Hi, I'm Ariane. Designing for millions by day. Boxing, climbing, and making jewelry by night.

Ariane Te
Case studies
See how I turn messy product problems into shipped experiences that reach millions.
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About me
I’m a designer who genuinely cares about people and making meaningful products. Stats background, 5+ years of experience, and a lot of curiosity to go with it.
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Outside work
Outside of work, I’m a bit of a serial-hobbyist. These days, you’ll find me boxing, bouldering, making jewelry, or going on a new adventure!
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Highlighted work

If you're short on time, here's a quick look at some of my launched work. If you've got a few more minutes, my full case studies are below!

TD Bank · iOS & Android · Shipped

TD Debit Card Controls

TD customers had no self-serve way to change their ATM, POS, or CNP transaction limits, so every change meant a call to the branch. As lead UX designer, I took the flow end-to-end and gave 5M+ customers real-time control over their own limits, right in the app.

$2.5M
In incremental revenue over 5 years
$3.5MM
Projected branch cost savings over 5 years
TD Bank · iOS & Android · Shipped

TD Automatic Credit Card Payments

Missed payments and avoidable interest charges were common when there was no simple way to automate credit card payments in-app. I designed the self-serve enrolment flow end-to-end, covering every edge case, so customers could set up payments on their own terms.

5M+
Customers reached on iOS & Android
70K+
Signups within first month
Case studies

My journey

Values I believe in.

The way I work is shaped as much by values as by craft. These are the principles I come back to when teams get messy, ambiguous, or high-stakes.

What I do outside of work.

The best way for me to show what I’m doing outside of work these days is for me to share what my camera roll has been looking like lately, unfiltered. No judgement please 😅

Royal Bank of Canada · 2022–2024

KONEK — Navigating data-sharing in an age of user distrust

Designing a clear, concise, frictionless consent experience for RBC's Pay by Bank feature — helping millions of Canadians share their data with confidence.

My Role
UX Content Designer
Team
Design Researcher
Product Owner
Business Analyst
Timeline
8 months
Methods
Card sorting
Usability testing
Content design
100
card sort participants
9
moderated usability sessions
19%
reduction in customer complaints
01 — Context

What is Konek?

Konek, also known as Pay by Bank, is a new product by Interac that enables account-based payments. While Pay by Bank is an Interac product, RBC has ownership of certain parts of the new e-commerce flow — namely, data-sharing and consent.

To use Interac's Pay by Bank method, RBC clients are required to provide data-sharing consent. The challenge: how do you design a consent experience that users actually trust?

02 — The Problem

How do we ensure users have enough information to feel confident making data-sharing decisions?

Data-sharing and terms and conditions pages are often flooded with information clients don't understand — which has built deep distrust within users over time. We needed to design something different.

"Users don't distrust sharing data — they distrust not understanding what they're agreeing to."
Design principle driving the project
03 — Research

Finding the right structure

We ran two rounds of research to validate our approach — starting with card sorting to understand information hierarchy, then usability testing to assess content clarity.

Research Objectives
Identify the best structure for the consent page
Understand if there are missing pieces of information
Assess if clients have enough context to consent confidently
Methodology
Card sorting — 100 participants
Moderated usability tests — 9 participants
Participants: online shoppers and RBC clients
Key Outcomes
Existing page structure validated by card sort
Users wanted "what's not being shared" moved up
Concerns around data-privacy page length escalated to legal
Card Sort — Popular placements matrix
${[ ["Why you need to share your RBC…","46%","16%","16%","9%","4%","9%"], ["What you're sharing","22%","45%","18%","10%","2%","3%"], ["Opting out","21%","27%","23%","10%","11%","8%"], ["Terms and Conditions","21%","21%","17%","30%","6%","5%"], ["Consent checkbox","11%","10%","17%","19%","34%","9%"], ["Confirmation button","8%","4%","9%","9%","25%","45%"], ].map((row,ri) => ` ${row.slice(1).map((cell,ci) => { const isMax = [0,1,2,3,4,5][ri] === ci; return ``; }).join('')} `).join('')}
Top 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Bottom
${row[0]}${cell}
04 — Key Insights

What users actually needed

01
Why am I sharing this? Users wanted clear reasoning before they could feel comfortable consenting. We added explicit content explaining the purpose of each data point.
02
Emphasize what's NOT being shared. Participants responded strongly to the "we won't share your client card number or password" message. We moved it to the top of the page.
03
Data-privacy page is too complex. Users flagged the legal data-privacy page as overwhelming. We escalated this concern to the legal team to simplify the language.
05 — The Solution

Clear. Concise. Frictionless.

