TL;DR
I joined UNEOS as its first designer when the company was three employees old. Over three years, I built the design function from zero: established design in an industry that barely knew the profession, shipped the first products with Banking Specialists and partner banks, grew and mentored a small team, and evolved our process from stage gates to product squads. UNEOS closed in June 2026 after a failed funding round.
The biggest lesson: the human component beats process, tools, and even product.
Intro
In spring 2023 I was asked if I wanted to help build a fintech as Lead Designer. I jumped at the opportunity right away. At that point UNEOS was a few months old; before me there were exactly three employees. As a subsidiary of Volksbank Freiburg, we have a clear goal: rethink internal bank management with modern SaaS. What I didn't know back then:
I wouldn't just be designing a product. I would have to establish design in an industry where many people didn't even know what designers are actually good for.
Do we need Designers?
Anyone who has ever worked with internal banking software knows the feeling: no designer has been at work here in a long time.
That's how it was at UNEOS too. During the founding phase, the founders asked themselves: "Do we need designers?" After a few conversations in which I could show what I actually do all day, the answer was clear: "Yes, we need designers."
That was exactly the appeal for me, joining this seemingly tough industry. Where users have been used to outdated interfaces for decades, modern, intuitive design becomes a clear USP.
So there's a lot to do. And you can show people how simple software can actually be. And that is exactly my motivation.
The First Product
In the first months it was mostly about fundamentals. As the only designer I could do everything: website, logo, business cards, the right hardware, the right software. A nice playground to work it all out.
Then came the first real product, which I got to build together with the Banking Specialists:
That single sentence already contained more words I had never heard before than I'd care to admit. So step one was understanding what actually happens in internal bank management and what problem we wanted to solve.
For exactly that, UNEOS has two levers: Banking Specialists with banking domain backgrounds on the team, and partner banks who, as development partners, give us a direct look into their everyday work.
After many conversations, workshops, and design iterations, we had a shared picture of the problem and a clear idea of how to solve it. Here's a short look at the heart of account reconciliation:
Challenges as a Solo Designer
At first I thought the actual challenge would be the complex subject matter. The opposite turned out to be true.
Understanding the highly complex processes of a bank and translating them into software as simply as possible was the part I enjoyed most and that came easiest to me.
The actual challenge was a different one: I wasn't just a UI/UX or product designer. I was Lead Designer. Strategy, marketing, product, anything that was somehow visual landed with me.
In short: UNEOS needs more than one designer.
So the next step was clear, build a team. On top of the day-to-day business.
Together as a Team
After a few months of solo design, I started recruiting together with the Head of Product. We were looking for support on UI/UX work and on the co-design process with our partner banks.
Three months of screening, portfolios, and in-depth conversations later, we had two matches. A UX designer, who from then on takes care of the partner banks together with the Head of Product and the Banking Specialists. And a UI/UX designer who primarily supports product design. Since she was at the start of her career, I additionally took on her training.
And exactly that part was special for me. During my studies I had the luck of having a fellow student with whom I could push through many projects together. In my practical semester I had a mentor who took the time for my development. Now it was my turn to give that back.
Product Design Process
As a duo in the actual product design, the recruiting paid off quickly. We complemented each other perfectly, both as people and professionally, and were able to keep developing the process together.
In the beginning, a classic stage gate process worked best for us. Each area had clear responsibilities, we could work on our products in pair design, and iterate quickly through the gates.
The design gates ran via design reviews. Sometimes synchronously as a meeting with a presentation, sometimes asynchronously via a Teams channel. That way all areas stayed promptly informed and could weigh in.
As the company grew, this model hit its limits. Clear handovers between areas are good for control, but slow for the speed a fintech needs. So we switched to interdisciplinary product squads.
A squad consisted of a product designer, up to seven software engineers, a Banking Specialist, a product marketing manager, and a product owner.
The real lever, however, wasn't the new structure alone, but the combination of both models. The design team kept working closely together to benefit from complementary skills. At the same time, we took on more individual responsibility within the squads.
That gave us another significant boost in speed in product design.
Learnings
Building a company from zero from a design perspective is far more than designing a product and a company.
The biggest work lies between people. In collaboration, in mentorship, in resolving conflicts. In the beginning I underestimated that. I thought the complexity of banks was the challenge. In reality it was the people around it. That was my most important learning:
Not the process, not the tool, not even the product. And exactly when that's true, even the toughest challenges become fun.