Case Study

Project Overview

The Problem

The company faced significant UX challenges in their in-house apps used by over 4,000 employees to manage group loans. Users commonly reported frustration and dissatisfaction when interacting with these tools. In addition to these issues, the company lacked a Design System to ensure structure, consistency, and branding across their applications. This often resulted in mismatched user interfaces, redundant design decisions, and delays in development—ultimately slowing down the delivery of solutions by the Software Development team.

The Goal

The goal was to truly understand and empathize with our users—to fall in love with their needs, goals, motivations, and pain points. By doing so, we aimed to deliver solutions tailored to their real-world challenges, reduce time on task and error rates, increase app adoption, enhance the overall user experience, and ultimately lower company costs by eliminating redundant tasks.

My Role

As a User Experience Designer and Developer, I led the project’s research and design process by conducting both quantitative and qualitative studies. I collaborated closely with cross-functional teams, developers, stakeholders, and final users. My responsibilities included prototyping solutions, running usability tests, and ensuring the final design provided an intuitive, multi-device, and efficient user experience.

Responsibilities

I was tasked with conducting a foundational usability study, performing both quantitative and qualitative research, collaborating with stakeholders, developers, and users to define the app's goals, facilitating ideation sessions with the development team based on user needs, prototyping low- and high-fidelity mockups in Figma, and conducting usability studies to refine the design based on feedback.

User Research

Summary

We conducted a user research study with 330 participants to identify issues in GFlow focusing on their motivations, frustrations, and overall experience. 72% reported slow system performance, 58% had trouble uploading documents, and 65% believed the loan approval process could be faster. Users also pointed out issues with geolocation, system crashes, and the need to consult multiple applications, all of which impacted their efficiency. These insights guided improvements in performance, usability, and automation, ultimately enhancing the GFlow experience.

In addition, we conducted a Foundational Usability Study with 251 participants, including screen recordings of 6 users performing key tasks in GFlow. We uncovered recurring issues with image uploads, geolocation, loan approvals, and portfolio management. The System Usability Scale (SUS) yielded an average score of 44/100, suggesting that while the tool is functional, it has significant room for improvement. Users acknowledged its usefulness and efficiency but also highlighted problems with speed, confusion, and navigation errors. These findings informed the optimizations needed to improve the overall user experience.

User Personas

Ana

“Ana is detail-oriented and seeks efficiency in her work, but the errors in GForm cause her stress and waste her time.”

Goals

• Process applications without errors or repetitive steps.
• Provide fast and efficient service.

Frustrations

• She has to manually correct data like names with “ñ” and co-signers’ last names.
• She needs to use multiple applications to complete a single process.

A customer arrives at the branch to request a loan, but Ana has to correct his name and re-enter data across several platforms. The wait makes the customer uncomfortable and slows down her work.

User Flow

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Information Architecture

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Paper Wireframe

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Low-fidelity Prototype

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High-Fidelity Prototype

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Usability Study

A Usability Study was conducted using the Hi-Fi Prototype, where real users were asked to complete five simple tasks and respond to a follow-up System Usability Scale (SUS) survey. The results revealed a 150% improvement in the overall user experience. One user shared her feedback after testing the prototype: “This new design feels like someone went into my head and designed a solution to all my problems at work.”

We conducted a moderated usability study with participants in Guatemala (On site), where participants went through the usability study in their real work environments. We interviewed 5 people from mixed backgrounds, genders, and abilities.

We then gathered the data and organized it to identify themes, which resulted in the following insights:

Round 1 Findings

• Users initially felt a bit lost due to the app’s significantly updated interface. This highlighted the need for an onboarding tutorial for first-time users.
• Some terminology caused confusion — for example, the word "Save" was unclear to users who were accustomed to "Send." These labels were updated for clarity.

Given the insights we found through our Usability Study, we adapted the design to improve the user experience and make the app easier to use.

Before And After

Before Onboarding Tutorial

Accesibility

To improve the app’s accessibility, we implemented both Light and Dark modes and selected high-contrast color combinations to ensure readability. Additionally, we designed a “Change Language” feature that allows users to switch between Spanish and Mayan languages, promoting inclusivity and equity for indigenous communities.

Impact

The final solution led to a 150% improvement in user experience, as measured through a System Usability Scale (SUS) and direct user feedback. Employees reported feeling more confident and less frustrated while using the system, and task completion times were significantly reduced. By streamlining workflows, reducing redundant steps, and minimizing system errors, the new interface saved the company over 10,000 man-hours per month. This translated into increased productivity across teams, faster credit processing times for customers, and a more consistent and enjoyable user experience throughout the organization. In addition, the introduction of a scalable Design System now enables faster implementation of new features and ensures brand consistency across all internal apps, setting a strong foundation for future growth.