When you build something beautiful, they come.
U.S. Bank
Industry:
Financial Services
My role:
Client leadership and stakeholder alignment, product design and research, design and research oversight
Timeline:
2012–2020 (conception to scaled enterprise platform)
A B2B platform that increased market share by 40% in its first year and scaled across eight business lines. By 2021: $1.9 billion in annual revenue. Fifteen legacy applications retired.
These results were beyond anything I expected, but the bigger success was that the project shifted how B2B products could look and function—proving that comprehensive research and beautiful design don't just delight users, they transform business outcomes.
We pushed for ethnographic research across multiple business lines, casting a wide net to understand the full landscape.
The findings revealed what was unique and shared across different businesses and personas—allowing the product owner to organize the vision into clear themes and phases. For me, it provided the clarity to design something transformative.
Symbols play a powerful role, and this “functional” symbol became a proprietary asset that truly resonated with both internal and external clients. Small, thoughtful design choices like this create lasting differentiation.
Colors connect the experience
Pivot used colors purposefully to communicate how things function. Neutral tones created the foundation, allowing accent colors to establish hierarchy and guide focus—minimizing visual noise while maximizing clarity.
Dual wins. Sizeable returns.
The vision that surpassed every expectation.
As the system expanded across eight business lines, we stayed anchored to three design principles: focused, thoughtful, consistent.
With the client's support, we conducted research every 8-12 months to stay connected to evolving needs. This continuous engagement made clients feel heard and reinforced that we were serious about building something different. It also helped the team continue to innovate.
“It wasn’t just that the product was successful, but it really transformed our brand’s perception and the market, positioning us as a tech innovator.”
— Bob Troyer
Structural system
We created a modular design system that allowed the platform to scale efficiently and prevent from becoming an overengineerd Frankenstein. Components were reusable, documented, and optimized—enabling new business lines to adopt the design without starting from scratch.
Three column
A nice grid to use when the user is selecting something s/he may want to view and there are not more than 30 options.
Two column
This grid is distinguished by a hero space at the top, which can accommodate summary level graphs and modules.
One column
This is a full page grid that often accommodates tables and sub-navigation. All other grids fit into this base grid. This grid works well with the Standard Tables.
Supporting right sidebar
This grid is primarily used in a multiple step form where supporting data needs to display and dynamically change.
Primary left sidebar
This grid can be used on a homepage or any landing page. The left bar can be used as navigation, or faceted filters can be used here. Tiles or row tables are to be used in the main content area.
Three column grid
A nice grid to use when the user is selecting something s/he may want to view and there are not more than 30 options.
This project will always hold a special place in my heart. We built something beautiful, and they came—eight business lines, millions of users, and a new standard for B2B design. It was an honor to usher in that shift.
Projects like this—spanning eight years from inception to enterprise-wide success—are rare. Being part of one was truly extraordinary.
- Revenue: 1.9B in annual revenue
- Market share: Double-digit growth (25% → 45%)
- Efficiency: 15 legacy applications retired
