Designing a Faster, More Adaptable Account-Opening Experience
Savana was developing its first customer-facing online banking solution after previously focusing on enterprise financial services. I designed the responsive account-opening flows and worked with Battle Bank, Savana’s first client, to make the experience more focused on its customers.
The project spanned approximately two years, from initial concepts through development. It needed to support multiple account types, including business and trust accounts, while meeting regulatory requirements and adapting to different customer relationships.
Please note that certain details and information have been omitted or altered to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the organizations involved.*
THE CHALLENGE
Simplify the Application Without Oversimplifying the Rules
Opening a bank account can involve identity verification, regulatory disclosures, supporting documents, multiple owners, and product-specific requirements. The experience needed to accommodate these differences without making every applicant navigate the most complex version of the process.
The central design challenge was not simply shortening the application. It was deciding what information to request, when to request it, and how the flow should change based on an applicant’s account type, identity-verification status, location, and relationship to other account owners.
We Focused on Three goals
01
Efficiency
Reduce unnecessary effort and potential application drop-off
02
Requirements and Compliance
Support client needs and federal regulatory requirements
03
Responsive Design
Create a responsive experience for web and mobile
Evidence and inputs
Combining Banking Expertise with
Familiar Customer Patterns
MY ROLE
MY DIRECT CONTRIBUTION
Responsive account-opening flows
Interaction and information hierarchy
Conditional flow behavior
Interface alternatives and refinements
Design handoff and development support
Flow strategy
Build a Shared Applicant Journey, Adding Complexity Only When Needed
The experience
Reduce Unnecessary Input While Keeping Requirements Clear
The final experience used guided questions, conditional fields, reusable information, and account-specific logic to reduce customer effort.
Show only relevant Residency Options
The initial approach included every option listed in the requirements. Through conversations with the product manager and client, I learned that Battle Bank customers only needed a U.S. or Canadian residence address.
The final experience asked for the applicant’s country of residence first, then displayed the relevant address fields based on that selection.
Reduce unnecessary interactions
For questions with fewer than three options, I used radio buttons instead of dropdowns. This made all available choices visible and removed the extra action required to open a menu.
I also positioned ZIP code before city and state so those values could be populated automatically. This was intended to reduce manual entry and potential input errors.
Checkboxes allowed applicants to reuse personal information instead of entering the same details repeatedly.
Collect only essential information upfront
We collected the information required for the initial application while allowing customers to provide additional supporting documents later through the online banking platform. This reduced the amount of material customers needed before they could begin.
Let additional owners complete their own information
For accounts with multiple owners, we introduced an invitation feature that allowed each person to complete their portion separately.
This reduced the need for the primary applicant to collect and enter everyone’s information while providing a more secure way to gather it.
CONSTRAINTS AND ITERATIONS
Extend the Flow Without Creating Disconnected Exceptions
Design principle
Identify the applicant’s role, explain what that role requires, and adapt the next steps accordingly.
OUTCOME
This provided an encouraging indication that the streamlined flow could reduce the time required to apply.
Updated designs to address the new regulatory and client requirements
Designs handed over for full development.
A successful family-and-friends launch received positive feedback.
REFLECTION
This was my first major long-term UX initiative, spanning approximately two years from concept through development.
WHAT I LEARNED
01
Involve engineering early when the experience depends on complex logic.
Earlier technical collaboration could have surfaced constraints sooner, clarified expectations, and reduced friction during handoff and development.
02
Simplifying a regulated product does not always mean removing steps.
It can mean asking for information in a better order, showing only what is relevant, and explaining requirements before they become obstacles.
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