Redesigning Alaan’s Mobile App from the Ground Up
IMPACT
↓ Support tickets
~45–50% reduction in mobile-related queries
↑ Adoption
Increased usage across spenders and approvers
⚡ Faster workflows
Key tasks completed significantly faster
💬 User sentiment
Feedback described the app as “10x better”
⚡ Faster workflows
Key tasks completed significantly faster
💬 User sentiment
Feedback described the app as “10x better”
BACKSTORY
I still vividly remember the conversation I had with our CEO, Parthi, where he shared how important the mobile app or the Spender App, as we call it was to him. Given that it’s essentially a B2B2C product, we both understood that design would play a pivotal role in its success.
He said something that stuck with me: what got us from 0 to 1 won’t get us from 1 to 10. Moving forward, it wouldn’t be enough to just meet industry standards, we had to deliver a world-class user experience and interface.
The old app, while functional, lacked the wow factor. It had its fair share of UX issues and felt outdated. Parthi and I were completely aligned on the problems that existed and on the need for a major leap forward. I remember sharing my vision for the app with him: that I wanted to make it world-class and would do whatever it takes to get us there. I just needed the space to lead it end-to-end.
In the weeks that followed, I flew to Dubai to immerse myself in the geography, be close to the actual users, and collaborate with leadership whenever needed. That’s how the redesign journey began.
As the product evolved, the Spender app needed to better reflect Alaan’s core value: clarity, trust, and control over business spending. This redesign wasn’t just a facelift , it was a complete reimagining of the app, rooted in user-centric design principles.
THE PROCESS
Research & Discovery
We started by grounding the redesign in real usage and constraints. Through user interviews, data analysis, competitor audits, and internal stakeholder conversations, we focused on understanding where users felt friction, hesitation, or loss of control. This phase helped us identify gaps between what the product offered and what users actually perceived, especially around clarity, confidence, and speed in everyday spending workflows.
Information Architecture Redesign
The existing structure treated all users similarly, despite very different goals. We reworked the information architecture around distinct personas and mental models.
Spenders/Cardholders needed speed, quick access to balances, expense submission, and reimbursement status.
Admins/Managers needed oversight, fast approvals, visibility into exceptions, and fewer bottlenecks.
By restructuring navigation and flows around these needs, we reduced cognitive load and made each experience feel purpose-built rather than generic.
3. Design System & Visual Language
Since this was an end-to-end revamp, we began by redefining the foundations. We established a new visual language focused on clarity, hierarchy, and calm, ensuring the interface felt trustworthy and modern without being visually loud.
In parallel, we built a scalable mobile design system, defining typography, spacing, color tokens, and reusable components, so the product could evolve without accumulating design debt.
4. High fedility Designs and prototyping
With foundations in place, we moved into detailed execution. We redesigned core and edge-case flows across the app, covering everyday actions as well as complex scenarios.
Interactive prototypes were used extensively to validate interactions, test states and transitions, and align closely with engineering. This helped surface edge cases early and ensured the final experience translated accurately into build.
5. Iteration, Validation & Handoff
Designs were continuously refined through usability testing, internal reviews, and close collaboration with engineers. We paid particular attention to microcopy, empty states, and error handling, details that strongly influence trust in high-stakes financial flows.
Final handoff focused on clarity and completeness, with dev-ready specs and ongoing design support through implementation to maintain quality and intent.
DESIGN AND RATIONALE
Design Principles Driving the Redesign
Reduce Cognitive Load: Every screen focuses on one primary task, using clear hierarchy and spacing to guide attention.
Design for Confidence: Success isn’t just completion, users should feel sure they’ve done things right through visible system status, feedback, and next steps.
Build Trust Through Consistency: Predictable patterns, interactions, and visual language help users feel safe and in control across the product.
Be Intentional in High-Risk Moments: Slow users down when actions are irreversible, and clearly surface critical information before confirmation.
Surface What Matters Most: Prioritize the most important information and actions at the right time, without overwhelming users with secondary details.
Separate Roles and Responsibilities Clearly: Design distinct experiences for spenders and admins, reflecting different levels of responsibility and control.
Support Real-World Usage: Design for errors, interruptions, and recovery paths, not just ideal or linear user journeys.
Onboarding
Auth and KYC
Expenses
Cards and Others
Admin Switch
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
End-to-End Ownership: Led the mobile app redesign from early concepts and wireframes through dev-ready specs and final QA.
