Funding
Designing a Fintech Platform That Simplifies Investing & Mortgages
Funding is a FinTech startup reshaping how Australians get mortgages and invest—bringing both services together in one seamless platform. Since its founding in 2015, Funding has raised over $4 million and has become an award-winning non-bank mortgage lender, trusted by both borrowers and investors.
As the solo Lead Product Designer, I was responsible for designing the entire website and web app from the ground up, leading:
• User experience & interface design for both the public website and investor platform.
• Ideation, wireframing, and prototyping, ensuring a smooth and intuitive user journey.
• Design system creation, including typography, components, and a cohesive visual language.
• Custom illustrations & iconography to enhance brand identity and storytelling.
• Development collaboration to ensure seamless implementation of designs.
📌 Key Outcomes:
•📈 Improved website conversion rates, leading to increased customer sign-ups.
•💰 Enhanced investor engagement, making it easier to manage and track investments.
•🚀 Established a scalable design system, allowing for future product growth.
Role: Lead Product Designer (Solo)
Project: Website & Web App Design
Year: 2020
Understanding the Challenge
Funding wanted to differentiate itself in the crowded FinTech space by offering a simple, intuitive, and trustworthy digital experience for both borrowers and investors.
Key Problems We Identified:
✔ The existing website lacked clarity, making it hard for users to understand how Funding worked.
✔ The investor portal needed a more seamless experience, ensuring easy fund management.
✔ The brand lacked a strong visual identity, requiring a cohesive design system.
To solve these challenges, I led a user-centered design process, focusing on research, usability testing, and strategic UI/UX improvements.
Discovery & Research
• Stakeholder Interviews → Aligned with CEO Jack O’Reilly to define vision & key challenges.
• Competitor Analysis → Evaluated direct and indirect competitors to identify differentiation opportunities.
• User Research → Gathered insights from potential customers in Sydney & Brisbane to refine our design direction.
Turning Insights into Solutions
With a clear understanding of business goals and user needs, I moved into wireframing, prototyping, and visual design.
Wireframes & User Testing
•Created low-fidelity wireframes to validate initial layouts and navigation.
•Iterated multiple versions based on user feedback before moving to high-fidelity.
•Tested with users in Sydney & Brisbane, gathering insights to refine the UX.
Design System & Visual Identity
To ensure consistency across both the website and investor platform, I built a scalable design system, defining:
•Typography, color schemes, and grid systems for brand consistency.
•Reusable UI components, speeding up design and development cycles.
•Custom illustrations & iconography, helping users understand complex financial concepts visually.
🎨 Why This Mattered:
✔ Strengthened Funding’s brand identity across web and app experiences.
✔ Enabled faster product iterations, ensuring consistency in future updates.
Final UI Design & Development Collaboration
Once the high-fidelity designs were finalized, I worked closely with developers in the UK to ensure a seamless implementation.
🚀 How We Ensured a Smooth Build:
• Provided pixel-perfect Figma files with detailed specs for development.
• Defined animations & interactions, ensuring a smooth, engaging user experience.
• Conducted design reviews & QA sessions, making sure the final product matched the designs.
The result? A modern, intuitive FinTech platform that made borrowing & investing easier than ever.
Investor Portal: A Seamless Financial Dashboard
Alongside the website, I also designed the Funding Investor Portal, allowing users to:
💰 Choose & manage investments in a streamlined interface.
📊 Track investment performance with clear data visualization.
📢 Receive updates & news on market trends.
Following the same research-driven design approach, we ensured that the investor experience was:
✔ Simple & intuitive, making fund management effortless.
✔ Visually engaging, providing users with clear insights at a glance.
✔ Scalable, allowing for future feature expansion.
What This Project Achieved
📊 Business Impact:
✔ Increased conversion rates by making the website’s value proposition clearer.
✔ Enhanced investor engagement, leading to a more active user base.
✔ Established a scalable design system, improving brand consistency.
🎯 Customer Experience Improvements:
✔ Simplified website navigation, making it easier to explore mortgage & investment options.
✔ Improved funding application flow, reducing friction in the sign-up process.
✔ Designed a seamless investor dashboard, allowing users to manage portfolios effortlessly.
Reflections & Learnings
Designing Funding’s platform reinforced the importance of:
✨ Balancing business goals with user needs – A seamless experience is key to user trust and conversions.
✨ Building for scalability – A strong design system enables faster iteration and product evolution.
✨ Collaboration across teams – Close alignment with stakeholders & developers ensured a successful launch.
This case study highlights how thoughtful UX, strong branding, and strategic design decisions can drive business success in FinTech.
© Julio Castellano