Novo set out to build business banking for US small businesses. I was the first designer, so the mobile app, the web app and the internal admin tools all started as blank files on my screen.
Opening and running a US business account meant a branch visit, a stack of paperwork and bank jargon. Small business owners live on their phones.
First designer. Mobile, web and admin from zero, then the design system across five surfaces, then the team.
A category-defining fintech on one system across five surfaces, with funnels that fed activation.
Schematic screens, not screenshots. The real ones are in the full case study.
Opening a business account in the US used to mean a branch visit, a stack of documents and a wait. Novo wanted the whole thing to happen on a phone, with the day-to-day of running the account designed around how owners actually work: fast, on the move, and allergic to bank jargon.
Each flow was tested with business owners before it shipped. Onboarding and KYC got the most rounds, because that is where a new bank loses people. What the tests kept showing was the same thing: fewer decisions per step, plain language for every bank term, and progress you can see.
Simplified the workflows that usually make banking painful: onboarding and KYC, transfers, card controls, integrations and statements. Each one got fewer steps and clearer decisions, and each was tested with real business owners before it shipped.
Then I architected the design system across iOS, Android, web, the marketing site and admin, with the component library and documentation that let design and engineering scale without drift. It started as a way to keep myself consistent and grew into the thing that let a bigger team move fast.
The system started as a way to keep one designer consistent. It became the thing that let the whole team move fast.
A fully remote team across the US, Europe and Asia, with product and engineering in New York. As the team grew I moved into leading design, mentoring on hierarchy, spacing and interaction patterns, and I still reviewed every screen before it shipped. I also contributed to product planning and company-wide OKRs.
Novo grew from an idea into a category-defining fintech. The onboarding funnels and landing pages I designed became a steady source of lead generation and activation.
add yoursWhat the months after launch looked like: adoption, what the team kept, what was cut, and the follow-up work it led to. Two or three sentences are enough.
add yoursReviewers trust a case study more when it admits a misstep. Name one call that did not land, what it cost, and what you do differently now because of it.
Onboarding that leaks customers. An operations queue that still runs on phone calls. A design team that needs a lead. Tell me which one, and I’ll bring design, AI and twelve years of taking flows like that end to end.
Thirty minutes to start. You describe the product and what is slowing it down. I tell you honestly whether I’m the right person for it, and if not, who might be.