05 — Peaks
Making investing feel easy for everyday users.
About
Peaks is a sustainable investing app for first-time investors. The original flow crammed exploration, choice, and commitment into a single screen, so users couldn't tell whether they were browsing, deciding, or actually investing.
I led the redesign of the end-to-end investment journey, splitting it into three distinct surfaces: Portfolio, ETFs, Allocation, so the mental model finally matched the action.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Team
Investment
Tooling
Figma, Rive, Notion, Linear
Structure
Three actions, three surfaces. Instead of one overwhelming flow.
Browsing ETFs is exploration. Picking a portfolio is committing. Setting percentages is fine-tuning. The original flow blurred all three into a single screen. I split them into a clear hierarchy: Picking a template or custom portfolio is the choice, ETFs is the learning, Allocation is the refinement.
Portfolio → choice
└── ETFs → exploration + education
└── Allocation → refine commitment (%)
I progressively disclosed complexity
Separated learning from committing
While aligning with Peaks’ educational, reassuring brand
Exploration
Blog for learning
Educate before letting users commit: Available funds appear as a card grid, each with a contextual info icon so users can learn without leaving the screen.
Funds & filters
Exploration that teaches, with filters that don't overwhelm.
21 ETFs + unfamiliar categories’ is a comprehension problem, not only a filtering problem. That's why the filter sheet groups six dimensions; Asset Type, Region, Theme, Sustainability, Risk, Instrument, into a single progressive surface. It’s a guided map: it helps beginners understand what they’re looking at before they commit.
Allocation
A donut that recalculates as you commit.
Allocation is the last step, where exploration becomes commitment. Each fund has a slider and a percent chip. The donut redraws live as values move. Tap a percent to type it directly. Equal-weights button for users who don't want to decide. Every state; in-progress, success, focus, error, delete was designed explicitly, so the page never feels stuck or ambiguous.
Outcomes & Learnings
01
Three-surface hierarchy shipped to production. Portfolio, ETFs, and Allocation each became dedicated flows. Mental model matched the action.
02
Templates removed the blank-canvas barrier. Cautious and Balanced presets let first-time investors start by editing, not building.
03
Every state designed explicitly. Empty, in-progress, success, focus, delete, error. No ambiguous moments where users wonder if the app heard them.
04
Key learning: when a flow tries to do exploration and commitment at once, it does neither well. Splitting them was the unlock.
Social Media
Branding
The brand signals discipline, long-term thinking and emotional maturity, and actively pushes back against hype culture.
A lot of investment marketing equates confidence with loudness. I wanted to challenge that. For Peaks users, confidence comes from calm control, not hype or urgency. It's intentionally understated, because trust doesn't shout.
Social Media
Approach
I kept Peaks' playful DNA and avoided lecturing or guilt. Nature became atmosphere, not ideology, broadening the brand to mobile-first users. You can invest responsibly without becoming someone else.
Kept
Playful DNA · Calm restraint · Nature as atmosphere
Avoided
Beige earnestness · Preachy tone · Moral superiority · Outdoor stock photos