My role
Senior UX Designer working closely with founders, PMs, and engineers.
- End-to-end UX ownership
- Onboarding & KYC flows
- Core transaction flows
- Physical & virtual debit card experience
- Foundational design system
- Product marketing support (digital + print)
Context
Zazu was a UK- and Zambia-based fintech startup building a digital wallet to help users manage everyday financial transactions in a mobile-money-dominated market.
The product needed to support savings, transfers, onboarding (KYC), and debit card usage across a diverse user base with varying device capabilities and financial literacy levels.
The Challenge
Design a secure, intuitive wallet experience that:
- Worked in a mobile-money ecosystem.
- Complied with financial regulations.
- Reduced friction in onboarding.
- Built trust with first-time digital banking users.
This was not just a UI challenge — it required balancing compliance, infrastructure limitations, and user education.
Key Constraints
- Regulatory compliance — KYC and identity verification requirements specific to Zambian financial regulation.
- Device diversity — Varying device performance and patchy connectivity across the user base.
- Cultural trust barriers around digital finance — Many users were approaching digital banking for the first time.
- Thin UX precedent — Limited existing patterns designed for this specific market.
Approach
- Research & Domain Immersion — Worked closely with the team to understand how mobile money operated locally and how users currently managed finances day-to-day.
- Friction Mapping — Identified high-drop-off moments in onboarding and transaction flows, then systematically addressed them.
- Progressive Simplification — Reduced cognitive load in critical flows — onboarding, transfers, savings — by chunking complex processes into manageable steps.
- Cross-Platform Consistency — Designed for iOS and Android, ensuring consistent interaction patterns across platforms.
Key Product Decisions
- Simplified KYC by breaking identity verification into progressive stages, reducing abandonment.
- Prioritised transaction clarity over feature density — users needed confidence, not complexity.
- Designed debit card onboarding to reinforce trust and security signals.
- Established visual and interaction patterns as a scalable design foundation.
Outcomes
- Successfully launched the wallet.
- Achieved #1 Finance App ranking in Zambia (at time of release).
- Improved onboarding clarity and user confidence.
- Established a scalable design foundation.
Reflection
This project shaped my approach to regulated products. It reinforced that good design in fintech is less about polish and more about clarity, trust, and reducing cognitive friction under constraint.
