Role: Lead UX Designer | Fintech | 2025
Overview
Accruit, a company specializing in 1031 Exchanges, decided to shift its internal application to a SaaS structure, opening access to external entities. Although the company had been operating since 2012, this was their first engagement with UX principles or a UX Designer.
The application was initially created by developers to fulfill an internal operational need, but was not user-friendly, aesthetically appealing, or mobile-optimized.
Goal
Redesign the application to support both internal and external users, provide an intuitive and efficient user experience, and ensure a mobile-responsive, visually polished interface.
Tools
- Figma (Wireframing and Prototyping)
- Microsoft Teams (User interviews and usability testing)
- Google Sheets (User feedback synthesis)
- Figjam (Journey Mapping)
Problem
While anyone can technically complete a 1031 Exchange (1031E), the process can be daunting. Accruit offers a "white glove" level of service, distinguished by their attention to detail and expertise.
The original application was functional but confusing, lacked visual hierarchy, and failed to guide users effectively through the exchange process.
The original application design.
Users
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Internal Users: Accruit’s Managed Services representatives
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External Users: Qualified Intermediaries (entities managing exchanges on behalf of their clients)
My Role
- Lead UX research with internal and external users
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Redesign the application based on direct user feedback and journey mapping
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Deliver wireframes and prototypes for development handoff
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Provide CSS style guidance to developers to ensure visual consistency
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Advocate for user-centered design principles across teams unfamiliar with UX best practices
Process
Research
Given the niche nature of 1031E transactions, the user base was relatively small, allowing for deep qualitative insights.
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Conducted interviews and surveys with a dozen current users
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Facilitated recorded walk-through sessions of both typical and atypical exchanges
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Asked non-leading questions to uncover tasks, frustrations, workarounds, and data priorities
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Created journey maps to visualize user tasks and pain points across the exchange lifecycle
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Presented findings and actionable insights to key stakeholder
Key Insights:
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Users were overwhelmed by irrelevant information
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Users struggled to quickly find actionable tasks
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Frustration existed around communication gaps between Accruit reps and external users
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Mobile responsiveness was critical, but absent
Wireframes and Prototypes
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Created multiple wireframes, beginning with core elements users needed to interact with
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Designed a clean, mobile-friendly dashboard
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Moved to mid-fidelity (grayscale) prototypes after initial approval
User Testing and Iteration
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Presented mid-fi prototypes to internal and external users who participated in the research
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Gathered feedback through interviews and usability observations
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Revised designs based on feedback, focusing on simplifying navigation and emphasizing key user tasks
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Achieved validation from users, who highlighted the new design's clarity and usability improvements
Stakeholder Engagement
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Regularly presented findings, wireframes, and prototypes to stakeholders for alignment
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Provided rationale for UX decisions, emphasizing user guidance, efficiency, and minimizing cognitive load
Initial redesign
Challenges
1. Navigating Marketing Involvement
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The Marketing team, while supportive, often pushed for marketing-driven patterns (e.g., aggressive CTAs, heavy branding) that conflicted with optimal user flows.
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Had to diplomatically advocate for user-centered design over marketing priorities when they risked degrading the user experience.
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Worked with the Marketing Director to align on a shared brand palette and typography, while protecting key UX principles.
2. Overcoming "Established Research" Assumptions
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Initial stakeholder resistance to fresh user research due to reliance on outdated insights from the original app.
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Educated stakeholders on the importance of validating new workflows and functionality to avoid repeating old usability mistakes.
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Successfully secured approval to engage with current users throughout the redesign process.
3. Devs reliance on ASP.net vs JS components
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Initial designs had more micro-interactions with the data, but the JS/client-side requirement was a hurdle. The interactions had to be pushed to a future state until the devs were able to update to React/Angular or learn how to with vanilla-JS.
Outcomes
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A mobile-optimized, visually clean, user-centered redesign
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Streamlined workflows that reduced cognitive load and surface only essential, contextual information
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Increased internal alignment on the value of UX research and iterative design
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Clear CSS specifications provided to developers, enhancing consistency and development speed
Final approved redesign.
Final approved mobile redesign.
Mobile Version
For the first time, there is a mobile version of the application (streamlined) that users can leverage.
Reflection
This project reinforced the importance of ongoing user feedback, especially when redesigning legacy systems. It also demonstrated the need for strong cross-team communication when UX is new to an organization.
I’m proud that through thoughtful research and iteration, we delivered an application that better served both internal and external users—and laid the groundwork for a more user-centered culture at Accruit.