OVERVIEW

BlackShield Risk provided specialised underwriting software for the commercial trucking industry, supporting complex workflows across risk evaluation, pricing configuration, policy structuring, and coverage tracking.

When I joined, the platform supported core underwriting operations but lacked a coherent structure connecting data interpretation to policy decisions. Navigation between workflows reflected system architecture rather than underwriting reasoning, forcing users to move across disconnected surfaces when evaluating risk.

I reframed the product from a collection of functional modules into a structured decision-support environment, aligning risk analysis, pricing logic, and policy actions into a predictable underwriting workflow model.

Alongside restructuring information architecture and navigation across the platform, I introduced a modular design system aligned with engineering delivery to support consistency, scalability, and faster implementation across evolving product surfaces.

This work established a clearer operational foundation for underwriting decision-making in a high-density financial workflow environment.

STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS

• Underwriting decision-flow architecture across risk, pricing, and policy workflows.

• Information hierarchy for high-density insurance data environments.

• Navigation restructuring aligned with real underwriting reasoning patterns.

• Interaction consistency across multi-stage policy evaluation workflows.

• Cognitive load reduction in regulatory-sensitive financial interfaces.

• Modular design system foundations for scalable product delivery.

• Onboarding improvements for complex insurance workflow adoption.

• Analytics visibility across coverage evaluation and pricing interpretation.

• Experience alignment with founder-led product strategy in early-stage fintech SaaS.

• Scalable interaction frameworks for structured enterprise workflows

APPROACH

Rather than improving isolated interfaces, I approached the redesign as a structural workflow challenge: supporting how underwriters interpret signals, evaluate exposure, and make policy decisions across multiple interdependent data environments.

I began by mapping how users moved between risk inputs, pricing variables, and coverage configuration steps, identifying fragmentation between data interpretation and action surfaces that slowed decision-making and increased cognitive load.

From this analysis, I defined a unified underwriting workflow structure connecting evaluation, pricing adjustment, and policy management into a coherent interaction model reflecting real-world underwriting reasoning.

Working directly with the CEO and engineering team, I ensured solutions balanced usability improvements with implementation feasibility in a fast-moving early-stage product environment. This alignment allowed the experience architecture to evolve alongside the platform’s technical capabilities.

In parallel, I introduced a modular design system in Figma that standardised interaction behaviour across dashboards, decision tables, and structured input workflows, enabling more consistent delivery across legacy and new surfaces.

User validation and implementation QA ensured workflows supported real underwriting behaviour rather than system-imposed navigation paths.

IMPACT

• Shifted the platform from fragmented insurance tooling into a structured underwriting decision environment.

• Improved navigation predictability across risk evaluation, pricing configuration, and policy workflows.

• Reduced cognitive load when interpreting high-density insurance exposure data.

• Clarified relationships between data signals and policy actions across underwriting surfaces.

• Improved efficiency of multi-step underwriting task execution.

• Established a reusable component framework supporting faster engineering delivery.

• Increased consistency across legacy and newly introduced workflows.

• Strengthened usability of onboarding and analytics surfaces supporting policy evaluation.

Company: 
BlackShield Risk

Year: 2019

Role: 
Lead product designer

Design team: 
CEO and full-stack engineer

Deliverables: 
Underwriting decision-flow interaction architecture · Platform information architecture redesign · Cross-workflow navigation model (risk, pricing, policy management) · Modular design system aligned with engineering implementation · Structured decision-table interaction framework · Analytics dashboard interface for coverage evaluation workflows · Responsive underwriting platform redesign · Onboarding experience for complex workflow adoption · UX annotations supporting engineering delivery · QA-ready specifications ensuring implementation fidelity · UI style guide for scalable interface consistency

Core skills: 
Decision-support UX for financial workflows · Underwriting platform experience architecture · Enterprise SaaS workflow modelling · High-density data interface design · Information hierarchy for risk interpretation environments · Navigation strategy for multi-stage decision systems · Early-stage fintech product structuring · Founder-level product collaboration · Engineering-aligned component systems · Cognitive load reduction in regulatory-sensitive interfaces · Behaviour-driven workflow simplification · Experience consistency across structured policy evaluation surfaces

Tools: 
Sketch, Slack, Zeplin