Intuit · Mountain View, CA · 2017–2019

QuickBooks
Money
Movement

Role Principal IxD Lead
Duration 2017–2019
Scope Service Design, FinTech, Prototyping
Service Design FinTech Prototyping
02
14
Transaction types unified
4M+
SMB users impacted
2
Prototype directions tested
$0
To seamless integration

The Challenge

Small business owners don't think like accountants. When a non-accountant entrepreneur opens QuickBooks for the first time, they face a transaction landscape fragmented across 14 distinct types: Expenses, Bills, Invoices, Estimates, Time Tracking, Deposits, Transfers, Journal Entries, and more. Each category has its own workflow, rules, and terminology. The mental model gap is massive. As one customer told us: "QuickBooks make me feel dumb. I feel like I should just get this stuff." That failure was critical. Intuit's core SMB market was becoming increasingly commoditized, and QuickBooks Money Movement was positioned as the simplifying experience.

We mapped the complete transaction landscape and discovered the fundamental problem: the interface treated each transaction type as a separate thing to learn, rather than part of a coherent mental model. Most SMB users don't want to think about accounting categories—they want to answer simple questions: "Did I spend money?", "Did someone pay me?", "Did money move?". We needed to reorganize the entire transaction creation workflow around user mental models rather than accounting logic.

The solution required testing two radically different approaches: a stepflow-based model that separated workflow from creation context, versus a hub structure that centralised creation in a single interface. Both were prototyped, tested with customers, and validated with product teams before final implementation on the Horizon design system.

Intuit QuickBooks — customer research pain points User Research — What Customers Are Feeling

Three-Phase Design Process

01
Discovery & Mapping
Comprehensive user research across 14 transaction types. Customer interviews revealed mental model gap. Mapped transaction landscape showing dependencies and relationships. Identified key insight: users organise by action, not accounting category.
02
Prototype Testing
Test 1: Stepflow approach separating workflow from creation context. Test 2: Hub structure centralising creation with dashboard progress tracker. Tested with 40+ customers. Stepflow showed 23% faster completion, Hub showed better discoverability.
03
System Integration
Integrated winning hybrid approach with Horizon design system. Created new financial components for transaction creation. Accessibility review. Implemented 4M+ user rollout strategy with feature flags and gradual enablement.
Intuit QuickBooks — Stepflow vs Hub prototype testing HiFi Prototypes — Stepflow & Hub Structure

Role & Responsibilities

1
Research & Synthesis — Led customer research across SMB segment. Synthesised findings into mental models. Created transaction landscape maps and journey maps.
2
Workshop Facilitation — Ran co-design workshops with product and engineering. Tested hypotheses with customers. Facilitated decision-making between competing prototype approaches.
3
Prototype Direction — Directed two parallel prototype tracks. Managed research testing across 40+ customers. Synthesised learning into design recommendations for engineering team.
4
Design System Contribution — Contributed new financial components to Horizon design system. Documented transaction creation patterns for future teams.
5
Cross-functional Co-creation — Partnered with product, engineering, research, and marketing. Defined rollout strategy. Supported launch and iteration based on usage data.
Research Volume
40+ customer interviews. 12 weeks of prototype testing. 2 competing design approaches validated. 8 workshop sessions with core teams.
Prototype Scope
2 high-fidelity prototypes. 14 transaction types modeled. Custom state machines for workflow logic. Interactive testing with real users.
Impact
Final design adopted by 4M+ SMB users. Became foundational pattern for future Intuit products. Contributed to category-defining market position.

Outcomes & Impact

14
Transaction types unified under coherent mental model
4M+
SMB users adopted Money Movement as default workflow
2
Prototype directions validated through user research
23%
Faster completion time in winning prototype approach
"Rethinking the transaction isn't a UI problem — it's a mental model problem. When you solve that, everything else follows."
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