pronouns

Services

Content Strategy, Customer Research, Content Design, Microcopy, Content Repository, Accessibility, Localization

Background

Empower customers to add and display their pronouns across TD applications. This would allow both customers and employees to represent their authentic selves and eliminate misgendering.

Strategy

Be part of an inclusive and sensitive customer-focused design process. We interacted with people across the gender spectrum to understand their needs. We worked with diverse teams to understand the right content. We created prototypes with well-researched content to measure the reaction of our customers. It was important for us to use the right words considering TD’s reputation as an institution.

Clear Expectation-Setting Content

We used simple and neutral language to inform our customers about the benefit of setting pronouns with the header, ‘What should we call you?’ The usage of ‘Gender Identity’ versus simply ‘Gender’ was a careful decision that we arrived at after months of deliberation.

Power of Choice

We wanted customers to be able to express themselves without being shackled. We added ‘Leave Blank’ to emancipate them from making a definitive choice.

key Preferences

We gave customers the option to select a preferred name so that the bank could use it to address them each time they called/visited/used any service. This preferred name was different from ‘Legal Name’ which was the name on all their official documents.

Hint, Hint

We included hint text for bits of the flow where we thought customers might get confused with what’s required.

impact

We spoke to a bunch of customers across the gender spectrum before launching the feature. They were elated and relieved that a bank of this size had decided to include pronouns on the app at such a visible level. My biggest takeaway was that I was part of a project that had a meaningful impact on the lives of people.