Designing a Flexible Mobile Banking Framework
Balancing user needs, client requirements, and platform scalability | Candescent 2026
Client:
Candescent
Category:
Systems Design, User Experience
My Role:
Product Designer
Bringing together product, design, and stakeholders to identify friction, unlock personalization, and align business goals.
I worked within a client co-creation initiative to apply the system in live contexts. I approached this using real banks, real requirements, and real feedback to validate whether it could hold up beyond concept designs.
I worked as a product designer within a client co-creation initiative led by the Chief Design Officer, focused on bringing a newly developed mobile banking design system into real-world use.
My role was to translate an abstract, agency-delivered UI system into practical applications for both existing and prospective financial institutions. This included creating tailored product mockups, participating in live client sessions, and iterating on designs based on direct feedback, and cross-referencing our own research on best practices.
I found patterns across engagements to identify where the system was effective, where it wasn't working, and how it could better support scalable customization.
My work connected client needs, sales conversations, and internal design decisions. In this project, we helped move the system from a conceptual deliverable to a usable product.
User Behavior
Signals from users and FIs running in parallel with research
Our platform is white-labeled, requiring flexibility across multiple institutions without introducing one-off design solutions. Early on, it was unclear:
How far the system could flex across different brands?
Which components would fail under real use cases?
How to present the system credibly to both existing and prospective clients?
This created tension between sales needs (customization) and product needs (consistency and scalability). Through our conversations with financial institutions and their users, as well as research and refining, we pinned these takeaways:
Speed to money is the primary user need
AI should be an unobtrusive embedded assistant, not a destination
Support and human escalation must be readily available
Customization is a business lever. Personalization is a user expectation.
"I want it to be simple. I want less."
Carla, 28
Marketing Manager
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