Key activities & keywords
Key outcomes
Impact
Helped educate the Product Design team about real trader workflows and tooling
Provided practical insights into charting UX best practices
Influenced discussions about future charting capabilities within Refinitiv / LSEG products
Bridged the gap between design thinking and real trading behaviour
Highlighted the value of combining domain expertise with product design
to enable teams to design tools that better support real-world decision-making.
About the company
London Stock Exchange Group plc, also known as LSEG, is a global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure headquartered in London, England. The LSEG Data & Analytics Division is the rebranded name for the company Refinitiv, which it acquired in 2021. Refinitiv itself was the new name for the Financial & Risk division of Thomson Reuters after it sold that part of the business in 2018.
With over 40,000 customers and 400,000 end users across approximately 190 markets, LSEG Data & Analytics is one of the world's largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure.
LSEG Workspace
LSEG Workspace is a next-generation financial data and analytics platform developed by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), following its acquisition of Refinitiv (formerly part of Thomson Reuters). Positioned as a flagship terminal, it is the direct evolution and eventual replacement of the legacy Thomson Reuters Eikon platform.
What It Is
LSEG Workspace is a modern, cloud-powered desktop and web platform designed for financial professionals, delivering real-time market data, deep analytics, news, research, and powerful tools for workflow integration.
What It Does
- Provides access to real-time and historical data across asset classes (equities, fixed income, FX, commodities, etc.)
- Offers advanced charting, analytics, and modeling tools
- Integrates with Microsoft Excel and other tools for financial modeling
- Supports tailored views and workflows, including dashboards and watchlists
- Embeds company filings, ESG scores, broker research, and macroeconomic indicators
- Includes a developer toolkit for API and Python access to Refinitiv Data Platform (RDP)
Who It's For
- Buy-side and sell-side analysts
- Traders and portfolio managers
- Investment bankers
- Economists and research analysts
- Risk managers and compliance teams
- Wealth managers and institutional advisors
Key Features
- Customizable, role-specific workspace layouts
- Intuitive navigation and cross-application linking
- Light and dark modes
- Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, web, and some mobile support)
- Reimagined search and navigation improving discoverability and workflow fluidity
Overview
Financial charts are one of the most important tools used by traders and analysts, yet many design teams building these tools have never experienced real trading workflows first-hand.
While working at Refinitiv, I organised and delivered an internal “Show & Tell” session for the Product Design team, Product Owners, and product leadership to share UX considerations for financial charting interfaces.
Drawing on my experience as both a Product Designer and an active trader, the session provided practical insights into how traders actually analyse markets, highlighting design considerations often overlooked when building charting tools.
The session helped broaden the team's understanding of real-world trading behaviour and influenced discussions around the future direction of the company's charting capabilities across multiple products.
The Challenge
Charting tools used by financial professionals must support fast decision-making in time-sensitive environments.
However, many charting interfaces suffer from issues such as:
- cluttered visualisations caused by excessive annotations
- drawing tools buried in menus
- UI panels obscuring price movements
- poor management of chart drawings and indicators.
Without understanding how traders actually use charts, design decisions can unintentionally hinder rather than support trading workflows.
My Approach
To ground the discussion in real usage, I created a presentation that combined:
Real trading behaviour
Examples from my own trading activity demonstrating how charts are used to:
- identify support and resistance levels
- determine entry and exit points
- analyse technical indicators
- annotate charts with trend lines and Fibonacci levels
UX pain points from real usage
I demonstrated how charts can quickly become unusable when:
- too many lines and indicators accumulate
- drawing tools are difficult to manage
- interface overlays cover critical price movements
Competitive analysis
I compared charting experiences across several trading platforms including:
- IG
- eToro
- LCG Trader
This helped illustrate different approaches to:
- drawing tool access
- chart customisation
- mobile chart interactions
- alert systems
Key UX Insights
Chart customisation is essential
Traders rely on visual clarity and often personalise charts with:
- dark/light modes
- custom colours
- accessibility options such as colour-blind friendly palettes
Drawing tools must be easily accessible
Technical analysis relies heavily on chart annotations.
Drawing tools should be:
- immediately accessible
- quick to apply
- easy to remove or modify
UI must never obstruct price data
Price movements are time-sensitive.
- Pop-ups or modal windows that cover the latest candlesticks can prevent users from seeing critical market changes.
Drawing management is critical
During analysis, charts accumulate many annotations.
Useful capabilities include:
- deleting multiple drawings simultaneously
- clearing drawings by age
- managing drawings as layers
Contextual information improves analysis
Linking news headlines to chart events helps traders quickly understand why price movements occur.
Mobile charts require different UX considerations
Mobile trading introduces constraints that affect chart interaction.
- Portrait mode is useful for viewing indicators, while landscape mode provides a clearer view of price trends.
Chart customisation is essential
Traders rely on visual clarity and often personalise charts with:
- dark/light modes
- custom colours
- accessibility options such as colour-blind friendly palettes
Drawing tools must be easily accessible
Technical analysis relies heavily on chart annotations.
Drawing tools should be:
- immediately accessible
- quick to apply
- easy to remove or modify
UI must never obstruct price data
Price movements are time-sensitive.
- Pop-ups or modal windows that cover the latest candlesticks can prevent users from seeing critical market changes.
Drawing management is critical
During analysis, charts accumulate many annotations.
