Portfolio
Case Studies
CASE Study 1
Simplifying Advanced Search with Selection Sets – College Board
Project Overview
Problem
PowerFAIDS users (primarily financial aid administrators) relied heavily on advanced search to group, analyze, and take action on subsets of student data. The existing “Selection Sets” tool:
- Had a steep learning curve
- Included overly technical terminology
- Lacked visibility into saved searches or conditions applied
Goal
Redesign “Selection Sets” to:
- Make building and managing advanced filters intuitive
- Reduce time to create and reuse saved sets
- Ensure alignment with accessibility and performance standards
Process
1. Discovery
- Interviewed 10+ financial aid users across different institution types
- Mapped out current workflows and pain points related to search logic, conditions, and saved queries
2. Design Exploration
- Created task-based user flows for key use cases (e.g., “Find all students eligible for X aid but missing Y docs”)
- Introduced visual filter-building patterns (chips, conditions, and grouped logic)
- Added a real-time preview of matching results
3. Testing & Iteration
- Conducted usability testing on low- and mid-fidelity prototypes
- Refined language (e.g., “Selection Set” → “Saved Search Criteria”)
- Simplified multi-layered condition builder into a wizard-style flow
4. Handoff & Integration
- Delivered annotated designs and edge cases via Figma
- Collaborated with dev team to ensure the UI used existing design system components
Impact
- Reduced setup time for new saved sets by 50%
- Increased discoverability and reuse of saved searches
- Improved comprehension of search logic by 60% in usability testing
- Created a reusable advanced filter pattern now adopted in 3 other modules
Takeaway
Advanced search UX doesn’t have to be intimidating. By grounding the interaction in user language and providing visual feedback and reuse options, we made PowerFAIDS more powerful—and more human.
CASE Study 2 – GEN AI
Designing a Co-Pilot for Financial Aid Officers
Project Overview
Problem
Financial aid officers manage thousands of student cases governed by complex rules and documentation. Navigating this complexity through static tools resulted in:
- High onboarding time
- Inconsistent interpretation of policy
- User fatigue during peak processing seasons
Goal
Design a GenAI-powered assistant that supports officers by:
- Summarizing student financial aid data
- Recommending next best actions
- Generating plain-language policy explanations
- Reducing task-switching and decision friction
Process
1. Discovery & Research
- Interviewed 12 financial aid officers
- Identified key pain points: dispersed data, ambiguous federal rules, manual navigation
2. Prompt Engineering & UX Mapping
- Partnered with ML engineers to shape prompt structures
- Designed conversational UI and user feedback mechanisms
3. Prototyping & Testing
- Created interactive prototypes in Figma
- Tested with real users during live case reviews
- Key features included:
- Editable AI responses (“Rephrase this”)
- Confidence levels and reasoning
- Flag-and-feedback UI to refine model output
4. Design System Integration
- Created reusable components:
- AI response cards
- Prompt input controls
- “Why this?” explanation toggles
- Integrated into Apricot Design System
Impact
- Reduced task completion time by 40%
- 83% of officers rated AI suggestions as helpful
- Reduced PDF/document review load by 60%
- Enabled rapid model improvement via structured user feedback
Takeaway
Designing with GenAI means building trust, not just features. By prioritizing transparency, control, and explainability, we turned a black-box tool into a collaborative assistant.
CASE Study 3
UX Strategy for the World Bank’s Trust Fund Platform
Project Overview
Problem
The World Bank’s Trust Fund platform, used globally by fund managers and partner organizations, was fragmented, difficult to navigate, and heavily dependent on manual workflows. Users reported:
- Difficulty locating and managing fund activity data
- Steep learning curve for new staff
- Poor mobile responsiveness
Goal
Reimagine the platform to:
- Streamline fund management workflows
- Improve usability for a diverse, global audience
- Ensure accessibility and responsive design
- Align with new organizational goals and transparency initiatives
Process
1. Discovery & Workshops
- Facilitated stakeholder workshops across regions
- Conducted contextual inquiries with fund managers and country officers
2. Information Architecture & Wireframes
- Overhauled content taxonomy and navigation structure
- Created low- to high-fidelity wireframes to simplify complex reporting screens
3. Usability Testing & Iteration
- Ran multiple usability sessions with international users
- Identified areas of cognitive overload, adjusted layouts and language for clarity
4. Visual Design & Prototyping
- Developed responsive, WCAG-compliant UI
- Integrated with World Bank’s internal branding guidelines
- Delivered modular UI components for long-term scalability
5. Cross-Team Collaboration
- Worked closely with developers to align on front-end frameworks and handoff
- Built a centralized design library with standardized HTML/CSS snippets and UI assets
Impact
- Reduced task time by 25% across key workflows
- Bounce rate on careers site dropped by 30%
- Platform scaled to support new business lines with minimal design debt
- Recognized with VPU Team Award (2018) for excellence in design-led project delivery
Takeaway
Designing for a global financial institution means balancing clarity, scale, and regulation. Through hands-on research, scalable systems, and thoughtful IA, we made the World Bank’s digital infrastructure more inclusive and mission-aligned.
