Whale
Scope
Lead Product Designer
Client
Whale
Year
[2024 - CURRENT]
Industry
Finance
Whale reimagines the security deposit for the modern rental experience. By replacing outdated processes with digital, lockable interest-bearing accounts, the platform gives residents greater transparency with faster move-outs while helping property managers streamline operations and reduce administrative burden.
Context
Security deposits sit at the intersection of property management and consumer finance, yet the experience has remained largely unchanged for decades. Property managers rely on fragmented, manual processes that increase operational complexity and support costs, while residents are required to tie up significant capital without transparency or financial upside. Both sides experience unnecessary friction throughout the leasing lifecycle.
Whale identified an opportunity to transform security deposits into a modern financial product—reducing administrative burden for operators while creating a more transparent and valuable experience for residents.
Onboarding
A renter is being asked to open what is effectively a bank account and send real money for a service they've likely never heard of, often with little explanation from the property about who Whale is or why.
To offset that, the flow was designed to establish credibility before asking for anything sensitive: plain-language explanations of what Whale is and why the property uses it, visible cues like FDIC insurance and account security, and information requested incrementally via progressive disclosure rather than all at once. The goal was for a renter to understand what they were trusting before they were asked to trust it with money. Originally designed with 0 users, this flow sees hundreds of users weekly go from email invitation to payment collection and is constantly improving through iteration.
View Balance
Once funds are deposited, residents primarily want answers to two questions: Is my money safe? and Is it earning interest? The account experience was designed to answer both at a glance. Rather than emphasizing a single account balance, the interface prioritizes available funds—the amount residents can actually access and act on—providing a more accurate reflection of their financial position. By surfacing the most relevant information first and clearly communicating account status and earnings, the experience builds trust while reducing uncertainty around deposited funds.
Move Out
The property is the primary actor in this stage, not the resident. Completing a financial move-out statement takes time: charges need to be verified, deductions itemized, and the numbers reconciled correctly, all while staying within state-mandated deadlines for returning a deposit. Once that statement is finalized, the correct amount unlocks in the resident's account immediately. Getting the property's side of that process right, and on time, was the real design problem, not the resident-facing unlock itself.
Deliverables
Product strategy and service blueprint
End-to-end web and mobile experience
Design system
Whale
Scope
Lead Product Designer
Client
Whale
Year
[2024 - CURRENT]
Industry
Finance
Whale reimagines the security deposit for the modern rental experience. By replacing outdated processes with digital, lockable interest-bearing accounts, the platform gives residents greater transparency with faster move-outs while helping property managers streamline operations and reduce administrative burden.
Context
Security deposits sit at the intersection of property management and consumer finance, yet the experience has remained largely unchanged for decades. Property managers rely on fragmented, manual processes that increase operational complexity and support costs, while residents are required to tie up significant capital without transparency or financial upside. Both sides experience unnecessary friction throughout the leasing lifecycle.
Whale identified an opportunity to transform security deposits into a modern financial product—reducing administrative burden for operators while creating a more transparent and valuable experience for residents.
Onboarding
A renter is being asked to open what is effectively a bank account and send real money for a service they've likely never heard of, often with little explanation from the property about who Whale is or why.
To offset that, the flow was designed to establish credibility before asking for anything sensitive: plain-language explanations of what Whale is and why the property uses it, visible cues like FDIC insurance and account security, and information requested incrementally via progressive disclosure rather than all at once. The goal was for a renter to understand what they were trusting before they were asked to trust it with money. Originally designed with 0 users, this flow sees hundreds of users weekly go from email invitation to payment collection and is constantly improving through iteration.
View Balance
Once funds are deposited, residents primarily want answers to two questions: Is my money safe? and Is it earning interest? The account experience was designed to answer both at a glance. Rather than emphasizing a single account balance, the interface prioritizes available funds—the amount residents can actually access and act on—providing a more accurate reflection of their financial position. By surfacing the most relevant information first and clearly communicating account status and earnings, the experience builds trust while reducing uncertainty around deposited funds.
Move Out
The property is the primary actor in this stage, not the resident. Completing a financial move-out statement takes time: charges need to be verified, deductions itemized, and the numbers reconciled correctly, all while staying within state-mandated deadlines for returning a deposit. Once that statement is finalized, the correct amount unlocks in the resident's account immediately. Getting the property's side of that process right, and on time, was the real design problem, not the resident-facing unlock itself.
Deliverables
Product strategy and service blueprint
End-to-end web and mobile experience
Design system
Whale
Scope
Lead Product Designer
Client
Whale
Year
[2024 - CURRENT]
Industry
Finance
Whale reimagines the security deposit for the modern rental experience. By replacing outdated processes with digital, lockable interest-bearing accounts, the platform gives residents greater transparency with faster move-outs while helping property managers streamline operations and reduce administrative burden.
Context
Security deposits sit at the intersection of property management and consumer finance, yet the experience has remained largely unchanged for decades. Property managers rely on fragmented, manual processes that increase operational complexity and support costs, while residents are required to tie up significant capital without transparency or financial upside. Both sides experience unnecessary friction throughout the leasing lifecycle.
Whale identified an opportunity to transform security deposits into a modern financial product—reducing administrative burden for operators while creating a more transparent and valuable experience for residents.
Onboarding
A renter is being asked to open what is effectively a bank account and send real money for a service they've likely never heard of, often with little explanation from the property about who Whale is or why.
To offset that, the flow was designed to establish credibility before asking for anything sensitive: plain-language explanations of what Whale is and why the property uses it, visible cues like FDIC insurance and account security, and information requested incrementally via progressive disclosure rather than all at once. The goal was for a renter to understand what they were trusting before they were asked to trust it with money. Originally designed with 0 users, this flow sees hundreds of users weekly go from email invitation to payment collection and is constantly improving through iteration.
View Balance
Once funds are deposited, residents primarily want answers to two questions: Is my money safe? and Is it earning interest? The account experience was designed to answer both at a glance. Rather than emphasizing a single account balance, the interface prioritizes available funds—the amount residents can actually access and act on—providing a more accurate reflection of their financial position. By surfacing the most relevant information first and clearly communicating account status and earnings, the experience builds trust while reducing uncertainty around deposited funds.
Move Out
The property is the primary actor in this stage, not the resident. Completing a financial move-out statement takes time: charges need to be verified, deductions itemized, and the numbers reconciled correctly, all while staying within state-mandated deadlines for returning a deposit. Once that statement is finalized, the correct amount unlocks in the resident's account immediately. Getting the property's side of that process right, and on time, was the real design problem, not the resident-facing unlock itself.
Deliverables
Product strategy and service blueprint
End-to-end web and mobile experience
Design system