Founding designer at WalletWise, a multi-currency expense app
Sole designer on a consumer app for people who earn, spend, and think in more than one currency. Owned the product from information architecture and personas through to shipped UI and a component library from scratch.
- Client
- WalletWise — Early-stage startup
- Role
- Founding Product Designer
- Year
- 2023 — 2024
- Tools
- Figma · Miro · ClickUp · Design System
Method, insight, decision, tradeoff.
The four beats that turn a project into evidence — how I researched it, what I learned, the call I made, and the compromise I accepted to make the call.
Interviews with people already keeping multi-currency ledgers in Notes, plus a competitor task-flow map (not a UI benchmark) and two rounds of moderated usability testing.
The product wasn't a currency converter. Users kept one mental ledger with many currencies inside it — one wallet per currency broke how they already thought.
One ledger, many currencies. Reporting sits inside the product, not behind a downstream feature. Component library shipped before the flows.
IA shifted twice on test feedback rather than on stakeholder feedback. Slower to sign off, but the shipped product matched how testers reasoned about their money.
Phases, decisions, artifacts, outcomes.
The actual shape of the work — not the marketing version. Each phase lists the calls I made, what shipped, and what moved.
Discover
- Interview people who already keep multi-currency ledgers in Notes.
- Benchmark competitor task-flows, not their UI.
- Persona synthesis from workshops + interviews.
- Competitor task-flow map.
Reframed the product from "currency converter" to "multi-currency ledger."
Define
- One ledger, many currencies — not one wallet per currency.
- Reporting is the product, not a downstream feature.
- IA, data model sketch, reporting wireframes.
Committed to a single account model for the roadmap.
Design
- Ship the component library before the flows.
- Every screen renders on 320px first, then scales up.
- Component library, end-to-end app UI, usability test kit.
40% fewer steps versus competitor benchmarks in usability tests.
Test & Iterate
- IA shifted twice on test feedback, not on stakeholder feedback.
- Two usability rounds, revised IA, iteration log.
80% of testers rated the app easier than their current tools.
This case study is under NDA.
Full artefacts, research, decisions, and outcomes are available with a password. If you're a hiring team or collaborator, get in touch and I'll share access.
The product
WalletWise served people whose financial lives don't fit neatly into a single currency. Freelancers billing across borders. Families sending money home. Anyone whose Notes app had become a currency ledger.
The rest of this case study — including personas, IA, the multi-currency tracking model, and the component library that shipped alongside the app — is available under NDA. Request access above to unlock.
What's inside the full case study
- Persona synthesis from stakeholder workshops and user interviews.
- The multi-currency tracking model and reporting flows.
- The design system built from zero to support the product's roadmap.
- Usability testing that shifted the app's information architecture twice.