Coconut
Year
March 2018 - December 2020
Type
iOS, Android, Web
Role
Lead Designer
Coconut helps self-employed people manage their business finances.
Joining shortly after beta launch, I led the end-to-end design for core banking and accounting features across iOS, Android and web, supporting company growth from 1000 to 15,000+ self-employed customers and 500 accountant partners.
The opportunity
Self-employed people needed intuitive financial tools to handle complex scenarios like VAT compliance, multiple accounts and accountant collaboration.
The approach
As the only designer, I established design processes and cross-functional workflows that improved collaboration with engineering and product managers, whilst delivering visual and user experience design, interaction design and prototyping across Product, Marketing, and Growth. This included design handoff processes, review cycles, user research and documentation standards.
I designed and shipped 10+ major features including:
Open Banking integration
New Accounts tab
Invoicing with automatic reconciliation
Rollout of iOS Beta to Android
Personal & Business Profiles
Ltd Companies
Subscription Billing & Scheduled Payments
Referrals, Crowdfunding and Onboarding improvements
Open Banking
Open Banking integration allows customers to connect external bank accounts and credit cards, centralising financial records for better bookkeeping and tax management.
A key design challenge was creating account setup flows that correctly categorised transactions based on user type (Sole Trader vs Limited Company) and account type (business vs personal), ensuring accurate tax calculations and VAT suggestions.
VAT Management
The VAT recording feature enables customers to record VAT on transactions and invoices, meeting HMRC's Making Tax Digital compliance requirements.
A key design challenge was creating an intelligent VAT rate application system that automatically applies rates when confident (eg. insurance as exempt) but prompts users to confirm suggestions when uncertain, balancing automation with accuracy for tax compliance.
Invoicing
Customers can create, send and track invoices within the app, with automatic payment reconciliation when matching payments entered their Coconut account.
I designed a mobile-first invoice experience that could generate professional, email-ready invoices, balancing the simplicity needed for mobile use with the professional presentation clients expected.
Accountant Portal
The Accountant Portal enables real-time collaboration between accountants and their clients, eliminating manual bookkeeping by providing live access to transaction data, categories, VAT rates and receipts.
Accountants can review, correct and export client transaction data directly, eliminating traditional month-end reconciliation processes.
Credits
Lead Designer - Joëlle Snaith
Lead Engineer - Jaymz Campbell