Product Design Execution: Owned the full Alaan Spender mobile experience, ensuring design quality across all core flows.
Design System Foundation: Built a scalable mobile design system with reusable components and tokens to support future growth.
Prototyping & Implementation: Created interactive prototypes, led design reviews, and partnered closely with engineering to ship high-quality experiences.
User Research & Iteration: Conducted 1:1 user interviews and usability testing to continuously refine and improve designs.
Team Leadership & Mentorship: Mentored a junior designer with hands-on guidance while maintaining consistency and quality across the product.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Worked closely with product, engineering, marketing, and support to align user needs with business goals.
REFLECTIONS AND LEARNINGS
Trust Is Earned Through Interface: In spending products, users need to feel oriented, in control, and confident within the first few seconds.
Clarity Over Cleverness: Simplifying hierarchy and reducing visual noise made critical information instantly scannable and actionable.
Systems Enable Speed: A strong design system reduced decision fatigue, prevented design debt, and made shipping faster without compromising quality.
Design for Different Mental Models: Spenders, managers, and finance teams optimize for different outcomes, designing explicitly for each reduced friction.
Prototypes Drive Alignment: Interactive prototypes helped surface edge cases early and aligned design, product, and engineering faster.
Details Build Trust: Microcopy, states, and error handling mattered as much as visuals, especially in high-stakes financial flows.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Worked closely with product, engineering, marketing, and support to align user needs with business goals.
Thank You
Redesigning Alaan’s Mobile App from the Ground Up
IMPACT
↓ Support tickets
~45–50% reduction in mobile-related queries
↑ Adoption
Increased usage across spenders and approvers
⚡ Faster workflows
Key tasks completed significantly faster
💬 User sentiment
Feedback described the app as “10x better”
⚡ Faster workflows
Key tasks completed significantly faster
💬 User sentiment
Feedback described the app as “10x better”
BACKSTORY
I still vividly remember the conversation I had with our CEO, Parthi, where he shared how important the mobile app or the Spender App, as we call it was to him. Given that it’s essentially a B2B2C product, we both understood that design would play a pivotal role in its success.
He said something that stuck with me: what got us from 0 to 1 won’t get us from 1 to 10. Moving forward, it wouldn’t be enough to just meet industry standards, we had to deliver a world-class user experience and interface.
The old app, while functional, lacked the wow factor. It had its fair share of UX issues and felt outdated. Parthi and I were completely aligned on the problems that existed and on the need for a major leap forward. I remember sharing my vision for the app with him: that I wanted to make it world-class and would do whatever it takes to get us there. I just needed the space to lead it end-to-end.
In the weeks that followed, I flew to Dubai to immerse myself in the geography, be close to the actual users, and collaborate with leadership whenever needed. That’s how the redesign journey began.
As the product evolved, the Spender app needed to better reflect Alaan’s core value: clarity, trust, and control over business spending. This redesign wasn’t just a facelift , it was a complete reimagining of the app, rooted in user-centric design principles.
THE PROCESS
Research & Discovery
We started by grounding the redesign in real usage and constraints. Through user interviews, data analysis, competitor audits, and internal stakeholder conversations, we focused on understanding where users felt friction, hesitation, or loss of control. This phase helped us identify gaps between what the product offered and what users actually perceived, especially around clarity, confidence, and speed in everyday spending workflows.
Information Architecture Redesign
The existing structure treated all users similarly, despite very different goals. We reworked the information architecture around distinct personas and mental models.
Spenders/Cardholders needed speed, quick access to balances, expense submission, and reimbursement status.
Admins/Managers needed oversight, fast approvals, visibility into exceptions, and fewer bottlenecks.
By restructuring navigation and flows around these needs, we reduced cognitive load and made each experience feel purpose-built rather than generic.
3. Design System & Visual Language
Since this was an end-to-end revamp, we began by redefining the foundations. We established a new visual language focused on clarity, hierarchy, and calm, ensuring the interface felt trustworthy and modern without being visually loud.
In parallel, we built a scalable mobile design system, defining typography, spacing, color tokens, and reusable components, so the product could evolve without accumulating design debt.
4. High fedility Designs and prototyping
With foundations in place, we moved into detailed execution. We redesigned core and edge-case flows across the app, covering everyday actions as well as complex scenarios.