After rounds of research, we designed a consent experience that highlights only what users felt was most important — cutting through the noise that typically erodes trust on data-sharing pages.

Clear hierarchy
Lead with why, follow with what. Structure validated by 100-person card sort.
🔒
Reassurance first
"We won't share your client card number or password" moved to the top.
✂️
Only what matters
Cut every piece of content that wasn't directly relevant to the user's decision.
🤝
Interac brand integration
Collaborated with Interac's branding team to ensure proper representation in the flow.
06 — Outcome

Content that users actually trust

All 9 usability testing participants described the consent pages as clear, easy, and straight-forward. The redesigned flow contributed to a 19% reduction in customer complaints post-launch.

The project demonstrated that in high-stakes financial UX, less is more — when users understand exactly what they're agreeing to, trust follows.

"Content was well-received. All participants described the pages as clear, easy, and straight-forward."
Usability testing summary — 9 participants
07 — Next Steps

What came next

1. Collaborate with legal
Get final approval from legal stakeholders
Provide input on simplifying the data-privacy page
2. Implement
Collaborate with product and technical stakeholders
Deliver final production-ready specs
3. Establish CX Metrics
Determine best GA tags to monitor
Measure consent completion rate and drop-off

TD Debit Card Controls

RoleLead UX Designer
EmployerTD Bank
PlatformiOS & Android
StatusShipped ✓

What I did

As the lead UX designer, I owned all interaction design end-to-end — from early discovery through to dev handoff. This included wireframes for every state and edge case, stakeholder presentations for sign-off, and close collaboration with a content designer and visual designer to bring it to final production quality.

Why it matters

TD customers who wanted to change their ATM, POS, or CNP transaction limits had no self-serve option — they had to call a branch or visit in person. It was one of TD's top customer pain points and a significant operational cost. This feature gave 5M+ customers real-time control over their own limits, directly in the app.

$0MM
Projected savings over 5 years
0M+
Customers reached on iOS & Android
$0MM
Branch cost reduction
0 → 1
Built entirely from scratch

Happy path flow prototype

Full case study coming soon

TD Automatic Credit Card Payments

RoleLead UX Designer
EmployerTD Bank
PlatformiOS & Android
StatusShipped ✓

What I did

As the lead UX designer, I owned the end-to-end design of the automatic credit card payments experience — from discovery and problem framing through to dev handoff. This included wireframes covering every state and edge case, stakeholder presentations, and close collaboration with content and visual designers to ship a production-quality feature.

Why it matters

TD customers had no simple way to set up automatic credit card payments in-app, leading to missed payments, interest charges, and avoidable customer frustration. This feature gave millions of Canadians a reliable, self-serve way to manage their credit card payments on their own terms — directly inside the TD app.

0M+
Customers reached on iOS & Android
0 → 1
Built entirely from scratch
0%
Self-serve — no branch visit required
0+
Signups within first month

Key screens

Full case study coming soon
TD Bank · Senior Product Designer · 2024–2025

85% of people left
on page one.
I wanted to know why.

Balance Protection Insurance protects TD customers if they lose their job, become disabled, or die. Sounds important, right? And yet most people abandoned the enrolment flow before they even read what it was. This is the story of figuring out why, and what we did about it.

RoleLead UX Designer
EmployerTD Bank
PlatformiOS & Android
StatusBusiness approved ✓
85.7%
Drop-off rate on page one
The number that started everything.
5M+
Credit card customers affected
The scale that made this worth solving.
8
Usability test participants
8 participants. 8 findings. Every one addressed in design.
Context
What I did

I led discovery research and end-to-end UX design for BPI MVP 2 making Balance Protection Insurance self-serve and accessible at any time in the TD mobile app. I facilitated a stakeholder workshop, ran competitive analysis, drafted the research plan, collaborated with a researcher on usability testing, synthesised findings, and designed the full enrolment flow.

