Rainydays Saver
Digital savings and credit · Target, Rotational, Invest, Loans
Product Designer · Rainydays · 2021 · 3 months
How do you digitize savings and credit without losing the human reassurance people expect when money is on the line?
The Challenge
Rainydays wanted one trusted place for flexible money moves: rotational savings circles, solo target plans, investments, and short-term loans. Operations still ran on spreadsheets and WhatsApp—slow onboarding, slow approvals, fragile trust.
A product manager shaped initial flows. I joined to turn them into a cohesive end-to-end experience across admin and consumer surfaces.
Approach
Design both sides of the business as one system: ops that decide faster, customers who always know what happens next.
- Admin: portfolio health, product drilldowns, credit eligibility, and clear status trails
- Consumer: plain-language home, simple product choices, funding, and confirmations
- Trust signals throughout—progress markers, upfront eligibility, transparent fees
- Consistent visual language across four products
Key Design Decisions
Decision 1
Dual-surface system
The Decision: Design admin and consumer as paired products—not a customer app with a bolted-on back office.
Why: Trust breaks when ops can’t act. Speed-to-decision for admins is part of the customer experience.
Result: Dashboard for trends and health; product tables for Target, Rotational, Investment, and Loans with context to approve or intervene.
Decision 2
Trust-first journeys
The Decision: Lead with progress, eligibility, and fees—especially around KYC/BVN, funding, and credit.
Why: Spreadsheets can’t show “you’re safe.” Digitization fails if people feel less informed than a WhatsApp agent.
Result: Onboarding and product flows that explain next steps before asking for money or commitment.
Decision 3
Preserve rotational culture digitally
The Decision: Model rotational savings as joinable circles with clear states—open, locked, in progress—not a generic group payment list.
Why: Rotational savings (ajo / ROSCA-like) carry social rules. Flattening them into a form would break the product’s meaning.
Result: Consumer cards that show group status and admin tools that keep circle ops visible.
The Experience
A customer opens Rainydays, sees savings and investments in plain language, and starts a Target plan—or joins a rotational circle that still feels like a real group, not a spreadsheet.
On the other side, an admin opens one dashboard: portfolio health, product performance, and loan applications with eligibility in view. Approvals move without hunting through WhatsApp threads.
Interface Design
Admin dashboard
At-a-glance portfolio health, product trends, and notifications so ops can act without leaving the overview.
Admin product ops
Drilldowns for Target, Rotational, Investment, and Loans—tables and metrics tuned for speed-to-decision.
Onboarding
Account creation and authentication designed to feel safe when connecting money—clear steps, low ambiguity.
Consumer products
Rotational circles, target plans, investments, and loans with status, eligibility, and next actions in plain language.
User flow
Refined entry points and decision branches from signup through KYC, products, payout, and fees—so next steps stay visible.
Validation
Testing shaped the next iteration. Feedback was directional—proof of what to keep and what to tighten—not a claim of market success.
- 70% found navigation intuitive and product value clear
- 68% reported higher brand trust from the clean, consistent interface
- 38% wanted shorter Target and Rotational applications—next pass consolidates steps
- Admins praised the dashboard for surfacing metrics and trends in one view
Outcome
The work delivered a coherent dual experience: admins with faster decision paths, customers with clearer savings and credit journeys. Collaborative reviews with the client kept alignment high through handoff.
Key Learnings
What worked
- Treating admin and consumer as one system made trust operational, not decorative
- Progress and eligibility signals reduced “what happens next” anxiety
- Keeping rotational savings culturally legible preserved product meaning
What I’d do differently
- Shorten Target and Rotational applications earlier—38% already flagged length
- Prototype fee transparency states with real money anxiety scenarios
- Test credit eligibility explanation with first-time borrowers sooner
Core insight
- Fintech trust is a design material. Digitizing WhatsApp ops only wins if people feel more informed—not less human—than before.
