Fintech

Golden1 Credit Union: Redesigning Accessible Digital Banking

COMPANY

Golden1 Credit Union

ROLE

UX/UI Designer

TIMELINE

Jan 2024 - Feb 2025

Summary

Redesigned digital banking experiences to improve accessibility, usability, and consistency for Golden1’s 1M+ members. The work focused on meeting WCAG 2.1 compliance while modernizing the design system for scalable future growth.

Context

Golden1 Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the U.S. The design team was tasked with improving the member digital banking platform to better serve users with diverse needs, while also aligning with evolving brand standards.

Challenge

Members with accessibility needs faced friction navigating the digital banking platform. The challenge was to bring the platform into WCAG compliance without sacrificing brand identity or usability.

Research & Discovery

We started by understanding where and why users were dropping off:

  • Analyzed site metrics to identify high-friction pages.

  • Conducted usability tests with individuals using assistive technologies (screen readers, keyboard navigation).

  • Partnered with Level Access to conduct a full WCAG audit and prioritized critical accessibility violations.

Defining the Strategy

Our research revealed redundant navigation links and cluttered content that confused users, especially those relying on screen readers. Based on these insights, we prioritized:

  • Streamlining Navigation & IA: Reduced redundant links by 30% and restructured content for better flow.

  • Design Consistency: Developed reusable design components to ensure a cohesive experience.

  • Enhanced Accessibility: Improved contrast, readability, keyboard navigation, and fixed ARIA labels and form structures.

Process

  • Accessibility Audit: Conducted a full review of existing flows using Nielsen’s heuristics and WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Identified high-impact issues affecting screen reader users, color contrast, and keyboard navigation.

  • Design Iterations: Redesigned UI components (buttons, forms, alerts) to align with ADA and WCAG standards.

  • Collaboration: Partnered with Product, Engineering, and QA in agile sprints to prioritize fixes and ensure compliance didn’t slow delivery.

  • Testing: Facilitated usability testing with members using assistive technologies to validate improvements and uncover new gaps.

  • Documentation: Created accessibility guidelines within the design system so compliance would scale beyond this project.

Design Solution

  • Redesigned Log In Modal: Simplified account selection into a one-click process, reducing cognitive load and improving efficiency.

  • Marketing & Campaign Pages: Provided structured templates for the marketing team, ensuring accessibility and visual consistency across all new pages.

  • Financial Education Contest Page: Built a responsive landing page that made contest entry intuitive across devices, increasing participation rates.

Constraints & Trade-offs

  1. Balancing brand palette with WCAG contrast ratios.

  2. Removing some animations to meet performance and accessibility guidelines.

  3. Prioritizing essential features over “nice-to-have” enhancements to meet launch deadlines.

Collaboration

Worked closely with developers, QA testers, and the accessibility review team. Facilitated workshops to ensure alignment on WCAG standards and provided annotated specs for implementation.

Outcomes & Impact

Our efforts made a tangible difference, both in numbers and human experience:

  • Increased accessibility compliance by 30%, moving the site closer to full WCAG 2.1 alignment.

  • Reduced UI inconsistencies by 25% through a standardized component library.

  • Improved development handoff, cutting design-to-code cycles by 40%.

  • Boosted member satisfaction scores by 20%, particularly among those relying on assistive tech.


Reflection/Learnings

Accessibility can coexist with strong brand identity when approached holistically. This project reinforced the value of design systems in ensuring consistency and scalability across complex ecosystems.