18 months with ABC Bourse. A 17% boost in visits. Here's the full story.

ABC Bourse is a trading news website with 10,000 simultaneous users and one of the most trusted sources of trading news in France. 2 million monthly visits, and users who have been on the site for 15+ years.

Now - I dare you to change something.

The investigation was done, the research was in, and the final word of the loyal users was crystal clear: do not change anything. It is good as it is.

Loyal users will not like it at first, that's for sure. But on second look?

The gig

When redesigning a user interface, the best you can usually hope for is that people adjust. But the website needed a refresh - it had to become attractive for younger users. And that was the gig: make it appealing for Gen Z, but don't disrupt the flow that loyal users got used to over two decades. Don't make it too different, but change it.

Easy? Hell no.

And still, we hopped in.

Stepping into someone else's shoes (and someone else's creation)

The team was composed of designers who had to step into the shoes of experienced traders twice their age - and change an interface while constantly being reminded that no one wants their changes.

To make it even more interesting: our client was the creator of ABC Bourse himself. We weren't just redesigning a website. We were changing his own creation - fixing what he had built and loved for years. Imagine someone walking into your home and rearranging the furniture you picked out piece by piece.

The luck that keeps following us here at Bild came through once again: a client who listens and genuinely wants to hear our ideas. That changes everything. Instead of defending every pixel, we were building on each other's thinking.

Building the bridge

We adapted the visual identity to make a bridge between the loyal users and the younger audience. Not a compromise - a bridge. The information density traders rely on stayed. The dated look that scared off newcomers didn't.

The change boosted visits by 17%, with significant traction among young traders. And the game has just begun.

The words that mattered

The client's words were our wind at the back and the first sign we did a good job:

"We were operating as a team, hearing each other's ideas and improving them. The special challenge was letting someone new change your creation - but the knowledge and reasoning the Bild team brought was persuasive."

But what really showed us we did a good job were the loyal users. We were expecting a slow, grudging adjustment to the new interface. Instead, we got this:

"I was suspicious. I hated it before I even saw it. But when I gave it a chance - I loved it at first sight."

And keep in mind: these words came from someone who had been using the platform for 20+ years.

The takeaway

Listen to your users, kids. Especially the loyal ones. Even when they say "don't change anything" - what they really mean is "don't break what I love." Those are two very different briefs.

Kudos.