Acorns
Acorns is built around helping people build better financial habits over time—where growth depends on clarity, trust, and momentum across the entire experience. On the Growth team, features and flows were treated as products in themselves. Working closely with product and engineering, I designed and validated solutions that reduced friction, clarified value, and helped users move forward with confidence at key moments throughout the app.
⌙ Product Design, Design Systems
⌙ Mobile, Web, Branding
Designing a Cohesive Growth Engine
Early in the experience, education became a core driver of growth. Feature-focused screens were designed to highlight the benefits of an Acorns account while introducing key concepts in a clear, conversational way. These moments helped onboard users by surfacing value early and establishing patterns that scaled across the design system.
Guided Entry & Early Trust
Login, account creation, and bank linking were designed as guided experiences rather than technical hurdles. Through iteration and experimentation, these flows focused on clarity, reassurance, and learning at each step. The resulting screens emphasized progress, helpful feedback, and a tone that supported confident decisions.
Progress, Education, and Ongoing Engagement
As users moved through the product, lightweight dashboards and educational tools made progress visible. Profile completion, account insights, and learning features kept users informed and motivated. Supporting visuals and a custom referral experience reinforced engagement while remaining easy to understand and act on.
Extending the Experience to Web
The product experience extended to the website through a focused set of marketing and educational surfaces. Web designs echoed in-app principles like clarity, approachability, and strong visual hierarchy. Together, they supported acquisition while reinforcing the value and trust established in the product.
Takeaway
Reimagining Ziptility’s product from the ground up delivered a scalable design system that supports both web and mobile experiences. By focusing on core workflows and building a unified system, internal teams were empowered to iterate faster, streamline administrative oversight, and improve field workflows across utility operations.
