Honeycomb Credit 🐝
Delivering a mobile investment app from 0-1 to support small businesses across the U.S. Now available in iOS and Android app stores.
Investors
reached
20K
Mobile Investments
$1.2M+
Timeline
Role
Team
Tools/Skills
Summer 2024 (10 weeks)
User Experience Intern
1 Product Manager
Figma, Mobile UI Design,
User Research, QA Testing
What is Honeycomb Credit?
Honeycomb Credit is a platform for anyone who wants to invest local, a first-of-its-kind community lending platform with over $27 million invested into small business across thousands of local investors.
What was my impact?
Led the design for 6 core mobile app features as the sole in-house designer, from initial concept through launch.
Simplified the investment checkout flow that drove $100,000+ in mobile investments within the first 5 days post-launch.
Conducted 4 user testing sessions with over 12 investors to inform and refine key design decisions before release.
Honeycomb Credit is featured in...
01 - PROBLEM CONTEXT
PROBLEM SPACE
Designing a robust mobile investment experience from 0 to 1
Customer demand for a mobile app paired with the opportunity to create new, exciting ways to drive repeat investments for small business investors made building a mobile app an obvious top priority for the Honeycomb team. And with a new digital platform came endless opportunities for me, the UX intern, to shape the way investors could stay engaged with their local community and their investor journey.
*Fun Fact: Most of Honeycomb Credit’s web app visitors were users, but the vast majority of power investors were Android users! Therefore, we designed for both :)
Honeycomb Credit is featured in...
01 - PROBLEM CONTEXT
PROBLEM SPACE
Designing a robust mobile investment experience from 0 to 1
*Fun Fact: Most of Honeycomb Credit’s web app visitors were users, but the vast majority of power investors were Android users! Therefore, we designed for both :)
PROJECTS OVERVIEW
A formidable investment platform more intuitive and engaging than the web
I designed several key pages for Honeycomb Credit’s mobile app including the portfolio screens, the initial log in and welcome screens, investment screens, and other essential investor features. In this case study, I’ll only be going in detail about the portfolio design.
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Understanding user expectations through the Early Adopters Program
My design process began by understanding Honeycomb’s users through casual conversations and structured interviews. Investors from the Early Adopters Program, an exclusive first-look program for power investors, provided opportunities for the Honeycomb team to user test, evaluate new app features, and receive feedback on all aspects of the mobile user experience prior to launch.
INITIAL SURVEY
Investors expect visibility in new offerings and repayments
Through the Early Adopters Program, I collected 45 responses from our investors through the initial discovery survey to understand how investors currently use Honeycomb Credit. These survey responses informed me of investors’ behaviors on the web platform and their expectations for the mobile app.
Option 1: Start design!
Polish existing designs before showing Early Adopters.
Option 2: Interview first!
Semi-structured interviews before starting design.
- a HC power investor
“As a user I just generally prefer desktop interfaces for investing... I might use the app to monitor my portfolio and track any upcoming offerings, but I would finish the offering on my desktop.”
Investors want updates about repayments, changes to investment terms, and new offerings launching nearby.
Browsing offerings is the most frequent user behavior on Honeycomb Credit.
Paying with a bank account is the most frequently used payment option.
CHALLENGE
How much data is enough data?
Since a few components already existed from Honeycomb Credit’s off-shore development team, I initially considered refining the existing designs based on survey insights. However, because the concept was still in its early stages, I ultimately decided to interview investors first to gauge their reactions to a potential app experience. Allowing investors to see the mobile mockups was critical to ensure we were designing something users could actually envision themselves using, especially given the existence of the web platform.
INTERVIEWS
Mobile as an opportunity for a more refined and engaging experience
I conducted 4 focus group sessions with 13 Honeycomb investors of varying levels of investment experience and familiarity with the platform to understand what factors would motivate them to invest on mobile over web. During the session, participants interacted with a working prototype of the mobile app and shared their opinions on the app’s aesthetic, usability, and new, mobile-specific features.
NARROWING THE PROBLEM
How can we increase investors’ confidence investing on mobile?
Through my research, I found that mobile investing can feel intimidating. Survey responses and interview feedback revealed that mobile investing felt unfamiliar to many users, and that financial transactions on mobile as a whole were perceived as less secure than on web.
V.S.
+ More relevant insights
+ More efficient for iteration
*At this point, we had gathered enough data to validate the need for a mobile app. I presented my research findings from the survey and interviews to Honeycomb Credit’s CEO, which led to approval to move forward with the app’s design.
02 - RESEARCH AND PROBLEM FRAMING
APP DESIGN GOALS
A mobile app to elevate and redefine, not replace
My research suggested it would be difficult to change how investors were already using Honeycomb Credit. So instead of reinventing the experience, I focused on translating its core functionality onto mobile while adding features that made the app more convenient, secure, and trackable in real time. I approached the app’s design to support investors in moments when they’re unable to make meticulous decisions by providing a seamless experience that enables quick, yet informed, investments.
