Risevest

What I worked on

End-to-end mobile app redesign

I led the redesign of the whole Risevest mobile experience, from onboarding to portfolio management to withdrawals. Every screen, every flow, every interaction was rethought.

Onboarding & Setup Guide

Redesigned the first-time experience with a progressive setup guide, verify ID, add money, create a plan. Completion rose from 34% to 58%.

Dashboard & Portfolio View

Redesigned the home screen to show total balance, portfolio breakdown, and quick actions at a glance, replacing a fragmented view that hid key information behind taps.

Investment Plans & Auto-Fund

Redesigned plan management with clear performance charts, auto-invest toggles, and reinvestment options, making investing feel active, not passive.

Wallet & Banking

Designed the wallet flow, fund, withdraw, multi-currency accounts, linked cards. A critical trust moment: users need to feel safe moving money in and out.

Review & Withdrawals

Simplified review and withdrawal flows. Clear projections, transparent fees, and conversion rates visible before confirmation, no surprises.

Support & Communication

Designed in-app chat and a playful “shake to chat” feature that made getting help effortless, reducing support-response friction by 40%.

The problem

Users had money invested but couldn’t understand their portfolio

• Core actions took too many steps, checking balance, comparing plans, and withdrawing all required 4+ taps through confusing navigation.
• Information architecture was flat, everything competed for attention on every screen.
• Portfolio data was raw numbers without context, users couldn’t tell if investments were performing well without doing math.
• Onboarding dropped 66% of users, the setup flow asked too much upfront without explaining why.

Research

Users struggled with complexity, not investing

• Users wanted fewer steps, not more features. The most common interview request was “make it simpler.” They wanted to check a balance and leave in under 10 seconds.
• Key tasks took too long. Checking portfolio performance took 4 taps and 22 seconds; withdrawing money took 6 taps across 3 screens. Both should be under 3 taps.
• Competitor analysis revealed a UX gap. Apps like Cowrywise and Bamboo had simplified core flows. Risevest had more features but worse task completion, complexity scaled with every addition.

Key decisions & trade-offs

Before vs. after

Impact & results

The redesigned app cut complexity at every level. Core tasks went from 4–6 taps to 1–2. Onboarding completion nearly doubled. Users reported feeling more in control, not because we added features, but because we removed friction from every interaction.

Reflection

The biggest lesson from Risevest: in fintech, simplicity is safety. Every extra tap, every confusing label, every screen that makes users think “wait, where am I?” erodes confidence. The design system was the most impactful decision because it made the whole app predictable, and predictable means trustworthy when you’re managing someone’s money.

If I did this again, I’d push for user testing earlier. We validated with internal stakeholders first, which biased toward feature completeness over task simplicity. Real users in front of prototypes in week 2 instead of week 6 would have caught the onboarding friction sooner.

Credits