Primary Role

Lead UX Designer/ Researcher

Tmeline

12 Weeks to MVP II

Team

UX Designer/ Researcher (Me), 3 Developers, 2 SMEs, 1 PM

Platform

B2B - SaaS with both Administrator & Participants facing components

RELIUS

The Relius Customer WebEx platform serves as the sister platform to the AdvisorLab, the customer-facing counterpart where clients manage their retirement accounts. The dashboard was intended to be a central hub: a place to track balances, review investment performance, take action on accounts, and learn about retirement policies.

In practice, however, the experience fell short. Essential tasks like checking balances, reviewing reports, or switching between multiple accounts were hidden behind layers of clicks and unclear navigation.

As the Product Designer, I refined the platform’s core workflows, redesigned the client dashboard, and introduced contextual guidance to reduce friction and improve task completion. This resulted in a 30% increase in completion rates and fewer support tickets.

NO TASK PRIORITIZATION

Overdue actions, time-sensitive reminders, or account changes were hidden in the same flow as routine information, making it hard for users to stay on top of urgent deadlines.

UNINTUITIVE NAVIGATION

Inconsistent menus hide key tasks like accessing statements or updating details, requiring multiple clicks, often through unintuitive work flows

The CHALLENGE

Cognitive Overload

Dense tables and long lists presented without hierarchy were confusing. Without any grouping, progressive disclosure, users spent more time than necessary trying to locate important tasks.

Fragmented Account Management

Customers with multiple accounts had to navigate in and out of siloed views rather than managing them from a unified place.

Users struggled with:

Dense, outdated screens that made information hard to parse
Workflows built on historical patterns rather than current user needs
Key account and participant details spread across multiple pages
No clear entry point or hierarchy of what needed attention

The opportunity was to rebuild the dashboard around clarity and actionability, not just data display—reducing effort, cognitive load, and dependency on external tools.

MY ROLE

Product Designer (Lead — Redesign & Workflow Optimization)

I was responsible for:

Reviewing existing flows to identify friction and redundancy
Breaking down complex tasks into clearer, linear steps
Redesigning the account dashboard to surface the “right information first”
Reworking participant and plan-level views for cohesion
Introducing a more scalable design system for the product line
Partnering with engineering to ensure designs were implemented accurately

ux strategy

Defined experience goals around transparency, accessibility, and confidence in financial management by analyzing existing workflows and support logs.

experience architecture

Re-structured the dashboard around the three core pillars — Save, Invest, Retire — to provide clear entry points and logical progression through the participant journey.

delivery & validation

To uncover pain points, I analyzed existing workflows and synthesized feedback from customer service records and advisor insights. The original dashboard provided too much information in an unstructured manner, while burying critical actions behind unintuitive workflows.

THE VISION

Relius users were navigating dense screens, inconsistent patterns, and workflows that had grown complicated over time. Key account information was buried, and even routine tasks required multiple clicks or external references.

The vision was to build a streamlined, intuitive dashboard that provides immediate clarity into account health, upcoming tasks, and participant activity—while creating a more scalable design foundation for the product’s future.

THE IMPACT

30% faster task completion across common administrative actions
Reduced confusion around plan status and next steps
Fewer customer support tickets related to navigation and data clarity
A more scalable foundation for future enhancements and cross-platform consistency
Better alignment between product, design, and engineering due to clearer patterns
Improved access to help resources and documentation, making it easier for users to self-resolve questions without escalating to support

68%

DECREASE IN KEY TASK COMPLETION TIMES

21%

INCREASE IN WEBSITE TRAFFIC & SESSIONS

5X

INCREASED OUTREACH ON RESOURCES

THE APPROACH

The redesign was approached as both a simplification and a re-prioritization of the dashboard experience.

For each step (audit, hierarchy, prioritization, grouping, structuring), I will break it down into:

The Action

what I did

The Why

UX rationale behind it

The Value

how it helped users + business

INFORMATION AUDIT

ACTION: Cataloged every element across the dashboard, tagged content as high/medium/low value based on frequency of use and relevance.

WHY: Aligns with the heuristic of “visibility of system status” - users should immediately see what matters most.

VALUE: Cleared the clutter so the foundation was lean and meaningful.

GROUPING INTO CATEGORIES

ACTION: I reorganized features into logical groups - Accounts, Actions, Resources, Education, and applied consistent labeling across them.

WHY: This follows the cognitive psychology principle of chunking: people process and recall grouped information more easily.

VALUE: Navigation felt more natural, reducing frustration when completing tasks.

ACTION: I designed a clear visual hierarchy: urgent tasks and account balances surfaced first, while secondary data moved into supporting positions.

WHY: This supports recognition over recall; users shouldn’t dig or remember where critical actions live.

VALUE: The new hierarchy enabled scanning at a glance, reducing decision fatigue and surfacing what matters most.

establishing hierarchies

STRUCTURING & PRIORITIZING

ACTION: Restructured the dashboard so task-driven elements appeared top-left, followed by account summaries and learning resources.

WHY: Leverages natural eye-scanning patterns (F-pattern, Z-pattern) and puts high-priority actions within first-glance reach.

VALUE: Created an action-first dashboard where customers felt guided instead of lost.

THE WAY FORWARD

To make the experience more intuitive, we reframed the dashboard around three simple, action-oriented pillars: Save, Retire, Invest.

Each section represents a core aspect of a user’s financial journey and anchors the most relevant insights, actions, and educational guidance under it.

This shift transformed the dashboard from a static data view into a guided experience — one that helps users see where they are, understand what they can do next, and feel more in control of their financial future.

Existing Dashboard vs The Client Hub

Redesigning the customer-facing dashboard wasn’t just about making things cleaner; it was about aligning user pain points to tangible design decisions. Each part of the dashboard reflects the result of one or more steps in my design approach.

Surfacing essential insights upfront in this new overview section, clients gain both confidence and stronger trust in the platform.

1. Account Overview

Performance indicators (such as growth trends or percentage change) provide immediate insight into how their investments are doing.

Clients can view the status of all their accounts at once and switch effortlessly between them for a deep dive

Distinct personalized CTAs for each account helps the client independently manage their accounts

I prioritized centralizing balance information as that is one of the most valuable piece of information to the user.

Surfacing relevant financial market data to provide essential context to users on how their investments are performing across time periods.

2. Save/ Invest/ Retire

The original cards weren’t clearly labeled or connected to a task flow. They existed as standalone elements with vague titles, and the order placed “Retire on Time” first, followed by “Invest” and then “Save.” This sequence felt disconnected from how clients actually approached their financial planning.

Comparison of their goals with individuals of same income level to see where they stand

Clear and concise CTAs to establish task clarity and avoid ambiguity during task initiation

A comprehensive retirement savings calculator to project retirement income and recommend any adjustments to help users reach their retirement goals

Overview of what the most recent contribution was and how much they are set to save at year end

Breakdown of investment performance by accounts and over a period of time to track progress and make future decisions

Follow up with retirement goals to make sure users are on track and simultaneously make changes if necessary

3. Activity/ Resources

The lower section of the dashboard was fragmented. A generic Recent Activity card surfaced updates without context, while a promotional banner encouraged clients to “invest more.” Neither element supported clients’ actual goals. The activity card forced users to cross-reference updates against accounts manually, and the banner felt more like a sales push than a tool for guidance.

Articles to provide information about banking services and how they can be used in the context of retirement planning

Collection of articles on topics that are most searched by users or that provide foundational knowledge about the basics of investing