Jenius Bank: iOS & Android Mobile App
Contributed to the iOS and Android experience for Jenius Bank's mobile app, collaborating with a cross-functional design team to ship core banking flows and user-facing features.
Contents
Jenius Bank Mobile App Screens
Product & Business Objective
Jenius Bank was a B2C digital division startup under SMBC that offered personal loans, HYSAs, and holistic personal financial management tools. Jenius Bank's mobile app (iOS and Android) served as the primary touchpoint for its 250K+ customers and inspired to deliver a seamless, native banking experience from account management to money movement. The app was central to the bank's mission of providing a customer-first digital banking experience, competing in the growing U.S. fintech landscape.
Organizational Scope
The mobile product was a collaborative effort spanning Product, Engineering, Data, Legal, Risk, Compliance, and Design. The mobile design team primarily included 3 designers for its MVP version working across iOS and Android, with close partnership with a dedicated mobile engineering team and product managers across feature areas including Deposits, Loans, and PFM.
Key Business and User Wins
The bank reached 1 billion dollars in HYSA deposits under a year of its July 2023 launch, growing to 2 billion by early 2026.
Surpassed $1B in loans within the first year, driven by customer-friendly terms: no origination or late fees, competitive rates, and fast digital-first funding.
The Jenius Bank mobile app maintained a strong 4.0/5 rating, reflecting a polished, user-centric experience for iOS users and 3.6/5 for Android.
Jenius Bank App Store Creative
My Contribution
As a contributor on the mobile design team, I collaborated closely with designers, product managers, and engineers to design and iterate on core banking flows and user-facing features across iOS and Android. I joined during an early startup phase when the design system was nascent, team processes were still forming, and the priority was learning fast and iterating. Within that environment, I delivered high-quality, production-ready designs while consistently advocating for the user.
How I Showed Up as a Collaborator
Role & Impact
During my time on the mobile team at Jenius Bank, I contributed to a range of feature areas across the iOS and Android app. I worked in close partnership with product, engineering, and design collaborators. Some of my achievements and responsibilities can be found on my résumé here.
User Research
User research was a core part of the mobile design process. Whether it was preference testing copy variations, usability testing hi-fidelity prototypes on device, or journey mapping to uncover mobile-specific pain points, research consistently informed our direction and helped us build with confidence.
Design System
The mobile app was built on top of an existing 3rd-party inherited design system. When I came in, I contributed to the design system and mentored other designers and advocated for best practices within our Figma design system to ensured high-quality visual and interaction consistency across iOS and Android. As I later transitioned to leading the Forje web design system, my time on the mobile team gave me a strong foundation in component-driven design and cross-platform thinking.
Accessibility
Accessibility was a shared commitment across the entire Jenius Bank product team. On mobile, we followed WCAG 2.2 AA and AAA standards, ensuring the app was usable for all customers. Design documentation included reading order, touch target sizing, contrast ratios, and VoiceOver/TalkBack considerations.
User Journeys, Flows, and Prototypes
Prototyping native mobile flows (including happy paths, edge cases, and first-time user experiences) was key to communicating design intent and aligning stakeholders ahead of development handoff.
Sarah N.
VP Product Manager, Jenius Bank
Yuan is the most talented and collaborative designer I've had the privilege of working with. Over the past 3+ years at Jenius Bank (SMBC's U.S. digital bank), Yuan and I worked very closely as we built and launched our Personal Finance Management (PFM) and open banking features from discovery to production, navigating complex technical integrations, regulatory constraints, and user needs every step of the way. Yuan led the design for critical user flows including external account linking, net worth and cashflow/subscription tracking, first-time user experience, accounts lists and details views, info architecture, and full accessibility compliance. She consistently delivered intuitive, elegant solutions, balancing innovation with usability.
Yuan's proactive collaboration with our research team was paramount as she championed and helped execute quantitative and qualitative research that informed our strategy. What sets Yuan apart is her exceptional empathy for users, unique ability to spot subtle edge cases or unmet needs early, and knack for proposing creative and thoughtful alternatives.
As a collaborator, Yuan is sharp, articulate, kind, and thoughtful, making every workshop, critique, or shared doc noticeably better just by being in it. Yuan is an outstanding design leader and any forward-thinking team in fintech or beyond would be incredibly fortunate to bring her on board! I would work with Yuan again without hesitation.
Alejandro S.
Senior UX/UI Marketing Designer, Jenius Bank
In my four years at Jenius Bank, Yuan stood out as one of the most meticulous and talented designers I've worked with. Her mastery of Figma and her ability to navigate complex design systems is second to none. Yuan's work on the digital bank's authenticated space was a masterclass in design execution, leading to her well-earned promotion to VP. She is highly respected for her craft and her leadership, and she consistently inspires those around her to do their best work.
Andrew P.
Senior Software Engineer, Jenius Bank
Yuan is an extraordinary designer who truly understands the synergy between design and development. During our time at Jenius Bank, she produced stunning, 'work-of-art' designs that were as functional as they were beautiful. What makes Yuan stand out is her complete lack of ego; she was always willing to iterate on her designs to optimize for development without compromising the user experience. Her agility is unmatched—she would often listen to engineering feedback during a meeting and present a modified, pixel-perfect solution before the call even ended.
