FIS Retirement

January 2022 – September 2024

My Role: UX, Visual Design, User Research, Team Management

Project Vision

The FIS Retirement app is a retirement management platform developed by FIS, a global leader in fintech and financial services. As the lead designer on the project, I was responsible for overseeing the overall design direction and ensuring the app met the needs of both end-users and large banking institutions. I managed an offshore team of designers who supported the project in areas such as accessibility documentation and UI specifications. The white-label app allows banking institutions, like Wells Fargo and Fidelity, to offer a customizable solution for managing their customers’ retirement accounts, combining a powerful set of features with a user-friendly interface.

Challenge: The challenge was to modernize outdated retirement platforms while integrating new software technologies. The goal was to create a customizable white-label app that balances FIS’s technical capabilities, the needs of banking institutions, and the user expectations for a modern fintech experience.

Solution: We developed a white-label platform that enables banking institutions to offer a seamless, feature-rich retirement management app. Users can view account balances, manage investments, beneficiaries, and loans through a clean, easy-to-navigate dashboard. The platform combines FIS’s technical strength with a modern design, allowing banks to customize the app to match their branding.

Why FIS Retirement?

FIS recognized the need to bridge the gap between traditional retirement management systems and modern fintech apps. Many existing platforms are outdated, complex, and visually unappealing. FIS Retirement addresses these issues by delivering a streamlined, engaging user interface that combines technical rigor with user experience simplicity. As a white-label solution, the app gives banks a robust, secure platform to offer their customers, while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to their own branding.

User Cases

I conducted interviews and live prototype tests with a group of twelve participants, including retirement account holders, banking representatives, and financial advisors. These users provided insights into their challenges with existing retirement platforms, such as difficulty understanding complex financial terms and navigating outdated interfaces. Feedback from banking institution stakeholders was also gathered to ensure that the design aligned with FIS’s business goals.

Initial research revealed that users valued a modern, intuitive interface that simplified financial jargon, provided easy access to account data, and offered tools for managing investments, beneficiaries, and retirement income projections.

User Journey

Onboarding → Access Account → Make Transactions

Pain Points

• Modernization: Users expect a modern, fintech-inspired interface for managing their retirement accounts. The FIS Retirement App meets this demand by providing a colorful, easy-to-navigate dashboard and visually engaging charts.
• Simplified Financial Jargon: Financial terminology can be overwhelming. The app simplifies complex retirement jargon, making it more understandable for users.
• Multi-Platform Accessibility: Retirement account management needs to be seamless across all devices. The app is optimized for desktop, mobile, and tablet platforms, ensuring an excellent user experience on any device.

Competitive Audit

	Vanguard	Charles Schwab	FIS Retirement
White-label customization			●
Email notifications			●
Retirement management	●	●	●
Projected retirement income	●		●

Wireframes & Prototype

I cannot share the specific wireframes or prototypes due to proprietary restrictions.

Usability Study Findings

I conducted three rounds of live, screen-shared user testing across desktop, mobile, and iOS/Android apps, covering nearly 1,000 unique pages.

Round 1 (Desktop):

• Users wanted simpler language for financial terms.
• They expected email confirmations for account changes, rather than only seeing confirmation within the app.

Round 2 (Mobile):

• Initial scrolling tables for complex financial data were hard to navigate. Users found the experience unintuitive on mobile.
• I redesigned the tables to fit the mobile screen better, focusing on clarity and readability.

Round 3 (Desktop & Mobile):

• I A/B tested alternate designs based on the previous feedback and made real-time adjustments during user interviews to fine-tune the mobile and desktop experiences.
• Users preferred the redesigned mobile interface with improved navigation and clearer data presentation.

Solution

Branding

As a white-label platform, banking institutions can fully customize the branding, allowing them to apply their own colors, logos, and style guidelines, ensuring the platform blends seamlessly with their identity.

Takeaways

As the lead designer on the FIS Retirement app, this project allowed me to dive into the challenges of modernizing a complex retirement platform while managing the balance between business needs and user experience. Managing an offshore design team that handled accessibility documentation and UI specifications taught me the importance of collaboration, communication, and attention to detail. Through user testing, iterative design, and continuous refinement, I was able to create a solution that elevates the retirement management experience, blending technical power with modern, user-friendly design.