D2L

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

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

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 spanning brand, product and design system simultaneously, one that could grow with the business and inspire confidence from day one.

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

I led across branding, UX, UI and design systems, directing a small team to craft the logo, establish a style guide, build a modular component library and define 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

I began with structured ideation: sketches, moodboards and collaborative sessions to converge on a visual language that could support both marketing and product 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

Consistency and scalability were non-negotiable from the start. I built a modular system covering typographic scales, colour palette, UI components and spacing rules, alongside a style guide so D2L's team and any future 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 from a blank slate is both liberating and risky. The biggest takeaway was the value of early alignment: ensuring stakeholders shared a clear understanding of brand tone, product scope and user expectations before the detailed work began.

Building a design system from day one, even with a small team, pays dividends. It reduces ambiguity downstream and gives every future decision a principled foundation to build from.

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

Albert Einstein