CAPITA SYNAPTIC – PENSION PLANNING PLATFORM

Creating a scalable UI framework for complex financial products

Role

Lead UI designer

Duration

1 year

Team

UI/UX

Impact

Clarity, consistency & usability

Capita Synaptic engaged us to create a unified UI framework for a suite of pension planning tools used by financial advisers. Working as Creative Lead alongside the UX team, I translated wireframes into a consistent visual language that could scale across multiple products while making complex financial information easier to understand and navigate.

The challenge was to create a responsive interface capable of supporting everything from standard laptops to large HD displays, where advisers often work with extensive data tables, charts and detailed pension information. At the same time, the interface needed to remain approachable, accessible and visually consistent across a growing portfolio of products.

My role

Led the visual and interaction design across the product suite.
Worked closely with UX designers to develop interfaces from wireframes through to production-ready designs.
Defined a scalable visual language and reusable UI patterns.
Created the UI style guide and component library to ensure consistency across products.
Collaborated with stakeholders throughout the design process to balance usability, business requirements and technical constraints.

Design approach

Rather than treating each pension tool as a separate project, I established a shared design language that could support multiple workflows while remaining flexible enough for different user needs.

A carefully structured colour system communicated hierarchy, status and validation throughout the applications. Information architecture, typography and spacing were designed to improve readability when presenting large volumes of financial data, while interaction patterns remained consistent regardless of the product being used.

The responsive framework also introduced layouts optimised for wider desktop displays, giving advisers more space to compare data, review pension performance and complete complex tasks efficiently.

Outcome

The result was a cohesive design system that brought consistency across Capita Synaptic's pension planning products, improving usability for advisers while giving development teams a reusable set of interface patterns that could be applied across future products.

The project also reinforced many of the principles that continue to underpin my work today: scalable design systems, interaction design, accessibility, collaboration with UX and engineering, and creating interfaces that simplify complex information without sacrificing functionality.