NDB NEOS: Sri Lanka's first "phygital" banking app

An ecosystem app that combined traditional banking portfolios with everyday merchant payments under a single platform, for a mass audience, with no local precedent for mobile banking UX.

RoleUI/UX design contributor in a 4-member design team

Timeline2018–2019

DomainFintech · B2C mobile banking

PlatformsNative Android and iOS, trilingual

NDB NEOS app screens: login, accounts, fund transfer and menus

1stPhygital banking ecosystem app in Sri Lanka

3Languages: English, Sinhala and Tamil

TopAward at National Best Quality Software Awards 2021

#1Most Innovative Digital Banking Product in Sri Lanka, Global Business Outlook UK 2021

01 / The challenge

Design for everyone, when no one had done it here before.

Designing for mass public adoption across diverse demographics
No local precedent for mobile banking UX in Sri Lanka at the time
Defining jobs-to-be-done through direct, in-person client engagements
Balancing complex banking flows (transfers, payments, account services) between security and simplicity

02 / My role and contributions

Client requirement gathering and requirement specification
Wireframing and validation
Contributed to the design system
Responsive mobile UI design
Prototyping and testing

03 / The work

From in-person requirements to native, trilingual UI.

Select any image to view it larger.

Wireframe flow for a one-time fund transfer to an NDB account — Wireframe flow: one-time fund transfer to an NDB account

Design system components: buttons, notifications and list states — Design system contribution: buttons, notifications and list states

Key screens: fund transfer and home with accounts, cards and deposits — Key screens: fund transfer and home

Menu and account summary screens — Menus, QR profile and account summary

04 / What I learned

Compliance, languages and sprints, all at once.

Designing interfaces adaptable to trilingual translations (English, Tamil, Sinhala)
Running design sprints with an iterative design approach
Designing native mobile UI for Android and iOS
Applying central bank data protection protocols and compliance standards
Negotiating the balance between business demands and UX standards
Conducting comprehensive competitive analysis across mobile banking products