Projects
Designing white-label Infrastructure for Private Markets
AT A GLANCE
My bets among other efforts helped us gain 90+ partners with €100M+ in assets under management (AUM)
During my time at ROYC, I made two bets that founders initially pushed back on:
A modular white-label design library on day one, asked for a week to prove it. I got a green light, by month three, it was a crucial foundation that saved €200K+ in costs.
Proposed splitting our platform into two distinct products - one for investors, another for operational partners. Founders were hesitant, I mapped the workflows, showed the UX gains, got it approved.
Project Details
Role
Lead Product Designer
Company
ROYC
Timeline
7 months
Team
Product Designer, 2 co-founders, 3 frontend engineers, CTO
Tools
Figma, Agents, Pen & Paper
€100M+ AUM
in 2 yrs
€200K+ savings
with Modular DS
90+ partners
in 2 yrs
before — after snapshot of the platform
screenshots of data-heavy legacy tools used by wealth managers
The Solution
Design that closed enterprise deals
The early prototype lacked visual credibility. Traders accustomed to Excel and legacy terminals needed to see something that felt trustworthy and purpose-built before they would engage seriously. Design became the primary sales tool.
High-fidelity prototypes shown in a prospect's brand colors made partners assume the product had been custom-built for them. A wealth simulator let bankers model projected returns across asset types and custom variables, turning abstract fund structures into interactive scenarios they could explore in a demo. Custom **data visualization** components surfaced capital schedules, asset allocation, and performance attribution as interactive charts, making dense financial data immediately readable. Together, these turned demos into closings. 5 enterprise clients signed post-redesign.
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The Process
Domain Immersion First
Private markets are niche—fewer than 1,000 specialized traders globally understand workflows deeply. I couldn’t rely on week-2 user testing. Instead, I shadowed founders from Blackstone and Nordia for weeks, attended design partner sessions with family offices and wealth managers, and ran 5–6 user interviews focused on hesitations and expected workflows. By week 3 I could sketch fund lifecycles, explain why metrics matter to different personas (LP vs. GP vs. advisor), and predict where users would get confused.
Design System as Strategy
I advocated hard for a design system from day one—controversial, but essential for white-label capability. Founders wanted features, not systems. Engineers said it would slow them down. Turning point: I asked for a one-week trial, changed the color system and typography, showed the results. That gave confidence to invest. Built components in parallel with features. Within week 4, I had 30+ components in Figma. By month 3, it was non-negotiable. Engineers adopted it 100%.
Platform Split Decision
Mid-project, I realized one platform couldn’t serve two opposing user groups. Investors wanted executive-level dashboards and allocation tracking. Partners (operational staff) wanted task lists, compliance checklists, and workflow progression. I made the case through detailed workflow mapping and convinced founders to split into two focused platforms—each closing different customer segments.
AI-Native Workflow
I used AI at three critical junctures: synthesizing 5–6 user interview recordings (4 hours saved per interview), generating 80+ token names and values for 4 white-label variants (3–4 hours saved), and developing a Figma plugin that batch-applies tokens in 15 minutes instead of 6 hours. AI eliminated busywork, not creativity.
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Gallery
Reflections
01
Innovation needs domain fluency
ROYC succeeded not because we were first—we succeeded because we combined deep banking domain knowledge, first-principles design thinking, and the discipline to say no. Most fintechs fail by adding features for every request. Simplicity, backed by expertise, is the real differentiator.
02
High-fidelity prototypes as a sales weapon
In legacy industries, users don't know what modern software looks like until they see it. A fully interactive, branded prototype didn't just validate the UX—it became the founders' primary sales asset. Showing it in a partner's brand colors closed rooms where slide decks failed.
03
Data visualization was the hidden north star
I didn't anticipate how central visualization would become. Complex financial data—performance attribution, capital schedules, allocations—had to become stories, not spreadsheets. A picture says a thousand words became our north star.
04
Psychological safety over velocity
Constant pressure to ship faster reduced quality and morale. We succeeded not because we burned harder, but because team members felt valued and heard. Psychological safety accelerated iteration more than any sprint cadence. Respect for people isn't soft—it's a multiplier.
Great design isn't about pixel perfection or trendy interactions—it's about understanding a market, simplifying complexity, and building infrastructure for others to scale.
The traders and wealth advisors using ROYC every day aren't thinking about the design system or token structure. They're closing deals faster, reporting to their LPs more reliably, and scaling offerings that were impossible before. That's impact that matters.