish because of the companyrsquos design work not its strategy or technology expertise ldquoWe recognized that working with a design firm that hadnrsquot worked in the financial services industry would be something newrdquo admits Lederman ldquoIt was a risk that we were willing to take because we didnrsquot want to be molded into a certain boxrdquo The working relationship brought together small teams from Schwabrsquos San Francisco headquarters andRazorfishrsquos New York office The core group of producers vice presidents programmers project managers and infor-mation architects at that point numbered fewer than a dozen They discussed goals for the site took into consid-eration Schwabrsquos deep commitment to evaluating and

With nearly 5000 pages of material lucid structural threads are imperative

3

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

going to getrdquo says Danzico ldquoIronically we push consis-tency more than the Schwab people might like The site design is very structured and very predictable which is good since Schwabrsquos brand promise is to be honest secure and trustworthyrdquo Itrsquos such attributes that relate to Schwabrsquos interest in responding to its customerrsquos needs These tie in to all interactive aspects of the companyrsquos business not just the Web ldquoSince day one Schwab has been extremely cus-tomer-focusedrdquo says Lederman ldquoso we have a lot of information on demographics and customer feedbackrdquo Users often remark on how quickly they can get through to Schwab staff by telephone or in-person at a branch office (this is an arena where friendly interaction has an impact on the investorrsquos comfort level) The intro-duction of Web interaction however has altered the course of these other communication modes ldquoIt would seem like the Web would reduce the number of people you have calling but itrsquos not the caserdquo Lederman notes The types of actual conversations that reps are having with customers are more in-depth intelligent and more about planning and advicerdquo Schwab sees other sorts of potential in its site and builds in a schedule to revamp it on a two-year

cycle ldquoTechnology changes and allows you to do more thingsrdquo Lederman says ldquoIdeas you had three years ago but the tech didnrsquot exist now you can implement so you need to redesign for thatrdquo Razorfish continues to work on and oversee the development of the site ldquoIn this industry there arenrsquot many relationships between companies like Schwab and Razorfish that have lasted this longrdquo Danzico explains Ironically in just three years of partnership the pair has also become a model for managing a long-term long-distance business relationship ldquoOther newer and international clients come to the Schwab team and ask what kinds of problems and issues theyrsquove run intordquo says Danzico Within the business itself the partner-ship has achieved case-study status These other clients may also inquire after the secret of the Schwab sitersquos success Danzico suggests that bit of information rests in schwabcomrsquos modernist impulse to give its public something thatrsquos elegantly utilitarian ldquoItrsquos a site built by and for the people who are using itrdquo she says They want it to be fast reliable convenient and consis-tent and thatrsquos what it is The people who have been going there for years are really just getting what they need Itrsquos as simple as thatrdquo

U N D E R S TA N D I N G I N F O R M AT I O N A R C H I T E C T U R E

When a website is really an applicationmdashor in the case of schwabcom a series of transactional toolsmdashgood design can be measured in clarity usefulness organization and usability When creating the navigation of any websitersquos information architecture designers prioritize utility and usability over high-tech tricks and graphical bells and whistles that a wide audience might not be able to access With Schwab Razorfish first focused on the overall brand identity (the name logo color palette etc) of the site moving from SchwabNow to Charles Schwab They then tackled other elements of the user experience including structure and navigation The team replaced seven navigation systems with a single one offering similar function-ality on both the public site and the customer site Today one of the basic objectives in maintaining the Schwab brand is to establish con-sistency across schwabcom This objective requires coordination across sections to maintain a consistent creative direction tone and voice In addition Razorfishrsquos information architects focus on

Bringing interactive value-added content to relevant places in the user experience

Categorizing similar messages about products and services into easily managed content modules

Acknowledging Schwabrsquos audience segments to prove that Schwab can meet investorsrsquo needs as they grow and change

4

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

bull

bull

bull

aigaorg sapientcom 5

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

Volume 1 number 1 2000Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy is published two times a year by AIGA 164 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 212 807 1990

Editorial comments editoraigaorg

Copyright 2000 American Institute of Graphic Arts

Editor David R BrownPublisher Richard GrefeacuteEditorial director Andrea CodringtonDesign Sapient

AIGA Board of Directors

President Michael Bierut

Executive director Richard Grefeacute

Secretarytreasurer Beth Singer

Directors Bart Crosby Marc English Peter Girardi Bill Grant Eric Madsen John Maeda Clement Mok Jennifer Morla Emily Oberman Mary Scott Sam Shelton Thomas Suiter and Petrula Vrontikis

