Product Design
Designing Scalable SaaS Configuration Systems
Redesigned complex configuration workflows to reduce cognitive load, clarify system logic, and align stakeholders - enabling faster decision-making and scalable product growth.
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Jul 2025
Nutshell Labs
5 min
Yes
UX Strategy
B2B Desktop SaaS
Information Architecture
Systems Thinking
Overview
Context
Nutshell Labs is a fintech SaaS platform supporting complex brokerage and compliance workflows. As the product scaled, configuration experiences became increasingly difficult to manage, leading to fragmented decision-making and inconsistent user understanding.
My Role
I led UX strategy and product design for complex configuration workflows, partnering closely with the design lead, product manager, engineers, and compliance stakeholders to align business rules with usable, scalable interfaces.
Tools
Figma
Design System Library
Stakeholder Workshops
The Challenge
Configuration pages needed to support a dual user hierarchy, where actions taken at one level dynamically affected another. This introduced challenges in:
Navigation and user flow clarity
Communicating system dependencies
Designing without mature precedents, as many features were still in ideation
The goal was to translate abstract system logic into clear, usable interfaces without oversimplifying business rules.
Design Approach
To move quickly through ambiguity, I focused on making system logic visible early.
Clarified mental models by mapping user flows across both hierarchy levels
Used low-fidelity wireframes to turn abstract ideas into concrete discussions
Facilitated Miro-based working sessions to align stakeholders on logic and tradeoffs
As designs matured, I moved into high-fidelity mockups and intentionally used realistic data and copy early. This supported more productive feedback - especially from executive stakeholders - and accelerated decision-making.
System & Design Decisions
The complexity of configuration screens pushed the boundaries of our existing design system. I collaborated with the design lead to:
Expand components to support dense, rule-driven layouts
Refine typography scales and layout guidelines
Establish repeatable patterns for future configuration use cases
These decisions helped ensure consistency while allowing the product to scale.
Impact
Improved clarity during stakeholder and executive reviews
Faster alignment across product, design, and engineering
Established scalable configuration patterns reused across the platform
Enabled design artifacts to be used in demos and sales conversations
Reflection
This project strengthened my ability to lead design through ambiguity and advocate for clarity over surface-level polish. Designing enterprise configuration tools, especially in a fintech context, deepened my systems thinking and confidence in facilitating cross-functional decision-making in fast-paced environments.
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