I was the first product design hire at Waffle, an insurtech start-up spawned out of MIT and TechStars that provides personalized and budget-friendly insurance offerings. I collaborated with the founding growth manager to revamp the entire core product's desktop and mobile experience, resulting in a 251% conversion rate increase. I also played a pivotal role of introducing best design practices to the engineering team by establishing a design system and relative guidelines.

OVERVIEW

DURATION

Nov 2021 - May 2022

TEAM
Growth manager, engineering partners, founders

TOOLKIT

Figma

ROLE

Product Designer, strategy

Project Background

The current experience to get insurance is stagnant, confusing, complicated, and discouraging. According to a KFF survey, nearly half of the insured adults never solve their insurance related problems. Another dominant issue is affordability, which in some cases lead to individuals not receiving care and protection.

Waffle's Approach

Waffle's offers Home, automobile, term life, pet, renters, cyber, and travel insurances with an emphasis on digital first approach. We also provides the flexibility for users to manage all of their policies on the platform to omit lumbersome paperwork and time-consuming calls. During my internship, I helped launch the Home screen, onboarding flow, and end-to-end renters, cyber, term life, pet, and travel purchasing experiences.

Delivered Product

Seamless Onboarding

Waffle allows quote initiation without sign in. Users can start the process by simply entering their zipcode and selecting a service.

Quote Customization

Users have full autonomy to customize offerings, see the service available to them and decide whether to proceed.

Complete Purchase

Set up start date and billing information to finalize the quote.

Home Screen & Accounts

Users can see an overview of all their active plans, upcoming/overdue payments, and see more information for a specific subscription.

STEP THROUGH THE PROCESS

Competitive Analysis

To familiarize myself with the insur-tech industry, I played around with existing insurance software (Lemonade, Healthy Paws, Geico) and analyzed their user flows to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

What makes a seamless insurance purchasing experience?

Using the insights I learned from our competitors combined with Waffle's feature goals, I concluded

four design implications to strive for:

Informative Directions

Customizable Attributes

Users need helpful guidelines to navigate

throughout the experience.

Users need the ability to put in their information

and receive a desired quote.

Visual Hierarchy

Centralized Management

Users need clear interfaces that help them

identify the most useful information.

Users need an one-stop hub to oversee and

manage all of their plans.

I then mapped out the information architecture of the user-flow to see how the needs can be

incorporated into various functions in the app, especially at places where action is required from the

user to reach their goal.

IDEATION

01 Experimenting in Low Fidelity

I started brainstorming in low fidelity to get a better sense of the layouts and how they can satisfy the

user needs mentioned above.

I started brainstorming in low fidelity to get a better sense of the layouts and how they can satisfy the user needs mentioned above.

The left menu is static and easily accessible at anytime.

Users advance by clicking forward

or backward buttons with a

progress indicator at the bottom.

Users can view all of their existing

plans at one place as cards, easy to

organize status and charges.

Existing plan cards can be

expanded to show more details or

complete further actions.

The quote summary page will be

populated with adjustable variables

such as sliders and switches.

Utilizing hierarchy and contrast to

guide user attention as they read

through their quote.

02 Card Iteration - Managing Existing Plans

After receiving confirmation from the growth manager to move forward with displaying plans on the

home screen, I iterated on their design with the goal of minimal cognitive effort. I also gave users the

ability to pick up unfinished applications or start new ones. As a result, a card can be in one of three

states:

Because Waffle lacks a design system, I spent a lot of time exploring the card colors and illustrations. I

started with a set of vibrant and beige styles but later abandoned them due to cognitive overload. In

order to strengthen the overall Waffle brand, I requested to hire an illustrator who provided branded

graphics for me to work with.

Starting a Design System from Scratch

I got started on a design system for Waffle during the second half of my internship because of

difficulties to maintain consistency. I employed the Waffle orange as the dominant color and came

up with a series of swatches and their secondary colors for the status chips.

Mobile Adaptation

Though Waffle is a desktop first application, I ideated screens of a mobile experience for users who

wish to access Waffle through their phone browser. Our goal is to eventually launch a mobile

application as it is an industry trend to shift from desktop to mobile.

REFLECTION

My Biggest Takeaways

The Waffle team is small yet powerful. I got a holistic glimpse of how a start-up operates behind the

scene. I had a great time expanding the team's design knowledge and learned how design is

incorporated into a fast evolving start-up environment.

I started brainstorming in low fidelity to get a better sense of the layouts and how they can satisfy the user needs mentioned above.

Lessons & Challenges

Lead with Confidence

The Importance of Design System

Being the sole UX designer at a startup pushed me to take ownership of the entire design process, which strengthened my decision-making skills and made me a more confident, independent designer.

Unlike school or volunteering projects, Waffle is a for-profit business, and I learned to create

opportunities for purchase incentives while

maintaining intuitive user experience.

I spent a lot of time educating the engineers

about the design system after I discovered the

disconnection between tech and design. This

taught me how vital a working design system is.

I spent a lot of time educating the engineers about the design system after I discovered the disconnection between tech and design. This taught me how vital a working design system is.

Feeling Thankful

This is my first time designing for an actual business and the first time I got paid for my work! (welcome to the scary world of adulthood I guess?) I want to thank Diamonde, the head of growth manager, for her wisdom and patience, it was a blast to work with you and the Waffle crew 🧇!