Simplifying a complex payment experience into something clearer, faster, and easier to act on.
Bread Financial wanted to create a new mobile payment experience in a crowded fintech market. I helped shape the UX direction, research, and design strategy for a native iOS experience focused on reducing complexity, improving financial clarity, and making everyday payment decisions feel more intuitive.
Ratings for the app itself — a net new application, not an update to an existing one.
01
In a saturated fintech landscape, the opportunity was not to add more features — it was to remove complexity and make the core payment experience easier to understand and act on.
People needed a clearer way to understand what they owed, what they could pay, and how to avoid late fees or interest.
Bread Financial wanted to improve engagement while reducing service friction and support volume.
The existing payment process risked becoming too transactional and complex, especially when users were already dealing with financial stress.
02
I worked across strategy, research, facilitation, and design — helping the team simplify the experience while staying grounded in customer behavior and business goals.
My role was not limited to directing the work. I also worked directly in the experience — especially where hands-on design or prototyping helped the team move faster and make better decisions.
03
Step 1: We started with
A traditional payment experience focused on completing a transaction.
Step 2: We realized
Customers needed more clarity and confidence around payment amounts, timing, fees, and funding sources.
Step 3: We shifted toward
A simpler mobile experience that made payment decisions more visual, understandable, and actionable.
04
The experience came to life through three major moves.
01
Paying a bill is one of the most common financial tasks, but the experience can become stressful when users are unsure about minimums, balances, timing, or late-fee implications.
My role
Helped define the interaction model and shaped the UX direction for the payment flow.
02
The native mobile experience gave us an opportunity to move beyond form-based payment interactions and introduce a more direct, tactile way to choose an amount.
We explored a branded slider interaction that allowed customers to adjust payment amounts visually while preserving precise entry when needed.
My role
Worked directly in the interaction design and helped guide how the visual model translated into usable behavior.
The video shows the Bread Cashback American Express home screen: the account card moves through a carousel above the statement balance, the Pay button, and recent transaction activity.
03
In financial experiences, simplicity only works when users still feel informed and in control.
My role
Helped balance visual simplicity with clarity, trust, and actionable information.
The video shows a finger dragging the payment slider upward. The amount rises from the minimum to the statement balance and then the full balance, while the slider color shifts and the Pay button follows.
05
Research helped us validate which interaction patterns felt intuitive, where users needed more clarity, and how much flexibility the experience should provide.
Users correctly understood the “hot to cool” color shift as an indicator of increasing payment amount.
Some users expected to pay the full balance by moving the slider to the end, while others wanted precise keypad entry.
Users valued securely connecting payment sources through direct sign-in rather than manual entry.
The minimum payment amount needed to be more prominent to help customers avoid late fees.
What changed because of research
My role
Directed the research framing, helped synthesize findings, and worked with the team to translate them into design changes.
06
A clearer and more intuitive way to make payment decisions.
A simpler experience designed to reduce payment friction and support lower service demand.
A native mobile interaction model that balanced visual simplicity with precision and control.
Ratings for the app itself — a net new application, not an update to an existing one.
07
Financial experiences often happen when customers are already carrying some level of stress or uncertainty.
The project reinforced that simplicity is not about removing information — it is about making the right information easier to see, understand, and act on.
The strongest solutions came from balancing business goals with user behavior, accessibility, research, and systems thinking rather than treating payment as a single isolated interaction.