Aura Finance — Wealth Management UI

Overview

A wealth management firm overseeing $2B in assets under management needed an interface that matched the trust their clients placed in them. The existing platform — functional but visually dated — created friction during client-facing portfolio reviews and failed WCAG accessibility standards. I designed a calm, confidence-inspiring interface that reduced cognitive load, passed WCAG AA compliance, and became the centerpiece of the firm's client relationship experience.

The Business Problem Advisors avoided using the platform during client meetings because the dense, spreadsheet-like interface undermined the sense of professionalism they needed to project. Meanwhile, accessibility gaps exposed the firm to regulatory risk as WCAG compliance requirements tightened across financial services.

The Design Goal Create an interface that advisors confidently present in high-stakes client meetings, achieve full WCAG AA compliance, and reduce the visual complexity of portfolio views without sacrificing data density.

01. Research & Discovery

Before redesigning a single screen, I needed to understand what "trust" looked like in a financial interface — and where the existing platform was silently eroding it. I spent the first three weeks embedded with advisory teams, observing real client meetings and cataloging every moment the interface created hesitation.

Methodology:

• 12 shadowed client-advisor meetings across two office locations

• Accessibility audit of the full platform against WCAG 2.1 AA criteria

• 8 one-on-one interviews with senior advisors focused on client presentation workflows

• Competitive analysis of 6 wealth management platforms (Addepar, Orion, Black Diamond, Wealthfront, Betterment, Personal Capital)

Key Insights:

1. The Apology Moment: In 9 of 12 observed meetings, the advisor verbally apologized for the interface at least once — "sorry, let me find that" or "ignore this part of the screen." Each apology eroded client confidence.

2. Color Overload: The existing UI used 14 distinct colors with no semantic system. Red appeared in decorative elements, making clients instinctively anxious even when their portfolio was performing well.

3. Accessibility Gaps: 23 critical WCAG AA failures were identified, including insufficient contrast ratios on 40% of text elements, missing focus indicators, and no keyboard navigation support on key workflows.

02. Framing the Problem

I synthesized the research into a design challenge that reframed the interface as a trust instrument — not just a data display.

How might we design a portfolio interface so visually composed that an advisor never needs to apologize for it — one that communicates competence, calm, and clarity in a single glance?

03. Ideation & Prototyping

I ran a focused 2-day workshop with the product lead, two senior advisors, and the compliance officer. Rather than generating volume, we worked through a series of constrained exercises: designing screens with only 3 colors, then only 5 typographic sizes, forcing every decision to earn its place.

Architectural Shifts:

• Semantic Color Only: Stripping the palette down to a neutral base with exactly three semantic colors — green for positive, amber for attention, red for critical. Every other element is grayscale. Color always means something.

• The Calm Grid: Replacing dense data tables with a card-based layout that uses generous whitespace and a strict 8pt spatial system. Information density is maintained through progressive disclosure — summary first, detail on interaction.

• Meeting Mode: A dedicated presentation state that enlarges typography, simplifies charts, and hides internal-only metadata — designed specifically for screen-sharing during client reviews.

04. High-Fidelity Execution

With the direction validated through 6 moderated usability sessions with advisors and 2 client-facing tests, I moved into production. The visual system was deliberately restrained — no gradients, no illustrations, no visual noise. The interface needed to feel like a well-set table: everything in its place, nothing competing for attention.

05. Outcomes & Impact

The redesigned interface was rolled out to all advisors over 4 weeks following a 2-week pilot with the firm's largest advisory team. Impact was measured at 90 days post-launch.

The Results:

• Zero WCAG AA failures — full compliance achieved across all audited workflows.

• -67% Reduction in "apology moments" during client meetings (tracked via post-meeting advisor surveys).

• +34% Increase in advisors using the platform live during client reviews instead of pre-built slide decks.

• 4.7 / 5 Advisor satisfaction score, with the highest marks on "client presentation confidence."

Reflection: I underestimated how politically charged the color simplification would be. Several stakeholders had strong attachments to the existing brand palette, and the conversation about stripping it back consumed nearly a full sprint. In future projects involving color system overhauls, I'd lead with a data-backed presentation on color psychology in financial interfaces before proposing changes.