Design Language and System Redesign
Overview
At Varo Bank, I led a redesign effort that involved both the product design team and marketing teams. Our two teams co-created a new design language and system influenced by Varo's unique customer base.
Role
UX
UI
Team Building
Workshopping
Prototyping
Goals
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Background
In my initial months at Varo, my focus was on discovering new features and services that expand Varo’s product range and benefit both customers and the business.
Design from marketing team [better title needed]
A few months into my time there, the head of product design pulled me into a meeting to share news about a rebranding effort Varo's marketing team was spearheading. A large part of the rebrand effort was to update the app and feel beyond the standard Google Material solutions Varo currently used for components, typography, and interactions to better reflect emerging design trends and the lives of our diverse customer base. At this point, designs had preliminary approval and the marketing team had engineering slated to start building in two weeks.
Although the rebrand was a surprise, it was exciting that the bank had an appetite to rethink and restyle our end-to-end experiences. The head of design and I evaluated the proposal through a product design lens. While the designs served as an inspirational vision state for what Varo digital experiences could be, we identified several areas for improvement across interaction, scalability, and accessibility.
Excellerated timeline (better title needed)
We realized that any changes to the slated redesign needed to happen on a highly accelerated timeline, with directional approval locked in five to six business days.
I immediately reached out to the head of marketing to understand the rebranding effort better. I aimed to learn what led to prioritizing a redesign, what influenced and guided their approach, and any challenges they had faced during their redesign effort.
I then pulled together a proposal on how our product design team could enhance emotional affinity, general usability, accessibility and pattern scalability, as well as a more cohesive cross-team working dynamic.
Assembling a product design team (better title needed)
With leadership support, I assembled a small team of designers to rapidly explore, iterate, and propose experience improvements that elevate our brand while still honoring the marketing team's work to date.
I had the team spend our first day finding inspiration and evaluating the degree to which it aligns with the marketing team's approach. To begin day two, we discussed which findings resonated and why, as well as how these inspirations would guide our explorations and decision criteria. Each designer then explored short and long-term solutions, considering current capabilities and customer preferences. We prioritized designs that considered current engineering capabilities, resonated with customers, unlocked future enhancements through thoughtful IA choices, and naturally elevated the Varo brand.
