Clara
Financial control across multiple countries
Role
Sr. Product Designer - UX UI
Industry
B2B Fintech
Platform
Mobile
Impact
Simplified expense management
Reframing the Problem
The governance model underneath it hadn't.
Clara helps organizations manage corporate spending across multiple countries, teams, and financial structures.
As the business expanded into new markets, the platform inherited increasing complexity.
Every new country introduced:
New regulations
New approval structures
New permission requirements
New operational workflows
Over time, workflows became harder to navigate, permission models became increasingly difficult to understand, and the experience struggled to scale alongside the business.
01
Permissions became the product
Almost every action inside the platform was governed by roles, access levels, and organizational structures.
Small inconsistencies created significant operational confusion.
02
Administrators lacked visibility
Understanding who could access what often required navigating multiple layers of permissions and organizational settings.
03
Navigation reflected the system
The experience was organized around platform architecture rather than user responsibilities.
Users knew what they needed to accomplish.
The turning point
We weren't designing financial workflows. We were designing clarity at scale.
Permission structures created more friction than individual features.
65% of usability issues were linked to unclear permissions and access structures rather than workflow functionality.
Administrative complexity increased as organizations expanded across markets.
Navigation reflected system architecture instead of user goals.
The Turning Point? It was helping them understand the control they already had."
Understanding the users
Became the foundation for every design decision that followed.
Maria
Administrator
Manages permissions, spending controls, and organizational structures across teams. Needs visibility, confidence, and clear governance without operational complexity.
Carlos
Finance Manager
Oversees budgets, approvals, and financial operations. Needs efficient workflows that maintain control while reducing administrative effort.
Andrea
Employee
Uses company cards and financial tools to complete daily tasks. Needs clear guidance, simple workflows, and confidence that actions are completed correctly.
→ How might we simplify permission management without reducing control?
→ How might we help administrators understand financial structures faster?
→ How might we reduce friction across high-frequency financial workflows?
→ How might we create scalable experiences across different markets?
→ How might we balance governance and usability?
Reorganize the product around responsibilities
The platform was restructured around user objectives and operational tasks rather than system modules.
Make Permissions Visible
I redesigned access structures to make relationships between roles, permissions, and responsibilities easier to interpret.
Multi-Market Scalability
Instead of creating market-specific experiences, I established reusable governance patterns capable of adapting across countries.
Accelerate validation through vibecoding
I created functional prototypes using AI-assisted development workflows.
Tested permission visibility and governance flows
Explored multiple workflow directions simultaneously.
Validated concepts with stakeholders
