Redesign onboarding

Make it quicker and less scary
++ New design system

Role

Design strategist and Lead

Team

3 Designers

2 PM + 3 BA + 25 Dev + 10 QA

Timeframe

8 months

Re-Architecting at Scale

From a Multi-Day, Support-Dependent Service to a 5–10 Minute Self-Serve Experience

Scope: End-to-end onboarding service (UX, backend workflows, compliance interactions)

Team: Product, Engineering, Compliance, Risk, Customer Support, Data

Platform: Web & Mobile

Delivery Model: Discovery-led, phased transformation

Impact: Onboarding time reduced from days → minutes, while preserving regulatory rigor

AS IS

FXCM was sitting on outdated technology and needed digital transformation asap, ++ they also wanted to launch a new brand identity.

Screenshot 2026-01-13 at 12.02.43 PM.png

Backbase onboarding

183 countries and 17 languages but with broken experience and default template branding.

- The experience failed on clarity, speed, and confidence—directly impacting conversion and cost.

Latency

The legacy onboarding experience:

Took multiple days to complete
Relied heavily on customer support and manual document review and approval or rejection

Complexity Vs Trust

Created user anxiety in a trust-critical moment

Low trust in a complex KYC, compliance flow limited new customer to sign up.

TO BE

Development of the custom application which required huge back-end and integration efforts, understanding business logic and complex network of user flows, while cleaning up and reusing some of the older brand assets and parallel creating new branding.

Process

DISCOVERY

Role: Service designer

+ 8 member team

AS IS Analysis

Funnel analysis

Stakeholder shadowing

Current & Future State Architecture

Service blueprint

Pain point prioritizations

Rapid prototyping

Time line & Resource Plan

Scaled a client-owned design system, delivered 40+ demographic-specific user flows, supported Agile development through prototyping and design QA, and redesigned the product for multilingual rollout, ensuring smooth launch.

PHASE 1 + LAUNCH

Role: Lead Designer

Scaled a client-owned design system, delivered 40+ demographic-specific user flows, supported Agile development through prototyping and design QA, and redesigned the product for multilingual rollout, ensuring smooth

Scaled a client-owned design system, delivered 40+ demographic-specific user flows, supported Agile development through prototyping and design QA, and redesigned the product for multilingual rollout, ensuring smooth launch.

RESEARCH

Role: User research team + KT

Surveys and moderated sessions on UserTesting.com, shared with stakeholders to ensure insights were applied across the product. KT to team on demographic-specific flows, informed a brand-aligned UI redesign for more efficient onboarding.

PHASE 2 + MAINTENANCE

Role: Lead & Design ops

Redesigned branding and flows, which evolved into a completely new application, with Agile/Scrum processes guiding implementation across 187 countries.

Provided operational support, QA, bug fixes, maintenance, and performance.

Surveys and moderated sessions on UserTesting.com, shared with stakeholders to ensure insights were applied across the product. KT to team on demographic-specific flows, informed a brand-aligned UI redesign for more efficient onboarding.

Discovery phase focused on shared understanding across functions.

Activities

Stakeholder interviews across Product, Compliance, Risk, Engineering, and Support
Shadowing customer support handling onboarding escalations
Audits of backend workflows, decision logic, and manual handoffs
Funnel analysis and qualitative review of failed onboarding cases

Outcomes

Comprehensive “as-is” service blueprint
Exposed bottlenecks caused by manual review thresholds
Created a shared painpoint prioritisation across product and engineering
Transformation Strategy: Phased, Risk-Aware Delivery

Phase 1

Backend Enablement & UX Stabilization

Objective

Reduce operational friction and enable automation without changing the core journey.

Focus

Backend modernization to support real-time and near-real-time checks
Standardization of verification logic across identity, address, and bank data
Reduction of manual support and compliance handoffs
Tactical UX improvements to reduce confusion and obvious friction

Impact

Faster processing times
Improved data consistency
Established the technical foundation for a full journey redesign

Phase 2 - User Research

To Inform the End-to-End Journey Redesign

Methodology

User Interviews & Prototype Testing – Conducted moderated sessions with representative users completing prototype onboarding flows, capturing hesitation points, misunderstandings, and emotional responses.
Comparative Testing – Tested variations in flow sequencing, messaging, and progressive disclosure to determine optimal user experience without compromising compliance.
Synthesis & Insights – Analyzed qualitative and quantitative data to identify high-impact changes, guided decision-making on flow, copy, and interaction design.

View the detail user research process

and insights here.

Phase 2 - UX

Translation into UX Decisions

Structural sequencing: Reordered onboarding to front‑load high‑drop‑off elements where appropriate, while tailoring regionally as required.
Contextual guidance: Added inline explanations to sensitive questions to mitigate confusion and perceived judgment.
Progress communication: Redesigned progress UI to balance momentum and clarity at each stage.
Copy refinement: Shifted from compliance jargon to purpose‑first language that aligns with user mental models.

Design System Foundations

Created a scalable design system for regulated onboarding flows
Standardized patterns for validation, errors, and system states

View Noteworthy UX