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01 / Utility customer experience

Research that shaped
a shared design direction.

Comparing two concepts, improving everyday payment journeys, and supporting a Design System across app and web.

My contributionResearch Lead · Shared design leadership
ScopeApp & web
ApproachConcept evaluation & usability testing
Utility app concept comparison; edited to remove branding
Current interface and two concepts explored during research.Project screenshot edited to remove branding; some interface details may differ from the source.View full size ↗
Research in numbers

Two directions. One evidence-led decision.

≈35Research participants
2Design concepts
8Designers guided
2Customer channels

A participant view of the study

Each dot represents one participant in the approximate study count.

Age did not predict the preferred direction.

Participants over 40 also responded well to the contemporary interface with progressive disclosure. Observed task behaviour helped refine the final direction.

Participant count is approximate, based on my project recollection. Team size describes shared design leadership, not direct reports.

01 / Research

Preference and performance
answered different questions.

We evaluated two concepts with more than 30 participants using realistic payment and navigation tasks.

Concept A

Stronger visual preference

Contemporary styling and progressive disclosure.

Preferred overall
Concept B

Stronger complex-task performance

Clearer account selection and payment interactions.

Useful interaction patterns
Research-informed directionKeep the preferred foundation.
Refine the interactions.
Key insight

A preferred look was a starting point.

We combined stated preference with observed behaviour instead of treating either concept as the complete answer.

02 / Decisions

From observations
to specific improvements.

Research translated broad feedback into changes the team could act on.

What we observedDesign response

Payment hesitation

Users saw the action but paused before using it.

Design direction

Bring action and amount together

Use the clearer placement beside the balance due.

Viewing ≠ paying

Some people monitored accounts they did not pay.

Design direction

Clarify account-level choices

Make it easier to choose which account to view or pay.

Detail views felt like home

Similar layouts made users repeat steps or miss information.

Recommendation

Differentiate the journey stages

Give account details a recognisable hierarchy and context.

03 / Design System

Turn a direction into
shared working standards.

I jointly owned the direction with the Design Lead and guided eight designers in a shared reporting arrangement.

Research-informed Design System
01

Components & states

Default, focus, error, loading and empty states.

02

Semantic tokens

Purpose-based naming and implementation readiness.

03

Accessibility & content

Contrast, keyboard use, responsive layouts and long text.

04

Adoption & guidance

Usage rules, do/don’t examples, a writing playbook and training.

Standards were developed jointly. Project management maintained formal administration and final sign-off.

04 / Outcome

A supported direction.
A focused improvement agenda.

The work connected research, shared standards and implementation discussions.

What the work established

A foundation teams could use

Concept evaluation informed the direction and exposed concrete payment and navigation improvements.

Evidence boundary

Prototype findings, not conversion uplift

Later testing supported core payment tasks, while discoverability issues remained. Live adoption gains were not established.

Edited project screenshots accompany generalised diagrams of the research and design reasoning. Visuals do not imply measured production outcomes. Work was delivered collaboratively.

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