Back to work Case Study · Moneytree

From Pixel Pushing to Value Creating

ClientMoneytree
Year2024
RoleDiscovery & Design Lead
A new discovery approach

Be a missionary, not a mercenary

The key insight

Users want so much more than a glorified data entry platform

Before & after

From data entry to interactive planning

See the transformation from an outdated data-entry tool to an interactive data-visualization financial planning platform.

Shipped product

Other screens

Actual screenshots of the developed application — not just Figma mockups. The design system, another product I manage, was crucial in connecting design with development.

A new discovery approach

Be a missionary, not a mercenary

The aspect of this project I am most proud of is how I led our Product Design team to collaborate with the Moneytree product team in a completely new way compared to how our organization (Accutech) traditionally approached discovery and design.

Instead of the typical “mercenary” approach many design teams are boxed into — being told exactly what to design and not really being involved in the discovery process — our team took a new approach of being “missionaries”: involved from the start of the project and leading the process to thoroughly understand desired outcomes from the perspective of the user and the business.

The key insight

Users want so much more than a glorified data entry platform

The overwhelming insight we uncovered from our UX research is that users wanted so much more than a glorified data-entry platform. They wanted to show their clients, in real time, how their financial outlook changes based on different scenarios — without having to download PDF reports over and over.

So our whole approach to this project was building a digital-presentation UX on top of Moneytree’s data-entry foundation. After throwing in a modern style refresh, the before-and-after results of the project were astounding.

Before & after

From data entry to interactive planning

See the transformation from an outdated data-entry tool to an interactive data-visualization financial planning platform.

Before
After
Shipped product

Other screens

Actual screenshots of the developed application — not just Figma mockups. The design system, another product I manage, was crucial in connecting design with development.

Process

Low-fi concepts

Sketches and low-fi concepts showing the journey we took from inception to final design.

User testimonials
★★★★★
“This is one of the best financial planning tools I have ever seen — and I have been doing this since 1999.”
Greg Gilbert
CEO, Infinity Financial Services
★★★★★
“The way you set it up is intuitive. I think you have a win here, and you’re going to have a lot of happy advisors.”
Bill Hampton
CEO, Hampton Tax & Financial Services
Tony Pantello