I led the UX design for Phast (originally called Pecuniapay), a neobank focused on making cross-border money transfers easy and affordable. In just one year, our small team transformed an idea into a functioning app that garnered over 500 downloads within three months of its launch.

Phastpay connects everyday people to global payment networks through a simple banking app. We built it to make international transfers secure and straightforward, with a mission to boost financial inclusion across Nigeria.

The company was founded with a vision to eliminate the confusion and frustrations that plagued sending money and doing transactions internationally, making it a headache. We focused on building something that real people could use without needing a degree. Try Phast

User Research, IA, Persona creations, UX Design, Wire-framing & Prototyping, UI Design, and Testing.

Ese (UI/UX Designer) mentioned that a founder was looking for designers to build a fintech product, and they already had a Product Manager (Kseniya) and 3 developers with expertise in mobile and backend development, but needed design expertise.

After meeting with the founder, Akinyemi Ademola, Ese and I joined the team as the founding designers, and we collaborated with the team to build payment systems.

During my spell at Phast, I was extremely privileged to have achieved the following;

As one of the founding designers, I led design from concept to MVP, creating intuitive payment journeys that connected Nigerians to international banking.

Designed user-centered research frameworks that shaped the product roadmap and feature prioritization

Worked closely with developers throughout the design and development process, ensuring the feasibility of the design and the accurate implementation of the intended user experience

To kickstart the journey, we sat down with the team and Kseniya, our product manager. She shared user flows and stories that helped guide our first design decisions. From there, we quickly sketched these initial wireframes to hit the ground running.

Looking back at these first wireframes makes me smile, so much has changed from here, but the core vision of making banking simple stayed the same throughout.

Though we aimed to build a global brand, we knew we needed to start somewhere real, Nigeria, despite being incorporated in the UK.

Our challenge? Our product manager didn't understand Nigerian banking realities, which created a disconnect right from the start. So she tasked us with conducting on-the-ground research in Nigeria. These sessions were eye-opening and helped us align our vision to build for actual needs, not just what we thought people wanted."

We engaged with dozens of Nigerians about their money transfer experiences. People shared frustrations about high transaction charges, high exchange rates, being unable to use their cards for international transactions, and long transaction times, among many others.

These in-depth conversations directly shaped our approach and highlighted the core problems Phast needed to solve. They also guided the development of key user personas, ensuring our platform effectively addresses the needs of our target audience

Based on our user research, we collaboratively defined the core problem statement and the solution Phast aims to solve.

To define our Minimum Viable Product (MVP), we utilized a complexity matrix, prioritizing features based on their impact and development effort. This allowed us to focus on 'High Impact | Low Effort' and strategic 'High Impact | High Effort' features.

Mapping out the user journey for the selected features

We meticulously mapped out the user journeys for each feature, ensuring a smooth and intuitive experience for our users. Our goal was to transform financial tasks into delightful interactions.

With the user journeys defined and the MVP features solidified, we moved into the design phase for the key screens of the Phast application. Our focus was on creating a clean, intuitive, and visually appealing interface that would resonate with our users.

Here's a walkthrough of the core screens we designed

SIGN UP/SIGN IN

The sign-up/sign-in screens are the portal to the Phast experience. We prioritized a clean and simple design to make account creation and access effortless. For sign-up, we focused on collecting essential information securely and efficiently.

For sign-in, we provided multiple options like email or phone number, password, and biometric authentication to cater to user preferences and enhance security.

WALLETS

The wallet functionality screens are central to the Phast experience. These screens allow users to view their balance, transaction history, send and receive money, and manage their funds.

We designed these screens to be clear, concise, and informative, giving users a complete overview of their financial activity and enabling them to perform international and local transactions with ease.

CARDS

The card functionality screens enable users to create virtual dollar cards and request plastic cards linked to their Phast wallet, view card details, and manage their virtual cards.

This feature provides flexibility and convenience, allowing users to shop and pay for anything online, fund their wallets, and make transactions using various funding sources. The design emphasizes security, ensuring users can confidently manage their card information.

CONTACTLESS PAYMENT

The contactless pay functionality screens facilitate quick and easy payments at point-of-sale terminals. These screens guide users through the process of initiating a contactless payment, confirming the transaction, and viewing payment confirmations.

We prioritized speed and security to make contactless payments a smooth and reliable experience.

After Kseniya and her team departed, we explored outsourcing development to an agency. However, the pricing proved to be prohibitively expensive and unsustainable. Determined to maintain control over the development process and ensure alignment with our vision. I decided to assemble a dedicated team, drawing on my previous experience at Grazac Academy. I recruited a team of 1 product manager and 7 engineers to develop our Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

Thanks to the team's expertise, commitment, and consistent work ethic, we successfully launched the MVP within 7 months.

Working in an early-stage startup was an extremely steep learning curve. It was an eye-opening experience that taught me a lot about being lean and knowing when and where to focus my energy and efforts.

In the first 3 months post-launch and test

500+ Mobile App Downloads

1,200+ Transactions Processed

Some key takeaways from this project are:

In a startup with limited resources and time constraints, it's important to focus on the features that can deliver the highest value for your users.

I worried too much about the details, and taking a step back and reassessing the user flows after the test, it helped me to prioritize security and compliance over UX in some instances.

Building a strong development team is essential for rapid iteration. By assembling a talented and dedicated team, we were able to launch our MVP within a tight timeframe.