PORTFOLIO: PROBLEM CONTEXT
Portfolio tracking deemed as the most useful feature for mobile
43% of respondents from my prototype survey voted portfolio tracking as the most useful feature for the mobile app. Unique to the mobile app, portfolio tracking would allow investors to follow their repayments in real-time with notifications, have more detailed breakdowns of their investments, and visualize the impact of their investments on the businesses they support.
03 - DESIGN CHALLENGES AND PROCESS
“I need to know: original amount, amount paid, if finished, what my final return was, projected total potential by month into future.”
“Maybe adding when investments will be repaid on this page, instead of having to click on each investment to see that information.”
“The term ‘total value’ felt confusing. I feel like ‘total invested"’may be more clear.”
Only the design of the Investment Portfolio will be covered.
Send me an email to learn more about the other features I designed at Honeycomb Credit!
REFRAMING THE PROBLEM
How might we empower investors to easily track their investments and stay engaged with their progress?
Rather than trying to change existing web investment habits, I focused on encouraging mobile use by introducing features unique to the app and tailored to mobile capabilities.
At-a-glance repayment status
Is my repayment deposited, on it’s way, or defaulted?
01
Community impact metrics
How are my investments helping the businesses I’m supporting?
02
Repayment schedules
When is my next repayment and how much will I receive from it?
03
PORTFOLIO: DESIGN GOALS
Creating a highly visited feature with returning investors in mind
For investors already using Honeycomb Credit’s web platform, portfolio tracking was a key feature that could motivate them to download the mobile app. Paired with notifications, the mobile app could offer a more comprehensive and accessible investment tracking experience than the web platform.
PORTFOLIO: COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Understanding current trends and identifying new opportunities
As part of my research prior to beginning the design, I compared our current mockups to financial apps and start-up/small business apps. This inspired me to incorporate relevant design elements to my initial explorations while also identifying opportunities where the portfolio tracking feature could further excel.
FINAL DESIGN OVERVIEW
Using hierarchy and language to reduce cognitive overload
Tracking the state of your investments should be intuitive, rewarding, and reassuring. The final portfolio design is organized into 3 sections to allow investors to quickly access to key information with a repayment tracker that highlights upcoming activity and keeps them informed of their performance.
Summary
Details
Repayments
ITERATION 1
Organizing sections with tabs to improve visual hierarchy
Research showed that while the portfolio included the right information, it didn’t present it in a way that felt clear or satisfying. To improve navigation, I introduced distinct sections that organize key investment details more intuitively (rather than scrolling the entire page).
NEW FEATURE
Get ahead of your returns with the repayment tracker
With the web platform, investors can only get repayment updates through email, which can be easy to miss. The in-app repayment tracker with notification capabilities makes it easy for investors to check their investments whenever they want.
VALIDATE AND DELIVER
Showing the Honeycomb team and investors
Towards the end of my internship, I shared the final portfolio pages along with the other features I worked on with the Honeycomb team. After receiving positive feedback and a few suggestions, I made some final refinements and sent out a follow-up survey to Early Adopters to gather their thoughts on the designs. Overall, their reactions were positive:
REFLECTION
Learnings from summer ‘24
Creating a new product from the ground up can be scary, exhausting, and exhilarating. I am incredibly grateful to have been trusted to work on Honeycomb’s first mobile consumer-facing features that will help small businesses reach their community investors. And a special thank you to Joe for his support and guidance throughout the internship! 💛
Checkpoints matter
Meet with team members regularly to not only ask questions, but to also get inspired. Design can be so much more effective and imaginative with collaboration.
[ 01 ]
Reconsider constraints throughout
I found that goals and constraints tend to shift frequently and sometimes subtly. It’s always a good idea to ask if ideas are feasible early and often to avoid getting too attached to a direction that may not be possible.
[ 02 ]
Designers don’t always have the full picture—talk to other roles to fill in the gaps
There are deep behavioral insights that may be missed in testing or interviews. It could be beneficial to consult customer experience, business, and other teams on their perspectives.
[ 03 ]
04 - REFLECTION
Updated design
Initial design
ITERATION 2
Emphasizing the metrics investors want to see most
At a glance, investors should be able to see how much they’ve invested and how much they’ll earn in return. And don’t forget the most important part—investors want to feel good about it!
Updated design
+ Projected returns at first glance
Initial design
Past Repayments
Upcoming Repayments
87%
Pre-launch user satisfaction rate
92 %
Of users found navigation to be very easy
03 - PROCESS AND HIGHLIGHTS
Jodie last visited around August 2025. Hope to see you around again!
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