John Hancock: Humanizing Data for the Future Self

Role: Mobile Product Designer & Technologist

Focus: Inclusive Design, Behavioral Finance, React Native Component Architecture, Multilingual Wayfinding

Designed mobile retirement self-service tools in React Native, translating dense financial data into emotionally resonant guidance while introducing bilingual paths for multilingual families.

01 / CORE PROBLEM

The fragmented experience didn't encourage clients to maximize their employer contributions.

Navigating retirement portfolios is fraught with cognitive avoidance. American workers frequently found compound interest calculations, contribution percentages, and asset allocations intimidating and disconnected from day-to-day realities. Furthermore, millions of Spanish-dominant workers faced severe systemic exclusion due to the absence of culturally considered, native-language support.

OPPORTUNITIES / AREAS OF FOCUS IN THE USER JOURNEY

Connect to the "Future-self"

I grounded interaction design in behavioral finance heuristics, replacing static data grids with interactive contribution sliders that translated complex percentage adjustments into tangible future income and lifestyle projections.

Connect to the "Future-self"

Align design to mobile ecosystem

Every step of the ID creation and account-linking flow was designed under strict company and government regulatory compliance. I applied native SwiftUI and Material Design patterns to ensure the security mechanisms (like MFA token inputs) felt native to the device OS, reducing anxiety and cognitive load.

Align design to mobile ecosystem

Support multilingual wayfinding

Because specific legal prospectuses were mandated to remain in English, I established clear contextual indicators and bilingual wayfinding patterns that guided Spanish-dominant users smoothly through compliance touchpoints without breaking task confidence.

Support multilingual wayfinding

02 / JOURNEY IMPROVEMENTS

Making the experience actionable to increase savings contributions.

Visualizing the future

Grounded interaction design in behavioral finance heuristics. Replaced static data grids with interactive contribution sliders that translated complex percentage adjustments into tangible future income and lifestyle projections.

Making information accesible

Incentivising contributions

Framed contribution increases around concrete future lifestyle outcomes, helping users visualize the direct value of maximizing employer matches.

03 / BUSINESS IMPACT

The Solution & Business Impact

2022 MobileWebAward

INDUSTRY ACCOLADE

Won the 2022 MobileWebAward for “Best Financial Services Mobile Application”.

2.6 to 4.6 stars

CUSTOMER VALIDATION

Transformed customer sentiment on app stores, elevating the rating from a 2.6 baseline to 4.6 stars.

All selected work

Creative technology. Human-centered design.