Why it matters

BPI protects customers during the hardest moments of their lives job loss, disability, death. But with an 85.7% drop-off on page one and most customers unaware it existed, a genuinely important product was invisible. This was the chance to change that.

First what even is BPI?

BPI only showed up once: during credit card activation. A moment when you're already stressed and just want your card to work. So most people clicked past it. And then it was gone.

MVP 2 was about changing that. But before designing anything, I needed to understand why enrolment was so low in the first place.

💡 My hunch going in: this wasn't a discoverability problem. It was a trust problem. Turns out I was right but only partially. There were actually three separate problems happening at once.

The current state funnel — where people were dropping off
BPI drop-off funnel
Click to expand ↗

The numbers that started everything. 85.7% of people dropped off on the landing screen alone before ever seeing what BPI actually was.

01
Awareness
Most clients didn't know BPI existed. They'd never encountered it outside of card activation.
02
Interest
Once interested, there was nowhere to go. No way to find BPI again on their own time.
03
Evaluation
When they did find it, the flow was dense and written in language that felt designed to obscure rather than inform.
Discovery

Before I touched a single frame, I needed to get the room aligned.

I've learned the hard way that jumping straight into design without talking to stakeholders first means redesigning things twice. So the first thing I did was facilitate an alignment session with product, business, and technical partners.

1Stakeholder alignment

The goal: make sure we all agreed on what was broken before proposing fixes. Business wanted more enrolments. Compliance had hard language constraints. Product was nervous about dev scope. Getting all of that into the open early saved a lot of pain later.

2Competitive analysis

I audited five Canadian financial institutions not to copy, but to understand what patterns users might already expect, and where TD was falling behind.

Competitive analysis RBC, BMO, Revolut, Neo, Scotiabank
Competitive analysis
Click to expand ↗

Every competitor gave users a cost number early, used plain language, and made the product findable at any time. TD did none of these things.

RBC
  • Entry from Credit Card Details
  • Bottom sheet for coverage types
  • Cost estimate calculator
  • Succinct, scannable messaging
BMO
  • Step indicator during enrolment
  • Coverage grouped by type
  • Example-based premium calculation
Revolut · Neo · Scotia
  • Dedicated Insurance entry points
  • Persistent, always-accessible in nav
  • Plain language throughout
3The workshop critique, brainstorm, dot vote

I brought stakeholders together for a single structured workshop. Three exercises, one room.

We started with a critique of the current flow. The BAU experience did not fare well product details opened into full legal text, terms and conditions were a wall of copy, no calculator, no review step. Lots of pink sticky notes.

Workshop critique of current BPI flow
Critique session
Click to expand ↗

The critique board the current BPI flow laid out for the room to annotate. Green stickies = what's working, pink = what isn't. It was mostly pink.

Then Crazy 8s brainstorming I built 15 individual artboards in Figma, one per participant, each pre-loaded with the existing BPI screens and wireframe assets to sketch with. Generate first, judge later.

Then dot voting on the way out. Two stickers each on the ideas with the most potential. No debating just honest gut reactions before the room dispersed.

By the time research came back, stakeholders already felt invested in the direction. You spend a lot less time defending design decisions when people helped generate the ideas behind them.

Research

So we talked to actual people. Turns out they had a lot to say.

I drafted the research plan, defined success criteria, and collaborated with a researcher to run moderated usability tests. 8 participants. All TD mobile app users. All personal credit card holders.

Eight participants. Eight findings. Here's what we learned. 👇

"Why do I need a protection plan? I don't really understand what this is for."

Participant 1

"I saw it says I'm insured, but what does that actually mean?"

Participant 7

"I would like to see what I signed up for after."

Participant 8

"Was not sure if it was in details or if it lived in manage."

Participant 1
Design

Okay. Now I can actually open Figma.

Every design decision mapped back to a specific finding. I'm allergic to designing things that aren't grounded in something real.

