D2L

Investment planning web app, website & branding for a new start-up. 

Logo and brand design, digital design system, marketing website  & financial planning application.

• Branding
• UX /UI
• Website
• Product Design
• Design Systems
• Strategy
  

As a new player in the fintech and wealth-management space, D2L had no brand identity, product interface or design system to build from. They needed to define their visual language, user experience and marketing presence simultaneously. The challenge was to create a complete, scalable foundation that could grow with the product and inspire confidence from day one.

I wore multiple hats: branding, UX, UI and design system lead. Together with a small team (a graphic designer and a junior UX designer), I crafted the logo, established a style guide, built a modular component library and mapped out both the marketing site and core app flows.

• A complete brand identity that felt trustworthy, modern and scalable
• A design system and style guide to empower D2L’s team to extend the product themselves
• Clear, polished UX flows and UI components ready for development
• A marketing website that supports conversion and awareness

Brand & logo exploration 

Interface & UX flows

Design system & style guide 

Website & conversions

Hand-off & enablement

Right from the start, I invested time in ideation. I engaged visual explorations — sketches, moodboards and collaborative sessions with a graphic designer — to converge on a symbol and visual language that could support both marketing and interface contexts.

While brand work ran, I led the UX planning for the core product: mapping out user journeys, wireframing key screens and lining up user needs with business goals. I coordinated with the lead developer to ensure technical feasibility from the start.

Wireframes & information architecture

A major part of my approach was consistency and scalability. I created a modular system — typographic scales, colour palette, UI components, spacing rules — plus a style guide so D2L’s internal team (and any partner) could extend the system reliably. 

I designed a marketing site that tells the story of D2L and funnels interest into signups (lead capture). The design supports clarity of features, brand trust, and an intuitive path to “learn more and convert.”

Because D2L’s team would eventually take over, I structured documentation, annotations, and modular assets so that designers and developers joining later would have a clear roadmap.

Working with a blank slate is both exhilarating and risky. One of the biggest takeaways was how valuable early alignment is: making sure stakeholders and I had a shared understanding of brand tone, product scope and user expectations before diving deep.

Building a design system from day one, even when the team is small, pays dividends. It cuts down ambiguity later and gives you guardrails as the product grows.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simple”

Albert Einstein