Presidents emeriti Lucille Tenazas and William Drenttel

presented by

Author biography

Glen Helfand is a freelance writer critic and curator His writing on art

culture design and technology has appeared in Art amp Auction arttext Nest Limn Wired the San Francisco Bay Guardian and many other

publications His most recent curatorial project ldquoMuseum Piecesrdquo

opened at San Franciscorsquos de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park

in fall 1999

going to getrdquo says Danzico ldquoIronically we push consis-tency more than the Schwab people might like The site design is very structured and very predictable which is good since Schwabrsquos brand promise is to be honest secure and trustworthyrdquo Itrsquos such attributes that relate to Schwabrsquos interest in responding to its customerrsquos needs These tie in to all interactive aspects of the companyrsquos business not just the Web ldquoSince day one Schwab has been extremely cus-tomer-focusedrdquo says Lederman ldquoso we have a lot of information on demographics and customer feedbackrdquo Users often remark on how quickly they can get through to Schwab staff by telephone or in-person at a branch office (this is an arena where friendly interaction has an impact on the investorrsquos comfort level) The intro-duction of Web interaction however has altered the course of these other communication modes ldquoIt would seem like the Web would reduce the number of people you have calling but itrsquos not the caserdquo Lederman notes The types of actual conversations that reps are having with customers are more in-depth intelligent and more about planning and advicerdquo Schwab sees other sorts of potential in its site and builds in a schedule to revamp it on a two-year

cycle ldquoTechnology changes and allows you to do more thingsrdquo Lederman says ldquoIdeas you had three years ago but the tech didnrsquot exist now you can implement so you need to redesign for thatrdquo Razorfish continues to work on and oversee the development of the site ldquoIn this industry there arenrsquot many relationships between companies like Schwab and Razorfish that have lasted this longrdquo Danzico explains Ironically in just three years of partnership the pair has also become a model for managing a long-term long-distance business relationship ldquoOther newer and international clients come to the Schwab team and ask what kinds of problems and issues theyrsquove run intordquo says Danzico Within the business itself the partner-ship has achieved case-study status These other clients may also inquire after the secret of the Schwab sitersquos success Danzico suggests that bit of information rests in schwabcomrsquos modernist impulse to give its public something thatrsquos elegantly utilitarian ldquoItrsquos a site built by and for the people who are using itrdquo she says They want it to be fast reliable convenient and consis-tent and thatrsquos what it is The people who have been going there for years are really just getting what they need Itrsquos as simple as thatrdquo

U N D E R S TA N D I N G I N F O R M AT I O N A R C H I T E C T U R E

When a website is really an applicationmdashor in the case of schwabcom a series of transactional toolsmdashgood design can be measured in clarity usefulness organization and usability When creating the navigation of any websitersquos information architecture designers prioritize utility and usability over high-tech tricks and graphical bells and whistles that a wide audience might not be able to access With Schwab Razorfish first focused on the overall brand identity (the name logo color palette etc) of the site moving from SchwabNow to Charles Schwab They then tackled other elements of the user experience including structure and navigation The team replaced seven navigation systems with a single one offering similar function-ality on both the public site and the customer site Today one of the basic objectives in maintaining the Schwab brand is to establish con-sistency across schwabcom This objective requires coordination across sections to maintain a consistent creative direction tone and voice In addition Razorfishrsquos information architects focus on

Bringing interactive value-added content to relevant places in the user experience

Categorizing similar messages about products and services into easily managed content modules

Acknowledging Schwabrsquos audience segments to prove that Schwab can meet investorsrsquo needs as they grow and change

4

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

bull

bull

bull

aigaorg sapientcom 5

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

Volume 1 number 1 2000Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy is published two times a year by AIGA 164 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 212 807 1990

Editorial comments editoraigaorg

Copyright 2000 American Institute of Graphic Arts

Editor David R BrownPublisher Richard GrefeacuteEditorial director Andrea CodringtonDesign Sapient

AIGA Board of Directors

President Michael Bierut

Executive director Richard Grefeacute

Secretarytreasurer Beth Singer

Directors Bart Crosby Marc English Peter Girardi Bill Grant Eric Madsen John Maeda Clement Mok Jennifer Morla Emily Oberman Mary Scott Sam Shelton Thomas Suiter and Petrula Vrontikis

Presidents emeriti Lucille Tenazas and William Drenttel

presented by

Author biography

Glen Helfand is a freelance writer critic and curator His writing on art

culture design and technology has appeared in Art amp Auction arttext Nest Limn Wired the San Francisco Bay Guardian and many other

publications His most recent curatorial project ldquoMuseum Piecesrdquo

opened at San Franciscorsquos de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park

in fall 1999

aigaorg sapientcom 5

Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy | Volume 1 number1

Case study THE ARTLESS WEBSITE schwabcom

Volume 1 number 1 2000Gain AIGA Journal of Design for the Network Economy is published two times a year by AIGA 164 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 212 807 1990

Editorial comments editoraigaorg

Copyright 2000 American Institute of Graphic Arts

Editor David R BrownPublisher Richard GrefeacuteEditorial director Andrea CodringtonDesign Sapient

AIGA Board of Directors

President Michael Bierut

Executive director Richard Grefeacute

Secretarytreasurer Beth Singer

Directors Bart Crosby Marc English Peter Girardi Bill Grant Eric Madsen John Maeda Clement Mok Jennifer Morla Emily Oberman Mary Scott Sam Shelton Thomas Suiter and Petrula Vrontikis

Presidents emeriti Lucille Tenazas and William Drenttel

presented by

Author biography

Glen Helfand is a freelance writer critic and curator His writing on art

culture design and technology has appeared in Art amp Auction arttext Nest Limn Wired the San Francisco Bay Guardian and many other

publications His most recent curatorial project ldquoMuseum Piecesrdquo

opened at San Franciscorsquos de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park

in fall 1999