Useful capabilities include:
- deleting multiple drawings simultaneously
- clearing drawings by age
- managing drawings as layers
Contextual information improves analysis
Linking news headlines to chart events helps traders quickly understand why price movements occur.
Mobile charts require different UX considerations
Mobile trading introduces constraints that affect chart interaction.
- Portrait mode is useful for viewing indicators, while landscape mode provides a clearer view of price trends.
Impact
The presentation:
Helped educate the Product Design team about real trader workflows and tooling
Provided practical insights into charting UX best practices
Influenced discussions about future charting capabilities within Refinitiv / LSEG products
Bridged the gap between design thinking and real trading behaviour
Highlighted the value of combining domain expertise with product design
to enable teams to design tools that better support real-world decision-making.
Reactions
"Great presentation and very educational. Highlights things we've never considered."
— Product Design team member
"Insightful stuff. You're clearly qualified in giving this insight given your trading experience."
— Product Design team member
"Amazing trading performance stats! And accurate insights on charting UX. Nicely presented."
— Product Owner (and former institutional trader)
"We're going to have to re-think how we redo the charting capabilities."
— Product Owner
"Great presentation and very educational. Highlights things we've never considered."
— Product Design team member
"Insightful stuff. You're clearly qualified in giving this insight given your trading experience."
— Product Design team member
"Amazing trading performance stats! And accurate insights on charting UX. Nicely presented."
— Product Owner (and former institutional trader)
"We're going to have to re-think how we redo the charting capabilities."
— Product Owner
Reflection
One of the biggest takeaways from this exercise was the importance of domain expertise in designing specialised professional tools.
Financial charting is not simply a visualisation problem — it is a decision-support system used in high-stakes environments.
By grounding design conversations in real trading behaviour, the team was able to better understand how UX decisions can directly affect speed, clarity and confidence in trading decisions.
View and Download
Presentation slides
View the full slide deck presented to the Product Design team and product leadership. It includes screenshots of my trading activity shared during the session to illustrate real-world trading workflows and provide context for the insights presented from the perspective of both a Product Designer and active trader.
More Information
Hands-on trading experience
You can read about my experience with hands-on trading across all asset classes (FX, equities, commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies).
Testimonials
I have been really impressed by Yooch's personality and knowledge of Workspace customer needs and behaviours.
Yooch is one of those gifted individuals who is equally at ease in designing clear and intuitive interactions, building sophisticated responsive prototypes and communicating customer-centric solutions with stakeholders of all kinds.
Despite the aggressive deadlines and the incredible pressure put on him and the rest of our team, Yooch's dedication, calm and confident approach has been truly remarkable.
Yooch can be both a great team leader and player! I would recommend him without hesitation for any design project.
— Giorgio V. Director, Product Design.
Giorgio worked with and directly managed Yooch in the same group at London Stock Exchange Group and Refinitiv
Have had the opportunity of working with Yooch several years now.
His contribution and Design expertise have been key in driving the Product forward.
He has a wide set of Design and Financial skills; always highly collaborative with team and open with his contributions and ideas.
— Jorge S. Global Head of Product Management, Desktop Platform
Jorge was an internal client of Yooch at at London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters
During our collaborations, I was impressed by Yooch's broad design abilities, technical expertise and his focus on formulating evidence-based design solutions.
Yooch also influenced improvements to the company's product offerings through presentations attended by designers, developers and product managers.
His professionalism, expertise and people skills would make him an excellent leader for any user-centric organisation.
— Alan H. Product Manager, Design Systems | Technology Governance Specialist @ London Stock Exchange Group (formerly Refinitiv & Thomson Reuters)
Alan was an internal client of Yooch at at London Stock Exchange Group and Refinitiv
Yooch, you were called out by David R in today's Spotlight as being one of the team who helped deliver the OTC App.
David R said: "a massive thanks.....I cannot say 'Thank you' enough. We (the OTC product team) feel extremely lucky ...you and the team...saved the day."
This app provides a workflow that Bloomberg doesn't have.
Early user feedback is promising, and it looks like it will contribute to retaining existing customers and gaining new ones.
Congratulations Yooch. It's great when we get recognition and feedback from our product partners, of the work that you were involved with."
— Helen J. Director, Product Design @ London Stock Exchange Group (formerly Refinitiv & Thomson Reuters)
Helen was a manager of Yooch at London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters
Not completely sure how we will cope without you but I guess its a consolation that you get to help a new team with your unmatched design confidence... Thank you so much for everything this past year. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.
— Christiana A, Product Owner @ London Stock Exchange Group (formerly Refinitiv & Thomson Reuters)
Christiana was an internal client of Yooch at at London Stock Exchange Group and Refinitiv
It has been an education working with you. You are a veritable font, if not an absolute NIAGRA of knowledge - about design [and] trading... It's been really great working with you, and you sir are one of the reasons why I joined this place!"
— Karl S. Principal Designer / Senior Design Manager @ London Stock Exchange Group (formerly Refinitiv & Thomson Reuters)
Karl was a colleague of Yooch at at London Stock Exchange Group and Refinitiv
More testimonials
You can find 18 more testimonials from internal clients / stakeholders, product owners and product design team colleagues across Thomson Reuters, Refinitiv and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) - successive forms of the same organisation over the years - in the testimonials section.
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