Last Updated on: Fri 01 May

BENGALURU EDITION

Page No. 01

Chronicles of Shubhank

  • What is building for the scale looks like?

    1 application for 20 lenders?

    New features for US Stocks on Fi, more magical?

    Gamification turns into $7.3 million spends?

    What is owning design system at fintech

    Wealth Builder launched!

  • CIVIL ENGINEER TO DESIGN, HOW?

Who is Shubhank Sharma?

A product designer focused on systems, behavior, and decision-making in financial products

Kota, Rajasthan / Bengaluru, Karnataka — Shubhank Sharma is a product designer who approaches design through structure rather than surface. Trained as a civil engineer at the Manipal Institute of Technology, he transitioned from building physical systems to designing digital ones—where the focus shifts from materials to human behavior and decision-making.


His work in fintech spans platforms like Fi Money and Zolve, where he has worked on problems ranging from everyday money management to cross-border financial systems. Across both, a consistent pattern defines his approach: simplifying complexity, structuring incentives, and designing systems that influence how users act—not just how interfaces look.


At Fi Money, this meant working on user-facing financial experiences where clarity and ease of use directly impacted how people managed their money day to day. At Zolve, the problems expanded in scope—spanning global users, compliance-heavy flows, and systems that required balancing user trust with business outcomes.


Rather than focusing only on screens, he sees products as systems—made up of loops, tradeoffs, and outcomes. Early in his career, his work reflects a clear direction: toward problems where design shapes not just usability, but behavior and trust.

Rebuilding Zolve’s design system—before the brand itself was defined

A scalable product foundation and visual language designed for a global audience, built under ambiguity

Bengaluru, Karnataka — When Zolve began reworking its product experience, it faced a foundational challenge. There was no cohesive design system in place, existing interfaces lacked consistency, and external agency contributions had not produced a scalable output. At the same time, the product itself was expanding—serving users not just from India, but from Africa, Europe, and other regions entering global financial systems for the first time.


The work began not with visual polish, but with structure. Components were defined, interaction patterns standardized, and a flexible color system introduced—one that could evolve alongside a brand that was still being shaped. The goal was to build a system that would not need to be rebuilt once branding decisions were finalized, but could instead accommodate them.


A key decision in the visual direction was the move away from illustration-heavy interfaces toward a photoreal approach. While illustrations offered stylistic control, they required ongoing production effort and were harder to scale across contexts. Photoreal visuals, supported by evolving AI workflows, provided a more adaptable alternative. They also introduced a different kind of relatability—users could see environments and scenarios that mirrored their own experiences, rather than abstract representations of them.


The visual system emphasized context over character. Instead of focusing on individuals, it focused on situations—movement, environment, transition. This allowed users to project themselves into the experience more easily. Alongside this, motion was introduced gradually. With no dedicated animation resources initially, early interactions were developed internally, followed by collaboration with external specialists to refine and scale the system.


As the updated product began rolling out, early indicators pointed to improved engagement and interaction across the interface. Elements that previously saw low engagement began performing better, suggesting that consistency at the system level was influencing behavior at the micro level. What emerged was not just a visual refresh, but a foundation—one designed to scale with the product, the brand, and the users it serves.

Vol. 01

Page no. 02

Designing the hardest money transfer first

A compliance-heavy remittance system built for India → US, with a structure designed to scale across borders

Bengaluru, Karnataka — Sending money internationally is often described as a simple action: enter an amount, choose a recipient, confirm the transfer. In practice, especially for users sending funds from India, the process is shaped by multiple layers of regulation, fluctuating exchange rates, and dependencies on financial partners. Zolve chose not to begin with the simplest corridor, but with the most complex—India to the United States—where compliance requirements are highest and user friction most visible.


The rationale was architectural as much as it was practical. By designing for the most constrained scenario, the system could later scale to simpler corridors without requiring structural changes. The challenge, however, was to manage complexity without exposing it in a way that overwhelmed users. Each step in the flow needed to provide clarity: what information was required, why it was necessary, and what would happen next.


Rather than deferring critical information, key variables such as transfer amount, exchange rate, and speed were surfaced early in the journey. This allowed users to make informed decisions upfront, rather than discovering trade-offs later. Error states, which are common in remittance flows, were treated as part of the experience rather than interruptions—each accompanied by explanation and resolution.


The project also encountered external constraints. An earlier version of the flow for a different corridor was completed but delayed due to partner-related issues, reinforcing the need for a system that could adapt to changing dependencies. While the product is still pending final approvals, user testing has shown a consistent pattern: when complexity is structured clearly, user confidence increases. The goal is not to remove complexity, but to make it navigable.

