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Michael Jacob
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Bradesco Portal Optimization

My Role in the team

Senior Product Designer, End-to-End design strategy, Stakeholder Alignment, Design System governance

Challenges

Bradesco Investment Portal struggled with excessive cognitive load and disjointed navigation, creating friction that hindered product discovery and increased operational overhead for advisors. The initiative focused on re-architecting the information architecture to cultivate investor trust, improve long-term retention, and empower new users through contextual education, ultimately optimizing internal advisory workflows for greater efficiency.

The Strategic Process

Problem Framing & Enhanced Research

I identified 'cognitive load' and 'financial anxiety' as the primary systemic barriers to user engagement through Spearheaded a foundational research initiative for the Bradesco Investment Portal, synthesizing 50+ hours of deep-dive interviews with retail and High-Net-Worth investors.

To address these, I led a multidimensional competitive analysis of Itaú, XP, and BTG Pactual, benchmarking their strengths in platform usability and premium service models. These insights allowed us to pinpoint unmet market opportunities, effectively shaping a high-trust, data-informed product roadmap that differentiates Bradesco in a saturated landscape.

Stakeholder Alignment & Inclusive Design

Facilitated high-stakes, cross-functional workshops to bridge the gap between business KPIs and user-centric outcomes.

Beyond basic compliance, I spearheaded the integration of WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards (prioritizing Focus Appearance and Target Size) into the core design system. This 'inclusive-by-default' approach mitigated legal risk for the bank while expanding the portal’s reach to a broader, diverse investor base.

Solution & Evolution

Information Architecture & Data Visualization

To resolve systemic fragmentation, I leveraged iterative low-fidelity prototyping to consolidate a complex information architecture, specifically targeting the excessive cognitive load identified during user research. We successfully transitioned the experience from a high-density 'product catalog' model toward a contextual, goal-based visualization framework, making complex financial data digestible for the target demographic.

Following the validation of this new information architecture, I led the high-fidelity execution of data visualization principles—transforming opaque investment performance metrics into an intuitive, high-performance interface. This strategic pivot ensured users could navigate complex data with ease, directly empowering them to make confident, informed investment decisions through actionable visual insights.

Technical Collaboration (Design-to-Dev)

I partnered directly with engineering teams to bridge the gap between design intent and technical execution, ensuring a high-fidelity, pixel-perfect implementation through the implementation phases.

Leveraged my proficiency in HTML/CSS and Design Tokens to deliver structured handoff documentation. By providing developers with "code-ready" specs, I significantly reduced UI regression and defects, accelerating the development sprint cycles and maintaining the integrity of the Bradesco Design System.

Primary Wireframe

Primary Wireframe

Wireframe evolution

Wireframe evolution

Final results

Final results

Component Experiment

Component Experiment

Product List Evolution

Product List Evolution

Final results

Conclusion

Business Impact & Legacy of Scalability

This project was a masterclass in cross-functional orchestration. The primary takeaway was the successful integration of Bradesco’s legacy branding into a modern, agile development framework. By championing a systemic design approach, I moved the portal from a collection of static pages to a living, accessible infrastructure. This transition not only optimized our internal delivery speed but also established a new benchmark for how UX can directly drive long-term business resilience and user loyalty.

Strategic & Business Impact

My experience within the financial sector reinforced the critical need for design longevity. A robust financial product must instill unwavering confidence—today, tomorrow, and five years from now. This resilience is only achievable through an integrated, systemic UX strategy that anticipates evolving market dynamics, ensuring the platform remains a trusted, competitive asset that scales gracefully with emerging technologies and regulatory changes.