Re-Imangining Financial Advice with AI at the core Lumiant
A values‑based client experience platform for financial advisers, shifting conversations from “how much money?” to “what kind of life?” Understanding the design considerations for creating a provocative financial planning toolkit with services to help facilitate more constructive and meaningful conversations to build trust and empathy between financial advisors and their clients
Lumiant is a toolkit designed under service systems, tailor-made and modular design features give financial advisors more flexibility to engage with their clients and enable them to share more about their life, values, stories and needs to recommend financial advice precisely according to personal preference, health conditions, and financial status
The promise vs the product
Series A funded Lumiant had a bold vision and early traction, but the product was a best shot of prototype, not built to scale but quickly test the idea and the market, which left many features in the product clunky, fragmented, and failing to live up to the promise. Early “experiments” had shipped as isolated modules with inconsistent patterns and visual styles. Core journeys values discovery, goal setting, advice planning, reviews relied on manual workarounds like spreadsheets and slide decks. As Head of Product Design & Product Enablement, I stepped in to re-imagine the experience from ground up, with the lessons actively beign learned from the first cohort of advisors,turning these into improved scalable SaaS platform with AI at the core.
Fragmented complex Modules for various customer segments
One financial advisor has to service around 80-90 clients, reaching their capacity of relationships that they have less time to manage
- Early “experiments” had shipped as isolated modules with inconsistent patterns and visual styles.
- Core journeys relied on manual workarounds—spreadsheets and slide decks.
- Advisers hit friction at every step: confusing navigation, hidden logic, slow flows, UI that felt like a prototype.
- Clients couldn’t see how the experience matched the bold marketing claims about life‑centred advice.
Head of Product Design & Product Enablement
I owned experience strategy and product design for the adviser–client journey, design system creation and AI‑first interaction patterns, product enablement to help practices transition from clunky tools to a scalable platform, in partnership with founders, product, engineering, and early customers to close the expectation–reality gap.
- Experience strategy & product design for the adviser–client journey
- Design system creation & AI‑first interaction patterns
- Product enablement: playbooks, training, transition to scalable platform
- Partnership with founders, product, engineering & early customers
From mapping the mess to reimagining with AI
Expose and map the real experience
Mapped the live experience as advisers and clients were actually using it—warts and all. Documented friction heatmaps and pain points; presented journey maps so the gap between promise and product was undeniable.
Reframe the vision into shippable journeys
Prioritised four core journeys: onboarding, values discovery, goals & scenarios, and reviews. Defined credible 1.5 versions. Applied UX principles—clarity, visibility of system status, progressive disclosure—to simplify flows and eliminate dead ends.
Build a product backbone
Led the unified design system: typography, components, interaction states, patterns shared across adviser and client views. Partnered with engineering to untangle legacy screens and align information architecture so each release reduced complexity.
Enablement to bridge the gap
Built playbooks, training, and meeting templates so advisers could work with the current product. Used real sessions and support tickets as input into design and roadmap. Coached internal teams on honest storytelling.
Reimagine with AI at the core
Designed gamified values sessions and embedded AI as a co‑pilot: listening to values conversations, summarising themes, suggesting structured goals and Key Advice Areas. Advisers stayed present; AI handled unpacking and structuring—positioning Lumiant as an AI‑forward fintech platform.
How the strategy translated into delivery tools
A snapshot of the working artefacts used to align stakeholders, prioritise product foundations, shape information architecture, and define adviser JTBD across different personas.
Brand Strategy Moodboard
The visual research used to guide Lumiant's branding refresh, color palette, and overall style rehaul.
Product Blueprint
Full-width landscape blueprint view for scanning structure, dependencies, and flow details.
Primary Archetypes
A motion carousel of persona slides from the Lumiant artefacts (landscape view).
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The Brand & Website Refresh
Alongside the product redesign, I led a complete brand and website refresh to bring the same clarity and trust into Lumiant’s external presence—so the story advisers saw online matched the platform they’d use in practice.
Impact
The refresh aligned the external story with the internal reality—founders could now demo the live product with confidence, and the site became a credible extension of the platform rather than a separate marketing artefact.
What we achieved
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Unified visual language – Brought the design system’s tokens, typography, and interaction patterns into the marketing site for instant brand recognition.
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Clear value proposition – Reframed the homepage to lead with “life‑centred advice” and show advisers exactly how Lumiant fits into their practice.
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Trust signals – Integrated customer stories, metrics, and compliance language so advisers feel confident recommending it to clients.
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Conversion‑focused flows – Simplified demo requests, pricing clarity, and trial sign‑ups to reduce friction for new practices.
Goals & values alignment – how it’s trending
These metrics, captured over a fortnight of active use across multiple practices, showed the platform was no longer the bottleneck—it was accelerating advice delivery and client outcomes.
$21.13M
Life goals total
98% values‑aligned
2,119
Total goals created
2,119 completed (100%)
9.7 vs 3.8
Values‑based vs non‑values goals
Values goals outperform by 2.5x
KAA
Key Advice Areas performance
3.8 · 5.0 · 4.1 · 5.4
Trend signals
- ● 98% values alignment shows the platform is consistently delivering on its core promise.
- ● 100% goal completion reflects frictionless workflows and trust in the process.
- ● Values goals outperforming non‑values by 2.5x proves the design prioritises what matters most to advisers and clients.
- ● Broad KAA coverage enables practices to demonstrate comprehensive advice value.
During my leadership
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Platform stabilisation: Turned fragmented modules into a cohesive SaaS product that advisers could rely on in live meetings.
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Adviser adoption: Increased in‑meeting use and reduced manual workarounds.
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3
AI‑enabled differentiation: Gamified values + AI goal unpacking made Lumiant a premium, AI‑first advice tool, supporting two successful capital raises.
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Client engagement: More non‑CFO decision‑makers (women, partners) participated meaningfully, with higher comprehension and motivation.
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Revenue and scale: Hundreds of households across multiple practices used the platform in live advice processes, establishing recurring SaaS revenue.
What Lumiant taught me
Great design leadership isn’t just about the product—it’s about staying calm when the startup story outruns the product; telling the truth about where the experience is breaking (product and brand); prioritising ruthlessly to create a credible version 1.5 across all surfaces; and using moments of re‑platforming to leapfrog into leadership with AI‑first capabilities.
I didn’t just help Lumiant catch up to its promise—I helped it become the platform its founders had always known it could be, with a cohesive product, brand, and marketing story that finally matched the vision.
Lumiant Product 2.0 Launch
Launch walkthrough and product highlights from the 2.0 release.
Have a similar challenge?
If you’re building a client experience platform or rethinking advice around goals and values, I’d love to hear from you.
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Focused on practical outcomes
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Based in Sydney, working globally