1Make BPI findable at any time

We kept BPI inside the credit card Features list customers already check regularly, right alongside Credit Limit Increase and Balance Transfer. Not a popup, not an interruption just there when someone's already looking at what their card can do.

Entry point — Credit Card Features
BPI entry point in credit card Features list
Click to expand ↗

"Add TD Credit Card Payment Protection Plan" sits in the Features list next to other things people are already comparing balance transfer, credit limit. Familiar territory, not a separate destination.

2Answer questions before people have to ask
Before

Dense legal definitions. No examples. Key details buried at the end. Most participants didn't make it this far.

After

Coverage with real-life scenarios. "What you're covered for" surfaced immediately. Plain language throughout.

Insurance Details — redesigned screen
Insurance Details screen, help protect yourself during difficult times
Click to expand ↗

"Help protect yourself during difficult times" leads with the why, not the legal definition. Job Loss coverage is spelled out in plain terms right below it, with a See details link for anyone who wants more.

3A number is only useful if you understand it

The calculator lives on the same screen as coverage details, not buried in a separate step. Type in a balance, see a real dollar number tied to it, with "this month (plus applicable taxes)" right underneath so nobody's left guessing what the number actually means.

Cost Estimate Calculator
Cost Estimate Calculator showing estimated monthly cost
Click to expand ↗

Enter a balance, get an estimate with context "this month (plus applicable taxes)" not just a bare number. "What you need to know" sits directly below, answering the next question before it's asked.

4One screen that earns the final tap

Before asking anyone to commit, one screen lays out exactly what they're agreeing to: the monthly premium rate, when coverage starts, and how to file a claim or cancel all in one place, all before the Enrol button.

Review your plan details
Review your plan details screen with monthly premium, coverage start date, and how to cancel
Click to expand ↗

One job: answer "what am I agreeing to?" before asking people to tap Enrol monthly premium, coverage start date, and how to cancel, all visible without a single tap.

5A clear, calm finish line

After the final tap, no ambiguity about what just happened. A confirmation screen states plainly that enrolment is complete and tells people exactly what comes next a Welcome Package in the mail with the Certificate of Insurance.

Enrolment confirmation
Your enrollment is complete confirmation screen
Click to expand ↗

"Your enrollment is complete" plus what to expect next no dangling questions about whether it actually worked.

6"You're protected" not "You're insured"
Before

"You're insured." No cost. No coverage details. Cancellation: call this number.

After

"You're protected." Coverage summary, monthly premium, clear in-app path to manage or cancel.

Post-enrolment — Your Coverage
TD Credit Card Payment Protection Plan, Your Coverage detail screen
Click to expand ↗

Coverage details, what's paid this month, and how to contact Assurant to file a claim or cancel all visible without digging. One word change, "protected" instead of "insured," but it's backed up by an entire screen that earns it.

Outcome

The designs are approved. The work isn't done yet.

The high-level designs were reviewed and approved by business stakeholders. Pending development prioritisation. I can't give you shipped metrics yet but here's what I'd measure the moment this goes live:

What I'd watch after launch

  • Drop-off rate on page 1 of BPI enrolment (baseline: 85.7%)
  • Overall BPI enrolment rate across mobile app users
  • Cost calculator engagement and what happens after someone uses it
  • Time from entry point to enrolment completion
  • Post-enrolment cancellation rate a signal of buyer's remorse from poor pre-enrolment clarity

The research itself was also an outcome. Eight structured findings, delivered to product and business, shaped the roadmap before a single screen shipped. That kind of upstream influence is the work I care most about.

Reflection

What I'd do differently if I had the time back.

I'm proud of this project. But here's what I'd change.

🔍

Test earlier, rougher fidelity

We tested a fairly developed prototype. I'd have done a rough concept test earlier especially around entry points before investing in hi-fi screens.

📞

Push harder on cancellation

In-app cancellation was deprioritised. I'd quantify the trust impact more rigorously it directly affects whether people feel safe enrolling.

📊

Richer baseline metrics

We had the 85.7% figure. I wanted more which screens had highest dwell time, where exactly people dropped. More precision = sharper findings.

⚖️

Involve compliance earlier

Some plain-language recommendations hit compliance walls late. Getting compliance in the critique session not after would have saved a round of revisions.