2021-22

Research | E2E | UX | Journey map | User Testing

Background

Westpac aimed to grow its business lending by modernising its operations. In the first "Optimise" phase, we analysed existing processes to identify pain points and quick wins. In the next "Modernise" phase, we looked beyond incremental fixes, exploring how new technologies could create a seamless online borrowing experience—from application to drawdown.

My role

As part of a newly formed Experience Design (XD) team under a new Chapter Area Lead, I co-led Phase One with a service designer. I ran research, managed stakeholders, facilitated sessions, created prototypes, and partnered with an external UX agency for testing (more on why later).

Tasks

  • Co-created experience maps using internal insights

  • Mapped issues to journey steps and CRM systems

  • Conducted competitor analysis

  • Designed user flows and high-fidelity prototypes

  • Facilitated brainstorming workshops

  • Engaged a content designer and wrote prototype content

  • Co-developed test scripts and recruited business customers

  • Participated in user testing and analysed feedback

Phase One 'Capture the Application'

A review by Bevington revealed the shocking complexity of our application process—over 4,300 steps. We focused on the highest-friction area: capturing applications. Due to system constraints, customer data had to be re-entered multiple times, leading to poor data quality. Our goal was to digitise and simplify this step.

Working remotely during COVID-19, we:

  • Created experience maps using feedback from staff and Relationship Managers

  • Mapped pain points to journey steps and internal systems

  • Benchmarked against competitors, focusing on form structure and logic

  • Explored solutions with service designers and tech teams

  • Created flows and high-fidelity screens using our design system

  • Evaluated whether to use traditional forms or Typeform-like experiences

Activities & Outputs

I quickly transitioned into define mode, exploring numerous ideas and brainstorming with service designers, technical experts, and product teams. Together, we assessed what was feasible to build and what was not.

Define

Flows

I sketched flows of various journeys and validated with technical teams to understand the feasibilities

Screens

Build wirframes and highfidelity screens for testing using design system

Content design

Engaged with content designer to do the content writing for the pages

Why Typeform?

We chose a Typeform-style interface for its conversational tone, conditional logic, and clean design—believing it would boost engagement and trust.

We thought..

  • Type form can imitate conversation style, enhancing trust and engagement.

  • It offers interactive, conditional logic, allowing dynamic form responses based on user input.

  • Its visually appealing design and minimalistic approach can increase user engagement.

Prototyping & Testing

We created five prototypes focused on key journeys, especially for existing customers, to avoid triggering KYC/AML processes.


We engaged an agency to run in-person user testing over four days. Our aim was to educate the business on the value of research and human-centred design. Senior leaders observed the sessions to see real user reactions.

What We Learned

Help Panels

Users ignored always-on help sidebars—they were too focused on the main task.

Trust

Despite liking the experience, users hesitated to share financial data digitally. Trust remains a key challenge.

Saving the application

Asking users to create login credentials felt like too much commitment. Switching to an application ID was slightly better received

Outcomes

  • We created reusable Typeform patterns and added them to our design system.

  • We opened up discussions about where digital works and where human support is still essential.

  • This work laid the foundation for Customer CareLab, a new design space where customers can share feedback and teams can collaborate.

Phase Two & What’s Next

I led exploration around multi-director and joint applications, and helped conceptualise the "application hub". These were tested with users, but limited tech capability meant implementation was paused. We've since handed over research, patterns, and insights to guide future upgrades.

What I Learned

Trust is hard to earn digitally—human touchpoints still matter

  1. Sidebars and contextual help don’t always get noticed

  2. People prefer talking to people for complex tasks

  3. Thinking system-wide helped me scale solutions

  4. I grew in project management, stakeholder engagement, and agency collaboration

  5. Above all, I learned how to simplify complexity