Scalable Platform Redesign: Empowering Digital Banking for BMO's US Customers

My Role: Lead Product Designer
Project Duration: July 2024 - March 2025

2. Modernized Content Presentation:

  • Implemented a scalable card-based system for organizing information.

  • Result: Improved discoverability, clear categorization, and significantly enhanced accessibility by surfacing content previously hidden in inaccessible collapsible elements.

3. Streamlined Navigation:

  • Replaced confusing back arrows with clear mobile header navigation.

  • Introduced an intuitive accordion-style account selector (dropdown) for seamless account switching, validated by user familiarity.

4. Strategic Cross-Sell Integration:

  • Designed contextual cross-sell cards within the authenticated experience (a new channel for the business).

  • User research confirmed these were non-intrusive, enabling business growth without compromising user experience.

5. Design System Integration:

  • Integrated new patterns and components into the central Design System.

  • Result: Established crucial consistency standards and a scalable foundation for future development, despite initial organizational friction with global design system alignment.

impact and results:

Quantifying Success

Our strategic redesign efforts yielded significant positive outcomes for both users and the business.

  • Client Satisfaction:

    • ↑ +12 point increase in NPS (Net Promoter Score).

    • ↑ CSAT score climbed from 3.4/5 to 4.0/5.

    • Qualitative Feedback: Users consistently praised "clearer navigation," "easier account switching," and a "cleaner, more modern UI" that felt "more like a bank website."

  • Business Growth:

    • New Revenue Channel Enabled: Successfully introduced the first cross-sell capabilities within the authenticated experience.

    • ↑ Increased Traffic: Saw a significant increase in traffic to cross-sell landing pages, driving new interest and leads.

  • Accessibility:

    • Enhanced Equitable Access: Addressed critical accessibility barriers (e.g., problematic focus order, screen reader issues with old collapsible elements) by implementing directly accessible card systems and robust component patterns.

Learnings & Future Outlook:

Growth Through Challenges

This project was a masterclass in navigating enterprise complexities, teaching me invaluable lessons in strategic design leadership.

Key Learnings:

  • Empathetic Stakeholder Management: Learned the power of active listening and visually exploring all ideas (even those not adopted) to build trust and foster strong partnerships.

  • Strategic Scalability: Recognized early on the need for a templating strategy, reducing future workload and ensuring consistent application across diverse product types.

  • Advocacy with Rationale: Successfully advocated for the US experience's distinct Design System needs against global mandates, using market insights and user data to stand my ground effectively.

  • Adaptive Design: Embraced the non-linear nature of large projects, making strategic pivots (like the card system) based on user feedback and resource realities.

Future Outlook:

  • My next steps would prioritize addressing remaining accessibility shortcomings, particularly integrating the out-of-scope problematic modal within the new design system.

  • I'd also focus on continuous optimization based on ongoing analytics to further refine user experiences and explore personalized features.

The Challenge:

A Digital Experience Stuck in the Past

Our legacy consumer banking platform was hindering both users and business growth. Users wrestled with an outdated UI, a clunky 50/50 split layout burying crucial information, and confusing navigation that eroded trust. For the business, it meant missed opportunities, specifically the absence of cross-sell capabilities within the logged-in experience, impacting new account openings. We needed a fundamental transformation.

my approach:

Strategic Problem-Solving at Scale

1. Deep Dive Discovery:

  • Site & Competitor Audits: Mapped existing pain points, identified 4 core page types for template efficiency, and analyzed industry best practices for layouts and cross-sell.

  • User Research Synthesis: Integrated existing insights on navigation friction and outdated perceptions.

2. Define & Ideate Core Solutions:

  • Information Architecture: Redefined content hierarchy, prioritizing key financial data.

  • Layout Exploration: Explored multiple structures, leading to the 70/30 dynamic layout (wider primary content area, narrower contextual column), validated by user preference for its "familiar" feel.

  • Component Strategy: Began developing scalable card systems to replace problematic collapsible content.

3. Prototype & Validate:

  • Created prototypes (Figma) from low-to-high fidelity for various testing goals.

  • Conducted multiple rounds of usability testing, validating the 70/30 layout and informing the critical pivot to the card-based content system (as users struggled with hidden content).

key solutions:

Building a Modern & Intuitive Platform

We delivered a comprehensive redesign that fundamentally elevated the digital banking experience.

1. Intuitive & Adaptive Layout:

  • Replaced the 50/50 split with a dynamic 70/30 layout, maximizing content priority and scannability.

  • Result: A unified, consistent visual language across the platform.