Bica
Designing a business expense fintech product around trust, speed, and receipt-free spending
(Company)
Bica
(Role)
UX/UI designer
(What I did)
UX/UI design
Visual direction
UX strategy
(Key outcomes)
Onboarding completion rate
87%
Onboarding drop-off rate
-35%
Key task completion rate
90%
01
Background
Bica was a Dutch fintech startup creating a business expense card and companion mobile app for entrepreneurs, helping them simplify business expenses.
An early version of the product had been built entirely by developers without a dedicated designer. As the team began testing with beta users and collecting feedback, it became clear that the experience needed a rethink.
02
Problem
Without a dedicated designer, the early product had been shaped around technical and regulatory requirements rather than the user goals and needs. Beta user feedback revealed that the experience, particularly onboarding, was too complicated and confusing.
Onboarding completion was low, users struggled to understand what was required, why certain financial steps were necessary, and how the Bica model worked. At the same time, new financial regulations introduced additional requirements that had to be incorporated into the product.
03
Role
I joined Bica as a contract UX/UI designer and was the sole designer on the project. Working closely with the founder, engineers and the wider product team, I led the end-to-end design: from understanding the existing product and shaping user flows to defining the visual direction and designing the final mobile experience.
03
Discovery
I needed to understand how the new financial regulations affected the product, where and why users were dropping out of onboarding, and what entrepreneurs needed to feel confident using Bica. I also had to unpack the existing technical logic so I could distinguish necessary complexity from friction created by the way the product had been structured.
User journey map & user flows & collaboration
The onboarding and user flows had to be completely reworked due to new laws and financial regulations. Together with the team (and closely with our finance specialist) I mapped out the full set of user journeys and internal flows.
Because this is a financial product, the logic behind overdrafts, limits, invoicing, KYC, and bank connections was pretty complex, so I broke everything down into detailed diagrams and step-by-step scenarios.
Interviews, market research
To ground the designs in real user needs, I spoke with 13 entrepreneurs and early users about how they handled business expenses day to day, what made financial products feel trustworthy, and where the current onboarding felt confusing or slow.
I also looked at similar financial products to understand how others handle similar flows. Seeing those patterns helped me untangle complexity, spot what users would already expect, and define a clearer structure for Bica’s experience.
Main findings & insights:
Uncertainty made onboarding feel more difficult than it was.
Technical language, unclear progress, and limited feedback left users unsure whether they were completing each step correctly. In a financial product, that uncertainty quickly became a trust problem.
Required steps lacked context.
Users were asked to provide sensitive information without a clear explanation of why they were necessary. The issue was not only the number of steps, but the lack of guidance around them.
Receipt capture was a core task, but it was buried in the app
Users often needed to add a receipt quickly, often on the go. In the existing experience, they had to search through the app to find this action, creating unnecessary friction.
Exploring onboarding flows
Design explorations
I mapped the full product and explored alternative structures before moving into high-fidelity design. Reviewing the flows side by side helped me identify repeated patterns, simplify decision points, and shape one consistent system across onboarding and everyday spending.
04
Solutions
Onboarding
My main challenge was to translate this complexity into an experience that felt simple, clear, and fast for the user. I focused on progressive disclosure of information, breaking the process into logical steps, introducing clear progress indicators, and using straightforward layouts and microcopy to guide users through each stage with as little friction as possible. I also added context around why information was needed to build trust.
Core onboarding screens
Invoices, ready for handoff
Research showed that users needed more than a transaction history: they needed complete monthly records they could confidently hand off for bookkeeping.
I made invoices a top-level destination, organized them by year and month, and surfaced necessary information at a glance. Preview, download, and share actions keep the final handoff quick and predictable.
A home screen built around what matters now
Discovery showed that entrepreneurs wanted immediate answers to two questions: how much can I spend, and what needs my attention? I reorganized the home screen around that hierarchy, leading with available balance and spending progress, then bringing recent activity and receipt status into the same view.
Because receipt capture was one of the most frequent and time-sensitive tasks, I promoted it to the persistent tab bar instead of leaving it buried in the expense flow. The result is a calmer starting point that supports both quick checks and immediate action.
Receipt capture flow
From receipt to matched expense
Receipt capture was one of Bica’s most frequent workflows, so I designed it as a focused sequence. The app reads the receipt, proposes the matching card purchase, and asks the user to review and confirm, reducing manual input without hiding what the system is doing.
Closing the loop on missing receipts
Missing receipts were often a timing problem: once users had moved on from a purchase, the task was easy to forget. Contextual notifications tied to recent card activity solved this problem.
Random Act of Kindness
Random Act of Kindness (RAOK) is a feature designed to bring a human, emotional layer into an otherwise purely financial product. It allows users to send €2.50 to another Bica user for a coffee—no practical reason, just a simple gesture of appreciation or support. The idea was to encourage generosity, strengthen community, and reflect Bica’s belief that small acts of kindness can have a meaningful impact.
From a design perspective, the challenge was to make this flow feel lightweight and joyful, without compromising clarity or control. I designed both the sending and receiving experiences as short, guided flows with friendly microcopy, minimal decisions, and a sense of closure. The result is a feature that feels effortless to use and emotionally rewarding, while still fitting naturally into a regulated fintech product.
Random Act of Kindness flows
05
Outcomes
87%
onboarding completion rate
-35%
onboarding drop-off during beta testing
90%
task success rate for core actions
The product was tested with a small group of beta users and showed strong early traction, but the project was ultimately paused during the COVID period.
06
Learnings
Designing for complexity
Financial products require breaking down complex rules and processes into clear, digestible steps for users.
Cross-functional collaboration
Working closely with finance and compliance experts ensures accuracy without sacrificing usability
Humanizing fintech
Emotional features like Random Act of Kindness can add warmth and meaning to otherwise functional financial products.
Designing for daily use
Frequently used screens must be fast to scan and effortless to understand at a glance.