A private equity firm serving both individual investors and early stage companies.
UI/UX
Mobile App
Web App
Private wealth clients manage complex portfolios spanning public equities, private markets, real estate, and fixed income. Like all fintech companies, there's an overwhelming amount of data to pull from. The real design challenge is knowing what to surface, for whom, and when. I designed the full iPhone experience from wireframes through final UI, including a dashboard with real-time performance data, a color-coded market breakdown, document access, tax tools, and direct advisor messaging.
industry
Fintech / Financial Services
project type
Consumer - New Build
role
Lead Designer / Barrel Proof Apps
focus area
App Design
The Brief
Request
The original app was a digital swiss army knife of trying to serve both wealth management and venture capital clients in a single interface. It was overloaded, hard to navigate, and advisors weren't excited to recommend it to their clients. Client complaints and internal pressure pushed the decision to rebuild. The goal was to split wealth management into its own focused app, designed from the ground up. I intially worked with the product lead and CTO, and as the project progressed the circle widened to include the CEO and a group of advisors whose feedback from their clients helped shape many of the core decisions.
Deliverable
I designed the app end-to-end, from initial wireframes through final high fidelity UI. The core challenge was taking a wide range of financial data, portfolio performance, market breakdowns by asset class, documents, tax tools, advisor access, and private investment opportunities, and making it feel organized and easy to navigate in a native mobile app. We also explored both light and dark interface versions to give the team options for the final build. The app was built and released publicly, but access is limited to clients through a private login.
Original app design
First round of wireframes for the app
Approach
I started by auditing everything in the existing app, but sorting and weighting what stayed required the team's input on what the data actually meant to clients, what was essential, and what could go. Working sessions with the CTO, CEO, and a group of advisors gave us direct insight into what clients were asking for and what advisors needed to feel confident recommending the app. The client supplied a very rough wireframe and notes on potential sections, which helped establish a shared understanding of the structure early in the process. I worked at higher fidelity than typical wireframes from the start, building with reusable components so the design phase was refinement rather than a rebuild. Validating how data was presented required leaning on the team's expertise. Knowing how dense information could get before it became overwhelming needed input from people who read investment data every day. That back and forth shaped a lot of the final layout decisions.
Further Reading
No stone left unturned. Screens for load errors, navigation drawer, and some more color exploration.
Outcome
The redesigned app was well received by the team. Advisors immediately began recommending it to clients, and the firm created new marketing materials to support it. The app is curently live in the App Store today with a five star rating. This work on the Wealth app kicked off a three year relationship with the firm. Over that time I designed a native mobile and web app for their venture capital team, an internal capital management system, an internal operations tool, a portfolio company research platform, a redesigned quarterly reporting system, and an app for their startup pitch competition. The CTO and CEO were both vocal about their satisfaction with the work, and new projects kept coming through different members of their team.