The problem

Financial and accounting services are hard to navigate. Users meet unfamiliar terms, long lists of services, and numbers they can't interpret. Expert Arm had to serve two needs: a business owner who wants a quick, practical tax answer, and one who needs ongoing accounting support.

Core question: How might we make tax and accounting easier to understand, so users can confidently find the right solution?

My approach

I worked through four stages:

1. Understand: product context, competitor landscape, and business goals.

2. Define: audiences, pain points, and design opportunities.

3. Design: information architecture, user flows, wireframes, responsive UI, and a design system.

4. Validate: design review and feedback. Usability testing is the next step.

Competitor review

I reviewed 10 finance and accounting providers: 5 international and 5 from Pakistan. Three patterns stood out:

1. Complex service lists need structure. Grouping services by the user's need is easier to scan than a long catalogue.

2. Clarity beats polish. Users should understand who a service is for within seconds.

3. Trust needs proof. Clear processes, credentials, and transparent information build more confidence than visual style alone.

International

Pakistan

Design decision: A calculator-first experience

I designed a calculator-first journey to help users access an estimated tax result before being prompted to explore professional services.

The proposed flow prioritizes the user's primary task, provides guidance while entering financial information, and presents the result alongside relevant assumptions and limitations.

The flow:

1. Choose the applicable jurisdiction, tax year, and business type.

2. Enter the required financial information with contextual guidance.

3. Review the inputs and calculation assumptions.

4. View the estimated result, breakdown, and limitations.

5. Explore relevant next steps, including professional support.

The calculator has been designed in Figma but has not yet been launched on the live Expert Arm platform.

Design system built from scratch

I built a design system to keep the product consistent as it grows.

• Foundations: colour, typography, spacing and grid, iconography, visual hierarchy

• Components: buttons and links, form fields and input states, cards, navigation, status messages, and financial data presentation patterns

The system is responsive by design. Mobile layouts were planned as their own patterns, not shrunk desktop screens.

Audience

The product serves two groups:

• Business owners and founders who need clear tax information and a way to find the right support.

• Accountants and finance professionals who need structured workflows and transparent assumptions.

Outcomes

The work produced a calculator-first tax journey, responsive patterns for desktop and mobile, and a design system of 10 components used across 12+ screens.

Design outcomes

The project established a design foundation for Expert Arm's tax and accounting experience.

• Calculator journey: Designed a structured flow from initial setup to estimated results.

• Responsive design: Created patterns for desktop and mobile experiences.

• Design system: Built a reusable component library from scratch.

• Scalable UI: Applied consistent design patterns across 12+ screens using 10 reusable components.