Vol. 02

Page no. 03

Zolve turns Black Friday into a four-day, $7.3 million behavior shift

A reward-first system drives record transactions by changing how users decide to act

Bengaluru, Karnataka — At Zolve, the challenge was never issuing credit cards. Accounts were being opened, cards were being activated, and users had access to credit. The gap appeared later—at the point of decision. When it came time to pay, many users still defaulted to other cards. What the product lacked was not access, but habit. Black Friday offered a rare moment to address this: a compressed window where user intent to spend was already high, and the competition for attention even higher.

Instead of relying on conventional discount-led campaigns, the team introduced a daily engagement system centered on a simple mechanic: a spin-the-wheel available once every 24 hours. But the structure behind it was more deliberate than it appeared. Users spun the wheel and immediately saw what they stood to gain. Each reward was tied to a task, and completing that task unlocked the benefit. The shift—from asking users to act first, to showing them the outcome upfront—reduced hesitation and clarified intent.

Over time, the system began to behave less like a campaign and more like a loop. Users returned not just for the reward, but for the expectation of one. What started as a short-term initiative began shaping repeat behavior under high-intent conditions. The first few hours underperformed compared to the previous year, but as users entered the loop, engagement accelerated. By the end of the four-day window, the shift was measurable—not just in revenue, which reached $7.3 million, but in participation, with 67% of active users engaging with the system. The campaign did more than drive transactions; it demonstrated that when incentives are structured visibly and predictably, behavior follows.

Vol. 03

Page no. 04

One application. Twenty lenders. Zero fragmentation.

A structured system simplifies global education loans—and quietly repositions Zolve as a platform

Bengaluru, Karnataka — For students preparing to study abroad, securing an education loan is less a single decision and more a prolonged comparison exercise. Interest rates vary, collateral requirements shift across lenders, and eligibility criteria often require interpretation. What exists is not a lack of supply, but an overabundance of fragmented options. Zolve entered this space not as a lender, but as an intermediary—positioned to connect users with multiple financial institutions across geographies including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

The challenge was not access to lenders, but navigation between them. Applying to multiple institutions meant repeating the same inputs, understanding different rules, and manually comparing outcomes. The solution reframed the experience entirely. Instead of asking users to apply multiple times, the system captured a single structured input and distributed it across nearly twenty lenders. What had previously been a scattered process was condensed into a guided flow of seven screens, each designed to collect only what was necessary to generate meaningful results.

A notable shift in the design was the move away from eligibility-based questioning toward preference-based inputs. Rather than asking whether a user qualified, the system asked what they were looking for—collateral or non-collateral loans, preferred amounts, timelines. This reduced friction without removing control. Behind the scenes, complexity remained, but from the user’s perspective, it was contained.

The impact was immediate. Within its first week, the product recorded the highest number of logins in Zolve’s history, surpassing established competitors in user activity. More importantly, it changed how the product was perceived. What had been a feature became a platform—one that connected intent with outcomes in a way that felt structured, rather than overwhelming.

Vol. 04

Page no. 05

Fi Money : Takes new approach in UX by gamifying the connecting accounts journey

The A&A Business unit of Fi took over the account connection part of the app and delivered a fresh user experience addressing all the previous user problems. At the same time, it reduced a massive number of CX incoming calls.klasnflkasnlkcnaslknclknaslknclsanlkcnlksanclknaslkcnlkasnclknaslknclasknclknaskcnlkasnclkasnclknaslkcnaslknclkasncklnaslkcnas

Vol. 05

Page no. 06

Fi tackles a crucial onboarding gap with VKYC redesign

Bengaluru, Karnataka - Fi, the Indian fintech app known for simplifying finance, has turned its attention to an often-overlooked but critical step in user onboarding: the VKYC verification.

Once users open a Savings Account, they land on the home screen—but as a Min KYC user, their access is limited. To unlock full features, users must complete a Video KYC with a bank representative. However, the old VKYC journey had major drop-offs. Users were unsure of requirements, ill-prepared for the call, and frequently got rejected—resulting in a poor upgrade experience and a spike in customer support queries.

Vol. 06

Page no. 07

Fi is helping people build wealth with its new product

Indian Fintech app launches much awaited new and revamped version of there order screen with new features

Most of the users before its launch thought it would be just another analyser with just some fresh UI. But no, Product designers and Product Managers made this product more than just any analyser.

This new analyser gives the user a deeper level breakdown of their investment portfolio. Explain each ratio/reason to the users. For the next launch, Fi said they will be taking this forward by providing actionable items to the users based on their portfolio performance.

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