Interactive prototypes were used extensively to validate interactions, test states and transitions, and align closely with engineering. This helped surface edge cases early and ensured the final experience translated accurately into build.
5. Iteration, Validation & Handoff
Designs were continuously refined through usability testing, internal reviews, and close collaboration with engineers. We paid particular attention to microcopy, empty states, and error handling, details that strongly influence trust in high-stakes financial flows.
Final handoff focused on clarity and completeness, with dev-ready specs and ongoing design support through implementation to maintain quality and intent.
DESIGN AND RATIONALE
Design Principles Driving the Redesign
Reduce Cognitive Load: Every screen focuses on one primary task, using clear hierarchy and spacing to guide attention.
Design for Confidence: Success isn’t just completion, users should feel sure they’ve done things right through visible system status, feedback, and next steps.
Build Trust Through Consistency: Predictable patterns, interactions, and visual language help users feel safe and in control across the product.
Be Intentional in High-Risk Moments: Slow users down when actions are irreversible, and clearly surface critical information before confirmation.
Surface What Matters Most: Prioritize the most important information and actions at the right time, without overwhelming users with secondary details.
Separate Roles and Responsibilities Clearly: Design distinct experiences for spenders and admins, reflecting different levels of responsibility and control.
Support Real-World Usage: Design for errors, interruptions, and recovery paths, not just ideal or linear user journeys.
Onboarding
Auth and KYC
Expenses
Cards and Others
Admin Switch
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
End-to-End Ownership: Led the mobile app redesign from early concepts and wireframes through dev-ready specs and final QA.
Product Design Execution: Owned the full Alaan Spender mobile experience, ensuring design quality across all core flows.
Design System Foundation: Built a scalable mobile design system with reusable components and tokens to support future growth.
Prototyping & Implementation: Created interactive prototypes, led design reviews, and partnered closely with engineering to ship high-quality experiences.
User Research & Iteration: Conducted 1:1 user interviews and usability testing to continuously refine and improve designs.
Team Leadership & Mentorship: Mentored a junior designer with hands-on guidance while maintaining consistency and quality across the product.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Worked closely with product, engineering, marketing, and support to align user needs with business goals.
REFLECTIONS AND LEARNINGS
Trust Is Earned Through Interface: In spending products, users need to feel oriented, in control, and confident within the first few seconds.
Clarity Over Cleverness: Simplifying hierarchy and reducing visual noise made critical information instantly scannable and actionable.
Systems Enable Speed: A strong design system reduced decision fatigue, prevented design debt, and made shipping faster without compromising quality.
Design for Different Mental Models: Spenders, managers, and finance teams optimize for different outcomes, designing explicitly for each reduced friction.
Prototypes Drive Alignment: Interactive prototypes helped surface edge cases early and aligned design, product, and engineering faster.
Details Build Trust: Microcopy, states, and error handling mattered as much as visuals, especially in high-stakes financial flows.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Worked closely with product, engineering, marketing, and support to align user needs with business goals.
Thank You
Redesigning Alaan’s Mobile App from the Ground Up
IMPACT
↓ Support tickets
~45–50% reduction in mobile-related queries
↑ Adoption
Increased usage across spenders and approvers
⚡ Faster workflows
Key tasks completed significantly faster
💬 User sentiment
Feedback described the app as “10x better”
⚡ Faster workflows
Key tasks completed significantly faster
💬 User sentiment
Feedback described the app as “10x better”
BACKSTORY
I still vividly remember the conversation I had with our CEO, Parthi, where he shared how important the mobile app or the Spender App, as we call it was to him. Given that it’s essentially a B2B2C product, we both understood that design would play a pivotal role in its success.
He said something that stuck with me: what got us from 0 to 1 won’t get us from 1 to 10. Moving forward, it wouldn’t be enough to just meet industry standards, we had to deliver a world-class user experience and interface.
The old app, while functional, lacked the wow factor. It had its fair share of UX issues and felt outdated. Parthi and I were completely aligned on the problems that existed and on the need for a major leap forward. I remember sharing my vision for the app with him: that I wanted to make it world-class and would do whatever it takes to get us there. I just needed the space to lead it end-to-end.
In the weeks that followed, I flew to Dubai to immerse myself in the geography, be close to the actual users, and collaborate with leadership whenever needed. That’s how the redesign journey began.
As the product evolved, the Spender app needed to better reflect Alaan’s core value: clarity, trust, and control over business spending. This redesign wasn’t just a facelift , it was a complete reimagining of the app, rooted in user-centric design principles.
