Redesigned the RBC banking app to enhance the user interface, improving convenience and usability for users.
Sending Money Felt Like Solving a Puzzle
What should’ve taken 10 seconds took five screens, endless taps, and a forced contact-saving ritual.
That’s the reality for users trying to send money using RBC’s current app. The process is unintuitive, repetitive, and overly complex even for something as basic as paying rent, splitting dinner, or sending cash to family.
The home screen hides the essentials.
The transfer flow demands too much thinking.
And users? They just want to send and go.
By streamlining the home dashboard and rethinking the transfer flow, this redesign is set to make sending payments fast, familiar, and friction-free.
I redesigned the experience with:
A Quick Send button right on the home screen
Smart recipient suggestions based on recent activity
A condensed two-step payment flow (vs the original five)
What will be impact and end result
Cut transfer times by 30%,
Boost quick‑action adoption by 25%, and
Unlock an estimated CAD 8 million in new annual digital revenue
INTRODUCTION ABOUT PROJECT
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is one of the largest banks in North America, offering a range of digital services designed for modern finance. Its app aims to deliver secure, accessible, and seamless experiences but even great apps have room for refinement.
For this redesign, I didn’t aim to overhaul everything.
Instead, I focused on one mission:
Make the home screen smarter and help users send money faster.
What is the goal?
Enhance the app's user interface for a more intuitive and accessible experience.
Refine the design by reorganizing content and layout on the main page to improve clarity and navigation.
Streamline the money sending process to reduce transfer times and boost efficiency.
What is the problem?
Ineffective Home Screen Layout and Navigation
When I opened the RBC Mobile app, I wasn’t greeted by options that made me feel in control of my finances. Instead, I was met with a beautiful photo and a generic “Good Afternoon” greeting that, while warm, didn’t help me pay bills, check balances, or send money. It consumed precious space where function should lead.
That moment made me ask:
“What if the RBC home screen prioritized action over aesthetics?”
This question sparked a deep dive into how layout, hierarchy, and navigation can either empower or slow down users.
Following same boring steps everytime to send money to someone
The process of sending money in banking apps, is cumbersome due to the repetitive requirement of adding recipients to a contact list. This multi-step process is time-consuming and disrupts the seamless user experience expected in modern banking apps. Users expect a more streamlined and efficient way to transfer funds without the need for repetitive recipient management.
Imagine needing to send $50 to a friend something you’ve done dozens of times. You tap into the RBC app, only to face the same ritual: search → add recipient (again) → confirm details → finally, send.
This isn’t just inefficient it’s exhausting.
My Proposal: Designing for Speed, Simplicity, and Smarter Interactions
After analyzing both the cluttered home screen and the sluggish money transfer flow, I realized this wasn’t just a UI issue it was a systems problem. One that called for a focused, user-first redesign.
So I proposed a targeted intervention, not a full overhaul one that would deliver immediate wins for both users and business.
Here’s what I aimed to do:
Reorganize the home screen’s content hierarchy to prioritize frequent actions over static greetings
Introduce customizable quick-action widgets for faster access to tasks like “Send Money”
Streamline the recipient selection flow into a single, intelligent step using predictive logic
The goal? To reduce friction, simplify navigation, and empower users to complete core tasks faster especially on mobile.
What is core solution?
The heart of the redesign lies in a simple idea:
Instead of treating every transfer like a brand-new task, I redesigned the flow to:
Suggest previous recipients upfront based on frequency
Collapse the add/select step into a single predictive interface
Enable a “Direct Transfer” widget on the home screen for repeat transfers
Improved Home Screen Layout and Navigation
Simplified Interface: Redesign the home screen to prioritize the most frequently used features, such as account balances, recent transactions, and quick actions like transferring funds or paying bills.
Personalization Options: Allow users to customize their home screen by pinning their most-used features to the top, creating a personalized experience tailored to individual needs.
USER RESEARCH
Uncovering Pain Points in User Process: Challenges in Banking App UI and Transaction Experience
To gain empathy and understand current banking experiences, I interviewed six people about their interactions with banking apps, focusing on UI design challenges and transaction-related frustrations. I took a qualitative, open-ended research approach to explore usability pain points, navigation difficulties, and areas where the user experience could be improved for smoother and more efficient transactions.
GUIDING OBJECTIVES
How do users typically navigate banking apps for transactions? Why?
What features are most important to users when making transactions? Why?
What are the common pain points users experience in the transaction process? Why?
How do users perceive the current UI design of banking apps? Why?
What improvements do users wish to see for a better transaction experience? Why?
WIREFRAME & PROTOTYPE
With fundamental concepts we sketched out some low fi-wireframes that helped us identify key elements.
SKETCH & LO-FI WIREFRAME
HI-FI Wireframe
PROTOTYPES & FINAL VISUAL DESIGN
KEY TAKEAWAYS AND LEARNING