CASE Study 4
Kyool: Human-Centered Design for Small-Group Fitness, AI-Ready by Design
Project Overview
Problem
Most fitness apps reward individual performance, and streaks punish one bad day. Kyool’s bet is that people stay consistent when a few friends are counting on them, which raises hard design questions: how to make group commitment feel supportive rather than like surveillance, and how to separate personal from team success.
Key Design Decisions
- FAB: five group sizes (Duo to Zenith). A FAB starts in a forming state, and joining always takes an explicit tap.
- Show Up vs. FAB Star: “I kept my promise” is separated from “we kept our promise”, replacing one ambiguous streak.
- Lifebuoy: repairs a missed day without encouraging skipping. It protects the Show Up streak but never earns a Star.
- Sparks: one-tap peer encouragement in a chosen tone, with report, block, and filtering on custom text.
- Onboarding: redesigned from 13 screens to a 3-page story, with no cold permission prompts.
AI/ML-Informed & Data-Driven UX
- Rule-based first, AI-ready by design: the FAB impact line turns team totals into one plain-language comparison in each reader’s own units, and shows nothing rather than a weak line when no rule fits. The same interface is built to be backed later by a Gemini model, cached per FAB per week so the model isn’t called on every open, and falling back to the rule-based copy whenever AI is unavailable.
- AI Insights (in progress): planned for Kyool Plus and marked “coming soon” in the app: a weekly AI recap, streak-risk alerts, personalized recommendations, and pattern detection across FABs.
- BI-style progress views that turn activity, goal, streak, and group-performance data into clear metrics, trends, and a single next action.
- Privacy first: analytics are opt-in and off by default, and the consent choice uses two equal buttons with nothing preselected.
Concept: Explainable Show-Up Prediction
A design exploration for the planned streak-risk alerts. ML privately estimates whether a member is likely to show up today. XAI gives one plain reason, and UX offers a choice: a quiet in-app card, an ask-first reminder, or a next-morning Lifebuoy explanation. Explore the concept
Takeaway
Good AI-informed UX starts before the model: unambiguous rules, honest fallbacks, and consent by default make intelligent features trustworthy when they arrive.
Empowering financial aid professionals with streamlined tools that balance institutional compliance and student success. I led strategic UX for PowerFAIDS Cloud, creating accessible, scalable solutions for one of the most trusted platforms in higher education funding.
Designing at a global scale, I shaped data-heavy platforms to drive impact across public-sector finance, environmental resilience, and international development. My work focused on clarity, accessibility, and equity—turning complexity into confidence for decision-makers worldwide.
Bridging user needs with innovation, I’ve designed intuitive financial systems that make budgeting, compliance, and portfolio tracking seamless. Whether in enterprise apps or mobile-first tools, my approach ensures trust, transparency, and speed in every interaction.
Beyond the Case Studies
A curated showcase of supporting UX artifacts—from fintech design systems and user flows to implementation-ready strategies and scalable style guides. These pieces reveal the thinking, structure, and polish behind every user experience.
Smart Design for Smarter Finance
A collection of UX design solutions crafted for financial platforms—focused on clarity, trust, and seamless user journeys. These screens highlight design patterns for complex workflows such as onboarding, dashboards, transaction flows, and data visualization tailored for high-stakes environments.
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UX Design Strategies
Design begins with understanding. My approach weaves together user research, behavioral insights, and business priorities to craft purposeful digital journeys. Whether it’s mapping user flows, building scalable interaction patterns, or simplifying complex systems, each strategy is focused on creating clarity, reducing friction, and delivering measurable impact.
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Styleguides
This style guide showcases the foundational elements that drive visual clarity and usability across the product ecosystem. From color systems and spacing to typography and UI anatomy, each artifact ensures design scalability and brand coherence across platforms.