THE PROCESS
Research & Discovery
We started by grounding the redesign in real usage and constraints. Through user interviews, data analysis, competitor audits, and internal stakeholder conversations, we focused on understanding where users felt friction, hesitation, or loss of control. This phase helped us identify gaps between what the product offered and what users actually perceived, especially around clarity, confidence, and speed in everyday spending workflows.
Information Architecture Redesign
The existing structure treated all users similarly, despite very different goals. We reworked the information architecture around distinct personas and mental models.
Spenders/Cardholders needed speed, quick access to balances, expense submission, and reimbursement status.
Admins/Managers needed oversight, fast approvals, visibility into exceptions, and fewer bottlenecks.
By restructuring navigation and flows around these needs, we reduced cognitive load and made each experience feel purpose-built rather than generic.
3. Design System & Visual Language
Since this was an end-to-end revamp, we began by redefining the foundations. We established a new visual language focused on clarity, hierarchy, and calm, ensuring the interface felt trustworthy and modern without being visually loud.
In parallel, we built a scalable mobile design system, defining typography, spacing, color tokens, and reusable components, so the product could evolve without accumulating design debt.
4. High fedility Designs and prototyping
With foundations in place, we moved into detailed execution. We redesigned core and edge-case flows across the app, covering everyday actions as well as complex scenarios.
Interactive prototypes were used extensively to validate interactions, test states and transitions, and align closely with engineering. This helped surface edge cases early and ensured the final experience translated accurately into build.
5. Iteration, Validation & Handoff
Designs were continuously refined through usability testing, internal reviews, and close collaboration with engineers. We paid particular attention to microcopy, empty states, and error handling, details that strongly influence trust in high-stakes financial flows.
Final handoff focused on clarity and completeness, with dev-ready specs and ongoing design support through implementation to maintain quality and intent.
DESIGN AND RATIONALE
Design Principles Driving the Redesign
Reduce Cognitive Load: Every screen focuses on one primary task, using clear hierarchy and spacing to guide attention.
Design for Confidence: Success isn’t just completion, users should feel sure they’ve done things right through visible system status, feedback, and next steps.
Build Trust Through Consistency: Predictable patterns, interactions, and visual language help users feel safe and in control across the product.
Be Intentional in High-Risk Moments: Slow users down when actions are irreversible, and clearly surface critical information before confirmation.
Surface What Matters Most: Prioritize the most important information and actions at the right time, without overwhelming users with secondary details.
Separate Roles and Responsibilities Clearly: Design distinct experiences for spenders and admins, reflecting different levels of responsibility and control.
Support Real-World Usage: Design for errors, interruptions, and recovery paths, not just ideal or linear user journeys.
Onboarding
Auth and KYC
Expenses
Cards and Others
Admin Switch
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
End-to-End Ownership: Led the mobile app redesign from early concepts and wireframes through dev-ready specs and final QA.
Product Design Execution: Owned the full Alaan Spender mobile experience, ensuring design quality across all core flows.
Design System Foundation: Built a scalable mobile design system with reusable components and tokens to support future growth.
Prototyping & Implementation: Created interactive prototypes, led design reviews, and partnered closely with engineering to ship high-quality experiences.
User Research & Iteration: Conducted 1:1 user interviews and usability testing to continuously refine and improve designs.
Team Leadership & Mentorship: Mentored a junior designer with hands-on guidance while maintaining consistency and quality across the product.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Worked closely with product, engineering, marketing, and support to align user needs with business goals.
REFLECTIONS AND LEARNINGS
Trust Is Earned Through Interface: In spending products, users need to feel oriented, in control, and confident within the first few seconds.
Clarity Over Cleverness: Simplifying hierarchy and reducing visual noise made critical information instantly scannable and actionable.
Systems Enable Speed: A strong design system reduced decision fatigue, prevented design debt, and made shipping faster without compromising quality.
Design for Different Mental Models: Spenders, managers, and finance teams optimize for different outcomes, designing explicitly for each reduced friction.
Prototypes Drive Alignment: Interactive prototypes helped surface edge cases early and aligned design, product, and engineering faster.
Details Build Trust: Microcopy, states, and error handling mattered as much as visuals, especially in high-stakes financial flows.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Worked closely with product, engineering, marketing, and support to align user needs with business goals.
Thank You