ZEscrow
UX Design Internship
My work at ZSuite focused on designing features required by banks scheduled for launch on ZEscrow, ZSuite’s digital escrow subaccounting system. The interest disbursement templating system was the core feature I researched and designed during my UX Design internship in summer 2021. Today, this system is utilized by ZSuite employees and financial institution representatives to configure detailed interest rates, interest reporting, and user permissions. Since this project’s completion I have also redesigned the ZEscrow unassigned transaction handling process and designed the Operations Management Tool used to check ZEscrow customers against the OFAC list.
Digital Escrow For Financial Institutions
It was necessary for the financial instutions launched on the ZEscrow platform to have an efficient way to handle interest rates for subaccounts. The interest templating system allows for the creation of interest templates that can be assigned to individual subaccounts or to entire organizations.
Fig. I: A frame showcasing the interest template creation interface
Conducting Research & Building Connections
The interest templating project shifted my expectations on how user-centered design fits into the design process. Instead of working with bank representatives to delineate a core design, I designed to best fit the features they envisioned our team and software supporting. To define these parameters, I conducted an interview study of representatives of ZSuite’s partner banks to learn what pain points they had with traditional escrow processes and what features they wanted supported by ZEscrow. I also conducted a secondary interview study of ZEscrow property manager users who had previously used traditional escrow handling methods to learn about their experiences with both systems. The research results of these two studies provided actionable design items for the disbursement system.
Fig. II: Conference to discuss interest disbursement with Leader Bank's Senior Vice President of Business and Government and Vice President of Bank Innovation
Reflection
Interest templating in ZEscrow has come a long way since the creation of this 94-frame monstrosity. Working in an Agile environment required quick turnarounds and strong design flexibility, and I feel especially proud of the result given those constraints. The end system is robust and straightforward despite the complexity of its subject, and is used by all of ZSuite’s bank partners to disburse interest to tens of thousands of subaccounts. I only wish I’d had the time to spruce up the visuals further!
Fig. III: 94-frame interactive first draft of the interest templating system