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#003 · Financial Strategist · Legendary · 2021

Strands Labs

White-label money management for banks: PFM, Engager, BFM and an ESG dashboard, deployed as each bank's own product.

Lead Principal Designer · Strands Labs (now Strands by CRIF)2021. Owned four product workstreams and the design system criteria behind them.

Evidence50+ banks live, including HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Santander

#003Financial Strategist
Legendary

Strands Labs

One white-label platform for banks. Four products, 20+ languages.

2021Tames financial complexity
View case study
The challenge

One codebase had to feel like each bank's own product across markets, 20+ languages, LTR and RTL, and different regulators.

What I led

Four product workstreams from research to specs, plus the criteria every component had to pass before it shipped.

What shipped

PFM, Engager, BFM and the ESG Dashboard on one brandable, localizable, accessible component library.

01

Four constraints, not four briefs

Every bank composes the products differently, so the system was designed around what could never vary. A component that failed any of the four did not ship.

Design decisionDesign around four hard constraints, not around screens

Every component had to pass all four or it did not ship. One system serving 50+ banks came from that rule, not from more screens.

Four constraints
  1. BrandableEach bank's colors, type and tone, from one set of tokens.
  2. Localizable20+ languages, left-to-right and right-to-left, without a second layout.
  3. AccessibleWCAG by default, because a bank cannot opt out of it.
  4. ModularComposed differently by every client, still one codebase.
02

PFM and Engager: something to do, not something to look at

People do not change how they spend by reading last month's chart. PFM leads with savings goals, micro-savings and timely nudges; Engager turns real transaction events into one-tap messages that banks launch themselves.

Design decisionAction-first PFM instead of backward-looking charts

Charts report; goals and nudges change behavior. Designing for the next action gave the product a reason to be opened again.

02
PFM and savings goals overview
03

BFM and ESG: depth without an accountant's interface

SME owners needed cash flow and forecasting at a glance, with detail available when they want it. The ESG Dashboard applies the same idea to a complex score: three pillars, then coaching instead of a number.

Design decisionProgressive disclosure for BFM

The first screen stays honest for an owner checking cash flow between jobs, and the full forecasting depth is one tap away for those who want it.

03
BFM and ESG score dashboard
The impact

What changed.

~2 minTo launch an insight campaign

Down from weeks, with Strands Engager.

Product lineESG launched as a new product line

The fourth white-label product, on the same component system.

~40%Less design rework

Engineering delivery time down about 25% as well.

Internal estimate
The takeaway

50+ banks, 20+ languages, four products. Scaling is a design problem, and this is where I learned that usability is what builds trust in financial products.

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Next card · #007 · RareSEAT & CUPRAFour automotive products, two brands, one bidirectional configurator.#004 · RareOumlaPrimary designer across a tokenized finance suite: three design systems, three products, English and Arabic RTL.

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