[
Monument Bank
]
Translating a private members' club into a compliant, compact-first banking app.
Role
Senior Product and Visual Designer
Scope
UX/UI Strategy, Mobile App, Design System
Duration
6 months
Results
4.9★ App Store · 4.7★ Google Play · 260+ component design system · Concept to MVP launch
SUMMARY
Monument is a London-based challenger bank for mass-affluent professionals with £100k to £1m in assets. The brand demanded luxury; the data demanded discipline.
I led design from concept to MVP launch, translating Monument's high-end print identity into a compliant digital product, where every luxury decision had to survive a small screen, strict regulation and dense financial data.
Key contributions
Strategic Adaptation: Transformed a rigid architectural brand identity into a responsive, accessible digital interface.
Constraint-Led UX: Designed complex banking flows, including KYC and onboarding, compact-first so they held up on the smallest screens our users carried.
System Architecture: Built a 260+ component Figma design system ensuring consistency across iOS and Android.
Motion Design: Designed bespoke micro-interactions that provide haptic feedback, reinforcing a premium sense of weight and quality.
Between a retail app and a private banker
The mass-affluent market fell between generic retail apps and high-touch private banking. My goal was to show that a digital interface could deliver the prestige of a private branch manager while balancing heavy regulatory data entry with effortless luxury.
Luxury products usually flex their space: generous whitespace, big imagery, room to breathe. Our research said 40% of our wealthy users were on legacy devices like the iPhone 8. So I made the opposite call and designed compact-first. Every screen had to earn its clarity and hierarchy within the tightest vertical constraints before it could enjoy the space of a flagship phone. Luxury became precision, not padding.
Reducing Cognitive Load
Working with Content Design, we mapped a registration journey that respected the mass-affluent user’s low tolerance for friction. Every form field was carefully justified to reduce cognitive load and drop-off.
Defining the 'Digital Lounge'
To address screen constraints without losing prestige, I replaced standard fintech white with a “Digital Lounge” aesthetic using rich dark palettes. I adapted the rigid print brand into a softer UI that balanced high-end atmospherics with clear mobile legibility.
Engineering the 'Premium Feel'
From Concept to Reality
The final execution emphasised tactile quality and seamless logic, turning a complex registration journey into a clear, linear narrative. Rich micro-interactions provided reassuring feedback, creating a secure banking tool that feels like a premium lifestyle product.
Scalability by Design
I delivered a future-proof Figma system with over 260 atomic components to support rapid internal growth. This foundation let the team scale features quickly while preserving the premium design language.
A snapshot of the atomic design system delivered to the Monument team.
The Impact
The MVP successfully launched, validating the hypothesis that wealthy clients desired a digital-first solution that didn't compromise on service quality.
User Satisfaction
System legacy
The component system shipped as the team's baseline: new screens assembled from existing parts, one design language across iOS and Android.
Adoption
Successfully onboarded the initial cohort of investors, with user feedback citing the design as a key factor in building immediate trust.
CONCLUSION
The Monument project proved that fintech design doesn’t need to feel “techy” or “playful” to succeed. By treating the interface with the same care as a luxury physical product, we created a banking experience that respects users’ time and status.
Market validation was immediate. The app sustained its near-perfect store ratings well past launch, showing that for high-net-worth users, craft is the real differentiator.
The trade-off I accepted: compact-first meant flagship users got a denser experience than their screens strictly required. Given another cycle, I would let larger devices breathe more with adaptive spacing. Constraints made this product; knowing when to relax them is the discipline I took forward.
Key Takeaway
True premium value goes beyond aesthetics. It lives in details like information depth and tangible motion. By respecting device constraints, we built an app that feels solid, trustworthy, and distinct.
