Platform: Web-app & Mobile-app
Role: Lead UX/UI Designer for Southeast Asian Countries
Duration: 2019 - 2021

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Project Overview

Following the core platform launch, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services expanded its post-sale digital service strategy to include a dedicated Online Instalment Plan capability, tailored specifically for the Australian market. The goal was to introduce a flexible, user-friendly online system that allowed eligible customers to view, select, and activate structured payment plans for existing invoices - especially for large or unexpected financial obligations (e.g. balloon payments, repairs, contract adjustments).

While Australia had a mature customer base, their familiarity with outdated financial interfaces and the region’s heavy regulatory oversight presented a unique set of design challenges. My role was to lead the UX/UI design of this capability, ensuring we delivered a product that felt modern and empowering - without disrupting the compliance or user trust built by legacy systems.

Objectives

• Enable MBFS customers in Australia to digitally split eligible payments into instalments.

• Ensure real-time eligibility checks, transparent interest disclosures, and dynamic repayment options.

• Seamlessly integrate the feature into existing customer dashboards and payment flows.

• Maintain full compliance with Australian financial law, banking regulations, and internal MB credit assessment standards.
  
  

Key Challenges

Legal & Regulatory Complexity

• Australia’s financial ecosystem imposed strict credit lending and disclosure laws.

• Required close collaboration with legal, compliance, and finance teams to ensure:

• Transparent interest rate communication

• Fairness in repayment terms

• Identity and eligibility verification mechanisms

Legacy Comfort Zone

• Target users were accustomed to older, complex financial systems, which they considered “reliable.”

• A modern interface risked alienating users who expected detailed financial data and step-by-step approvals.

  
  

What Worked Well

Legal & Regulatory Complexity

• User research and usability testing were significantly easier to execute in this region.

• Clear user segmentation data

• Fast access to MBFS customers for interviews and testing

Collaborative Stakeholders

• Australian brand partner teams were highly aligned and pragmatic.

• We were provided well-documented customer insights and feedback.

• Worked closely with multiple departments to co-define success criteria and avoid overdesign.

• Helped bridge internal knowledge gaps around regional user behavior.

Design Approach

1. Discovery & Research

We conducted:

• 8 semi-structured user interviews with existing MBFS contract holders across various age groups.

• A competitive UX audit of other Australian financial service providers offering online payment plans (e.g., banks, Afterpay, dealership finance tools).

• Testing of low-fidelity prototypes with actual MBFS customers—validating everything from visual tone to terminology.

Key insights:

• Users wanted clear control over how instalments are structured (e.g. number of payments, start date).

• Transparency and trust were non-negotiable. They wanted legal terms available, but without being buried in fine print.

• Some preferred manual approval or slower onboarding over instant enrollment, believing speed implied risk.

  
  

2. Key Features Designed

Eligibility Indicator

• Clear messaging on whether a user qualifies for instalment plans based on contract type, credit score, and payment history.

• Real-time sync with MBFS backend credit logic.

Custom Instalment Builder

Let users:

• Select number of payments (within allowed range)

• Choose start date and frequency (weekly, fortnightly, monthly)

• Preview total repayment, interest, and comparison rate

• Provided real-time repayment visualizer for financial clarity.

Legal Disclosure UX

• Integrated progressive disclosure design to show legal terms in digestible layers.

• Required review & digital consent before proceeding—but ensured users weren’t overwhelmed with jargon upfront.

Secure Payment Flow

• Scheduled payments with existing connected debit accounts.

• Connected to Australian banks' apis for seamless online payment options when the customer need to add a new payment method.

Stakeholder Management

• Partnered with Australian legal advisors during design phases to pre-validate flows before development.

• Worked hand-in-hand with local product managers and brand compliance officers to ensure the UI met both global Mercedes-Benz standards and local regulatory requirements.

• Built internal Figma prototypes with interaction logic, enabling the development team to validate edge cases without waiting for production builds.

  
  

My Role & Responsibilities

As Lead UX/UI Designer for Southeast Asian Countries, I was responsible for:

• Leading design strategy, research, and execution focusing on SEA markets.

• Working closely with other fellow designers from MB HQ, MB USA, MB Europe, MB China to keep design and branded content consistent.

• Translating ambiguous requirements into actionable user flows and interfaces.

• Managing stakeholder relationships across departments and external brand partners.

• Establishing design standards and promoting cross-team alignment.

• Delivering final prototypes and design specs to the development team.