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Case Study

Rova: Redesigning a
Cross-Border Payments Experience

Cutting onboarding churn by 30% and building the product design system for the app.

Senior Product Designer 2024–Present Fintech (UK & Nigeria) Web & Mobile

At a glance

Role Senior Product Designer: research, interaction design, UI, prototyping, design system
Team 2 designers · 2 PMs · 10 engineers
Platforms Web & Mobile (iOS / Android)
Headline result 30% reduction in onboarding churn
Overview

Three connected problems. One redesign.

Rova is a cross-border payments and savings app for the Nigerian diaspora across the UK and Nigeria. I joined in 2024 and led the end-to-end redesign from V1 to V2.

This study covers three problems I owned: onboarding friction, in-flow KYC interruptions, and the absence of a design system.

Problem 01

Onboarding friction & early churn

The problem

V1 forced full KYC (ID, address, compliance) before users could reach the home screen. A 15+ minute signup that felt like an obstacle course. Users churned before seeing the app's value.

My approach

Separated the minimum steps to create an account from deeper verification. Users reach the home screen fast with KYC surfaced progressively once inside. Replaced delayed account opening with immediate access to a live account state.

30%
Reduction in onboarding churn By unlocking the home screen before full KYC completion
Problem 02

Repeated KYC interruptions in the Savings Vault flow

The problem

Creating a vault triggered a full KYC refresh mid-flow, re-asking for information already collected. Two equal-weight CTAs, no clear primary action, and the same question asked twice.

My approach

Cut the steps to vault creation. Made the KYC refresh a lightweight confirmation. Added contextual copy: "Quick check before we open your vault", and set a clear primary action.

Shorter path
To vault activation Reduced setup abandonment through progressive KYC and a single clear CTA
Problem 03

Design inconsistency across a fragmented V1 library

The problem

V1 had no design system. Inconsistent labels, mismatched capitalisation, broken icons, wrong CTA copy, mixed visual styles in one scroll. For a premium financial product, this eroded trust.

My approach

Led a full design-system build: Figma variable architecture with Primitives and Semantic Tokens, 13 type styles across Fraunces & Montserrat, a full colour system with dark-mode surfaces and status states, and a tiered component library from atoms to complex native patterns.

Figma variable architecturePrimitives + Semantic Tokens13 type stylesFraunces & MontserratFull colour systemDark-mode surfacesStatus statesAtoms → complex components
1 system
Single source of truth Across the NG and UK surfaces, web and mobile
Takeaway

The throughline

Reducing friction in a regulated financial product, without compromising compliance, by sequencing requirements intelligently, contextualising necessary interruptions, and building the systems foundation that keeps a fast-moving product coherent.

Want to see the full process: flows, prototypes, and the design system?

Let's talk.

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