Susmita Biswas
Banking
Design System
Product Design
Mobile App
The experience covered key journeys such as logging in, checking balances, transferring money, paying bills, viewing statements, managing cards, exploring loans, creating budgets, and getting support through a chat assistant.
The overall goal was to create a modern banking experience that felt trustworthy, clear, and easy to use, while also supporting the bank’s wider business needs.
Client:
Techurate
My Role:
User Experience, User Interface, Prototyping, Interaction
Tools:
Figma, Miro, Agile Method
Timeline:
48 Weeks
The KPI
The main KPIs for this project were focused on both user experience and business value:
Increase completion rate for key banking actions such as transfers, bill payments, and statement checks
Reduce user drop-off during login and payment flows
Improve engagement with additional services like budgeting, loans, and card management
Encourage users to use self-service features instead of contacting support for simple tasks
Create better visibility for promotions and offers on the home screen
The Ask
Cross Platform Devices
Provides a unified view of patient data from various devices, enhancing quick decision-making.
Real-Time Monitoring
Enables continuous monitoring of critical vital signs, allowing immediate response to patient changes.
Data Analysis & Visualisation
Utilises advanced tools to analyse and visualise data trends, alarms, and events for better clinical decisions.
System Integration
Seamlessly integrates with other hospital systems like EMR, LIS, and RIS for a holistic patient overview.
Alarm Management
Features advanced alarm management to reduce clinician fatigue, customisable to patient needs.
Who
Everyday mobile banking users
What
Simple all-in-one banking app
Why
Make banking easy and clear
How
User-first flows and clean UI
The Challanges
Designing a banking app always comes with a few important challenges.
First, there was a lot of information to manage. Banking apps carry balances, accounts, payments, cards, statements, loans and more, so the experience could easily become crowded.
Second, some tasks were sensitive and needed extra clarity. For example, sending money, saving beneficiary details, checking deposit information or viewing account activity all need strong user confidence.
Third, the app had to feel useful for different kinds of users. Some people want quick actions, while others want help understanding their spending, savings or statements.
Lastly, the product had to balance function and trust. It needed to look modern and engaging without feeling too playful for a financial service.
Design Process
1
Discovery & Research
Interviews with 20 existing bank customers across Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. We mapped pain points: long queues, confusing USSD menus, fear of making transfer errors. These became our design targets.
2
Information Architecture
We ran card sorting sessions to understand how users mentally grouped banking tasks. The result was a four-tab structure — Dashboard, Portfolio, Statement, Services — that matched real-world mental models.
3
Low-fi Wireframes
Rough sketches first, always. We tested navigation patterns with paper prototypes before committing to a single pixel in Figma. This saved us from two bad ideas early on.
4
Visual Design & Prototyping
We built a full design system first — colour tokens, typography scale, component library — then assembled screens from components rather than designing each one from scratch. Consistency by default.
5
Usability Testing
Three rounds of testing with real users. We watched people try to send money, apply for a loan, and set a budget. Every moment of hesitation became a design fix.
Flows
Design System
We built a shared component library in Figma before designing a single screen. It meant the whole app felt like it came from the same place — because it did.
Output
The final output was a complete mobile banking UI concept with a wide range of connected screens and journeys,
The final design aimed to make the app feel modern, calm and organised, while still supporting a rich set of banking features.
Impact
Learnings
Start with the error states: We left error handling too late in the process. When a transfer fails or a login is wrong, that's the moment users judge the entire app. Design those moments first, not last.
Accessibility needs a champion from day one: Contrast ratios and touch target sizes became a scramble near the end. Next time, these are baked in from the first wireframe — not retrofitted before handoff.
Fewer features, better executed: We shipped 15+ services. A few of them — like the referral banner and cash-out flow — felt rushed. Cutting scope earlier would have meant more polish on the things that actually matter most to users daily.
Test on real devices in context: Usability tests on a laptop with a prototype don't quite replicate someone checking their balance on a crowded matatu with bright sunlight on the screen. We need field testing, not just lab testing.
The AI assistant needs guardrails, not just answers: The chatbot gave good generic advice, but occasionally veered into responses that didn't fit the bank's specific policies. Content governance needs to be part of the AI design brief, not an afterthought.
