HumanBuiltAI
CreditNinja/UI & UX/Loan eligibility/2021

From 15 minutes to under five.

I led the redesign of a dated, confusing loan eligibility form, turning it into a conversation. The same questions now arrive one at a time in a vertical chat, answered with a tap, a slider or a short field, so a difficult process reads like a quick exchange with a helpful guide.

Same questions. A conversation instead of a form.

Role
Creative Director
Focus
Loan eligibility experience
Scope
UI design, interaction design, mobile usability
Built with
Prototyped in Adobe XD and Figma. Built in React.js with Storybook by the internal dev teams
Testing
A/B tested against a one-question-per-page flow. Both tested well

The short version

1-minute read · full story below
ProblemA dated loan eligibility form took about 15 minutes to finish and was especially hard to complete on a phone.
ApproachEvery question stayed. What changed is how they’re asked: one message at a time in a chat thread, answered with a tap, a slider or a short field.
ResultCompletion time fell from about 15 minutes to under five. Completion rose 40%, drop-offs fell 27%, and confused customer service calls fell by 112 a month.
Try the prototype See the results
Before
The original CreditNinja loan application: a long single-page form asking for name, email, phone, date of birth and full address
After
Chat opening: the CreditNinja ninja greets the guest and asks how much they need, with a $1,500 amount slider and quick picks
Original mobile site · chat openingFig. 01
02 — The challenge

Checking eligibility shouldn’t feel like the hard part.

People had to fight an outdated, confusing form just to learn whether they qualified for a loan, and on a phone it was worse. A 15-minute process needed to become a quick, comfortable one.

The original form
03 — Before

A form that hadn’t kept up with its users.

01An outdated interface
02A confusing completion experience
03Poor mobile usability
The original CreditNinja loan application: a long single-page form asking for name, email, phone, date of birth and full address
Original loan application
Before — The original loan eligibility form, before the redesign.Fig. 03
04 — The design shift

Turn a long form into a conversation.

The redesign kept every question and changed how they were asked. Instead of taking in the whole form at once, people answer one message at a time, and the next question appears below their reply.

Before
Navigate the form
After
Reply→ Ask→ Reply→ Ask→ Reply
A comparison of interaction models, not a map of every original step.Fig. 04
05 — One question per message

One question, one reply.

Each question arrives as a message from the CreditNinja guide. The answer controls sit right under it, so there is always one obvious thing to do next.

Earlier answers stay in the thread above as a record of what’s been said. People can scroll back to check a reply without leaving the flow.

Chat opening: the CreditNinja ninja greets the guest and asks how much they need, with a $1,500 amount slider and quick picks
01How much do you need?
Chat asking for email and mobile number as inline fields inside the conversation
02Contact details
Chat asking for main source of income with tappable answer cards: Full-time job, Part-time job, Self-employed, Benefits
03Main source of income
06 — Mobile experience

Designed for the phone in your hand.

People spend their days texting: read a message, reply, scroll to the next. The redesign borrows that rhythm. The thread scrolls like a messaging app and replies sit at thumb height, so filling out a form, one of the most dreaded tasks online, feels like answering a text.

Before
The original CreditNinja loan application: a long single-page form asking for name, email, phone, date of birth and full address
After
Chat asking for email and mobile number as inline fields inside the conversation
Same task, same scale · personal detailsFig. 06
07 — Automatic progression

Reply. The next question follows.

After a reply, the guide responds and asks the next question in the same thread. There is no Next button between steps, so the conversation keeps its own pace.

Chat asking for main source of income, with four answer cards and nothing chosen yet
01 · Question
Full-time job appears as a reply bubble and the guide asks about monthly take-home pay
02 · Selected answer
The next question appears below the reply: how often do you get paid, with four options
03 · Next question
08 — Visual language

Modern, without feeling impersonal.

Warm creamInkNinja orangeConfirm green
Focused screensEach question is a short, plain-language message from the guide. Replies appear as solid ink bubbles on the right.
Labeled answersLarge rounded buttons and cards. The selected choice turns solid ink so it’s easy to see.
IllustrationThe ninja mark and single-line drawings bring in warmth. Orange ties them to the progress bar.
ThreadNew messages always appear at the bottom of the thread, right above the reply controls, so you always know where to look.
Chat asking where to send the money, with bank badges and a selected Chase checking account
09 — Before and after

The same purpose. A very different experience.

BeforeAfter
Outdated interfaceModern visual design
Confusing form layoutOne question per message
Difficult to complete on a phoneDesigned for mobile use
Approximately 15 minutesUnder five minutes
The original CreditNinja loan application: a long single-page form asking for name, email, phone, date of birth and full address
Before
Chat asking for main source of income with tappable answer cards: Full-time job, Part-time job, Self-employed, Benefits
After
10 — The complete flow

One conversation, start to finish.

Chat opening: the CreditNinja ninja greets the guest and asks how much they need, with a $1,500 amount slider and quick picks
01 · Amount
Chat asking for email and mobile number as inline fields inside the conversation
02 · About you
Chat asking for main source of income with tappable answer cards: Full-time job, Part-time job, Self-employed, Benefits
03 · Income
Chat asking where to send the money, with bank badges and a selected Chase checking account
04 · Bank
The ninja reviews everything with a progress checklist: verifying identity, reviewing income, checking bank activity, building your offer
05 · Working on it
Offer: approved up to $1,500, with an amount slider, 6 to 18 month terms, per-paycheck cost and an Accept button
06 · Offer
Final chat message: $1,500 is on its way, with a timeline of approval, transfer to Chase and first payment
07 · Confirmation
Prototype screens · names, amounts and terms are sample dataFig. 10
Working prototype

Try the flow yourself.

A recreation of the chat design, rebuilt with Claude Design. My original, simpler prototype was made in Adobe XD and Figma. Drag the amount slider, tap your replies, and follow the conversation to the end.

Rebuilding it with AI was fast because the design decisions were already made: keep every question, show one obvious next step, write replies that sound like a person. The AI did the rebuild. The decisions kept it true to the original.

11 — Results

A 15-minute task, finished in under five.

~15 minOriginal completion time.
<5 minRedesigned completion time.
+40%Higher completion rate.
−27%Fewer drop-offs than the original form.
−112Fewer customer service calls a month about confusion with the form.

People overwhelmingly preferred the simplicity of answering in a conversation. A task that was hard to finish on a phone became a quick, guided exchange.

Results reported by the project owner.
12 — Reflection

Make the next step easy to understand.

Change the interaction model and the whole form changes with it. Same questions, one at a time, warmer replies, no Next buttons. It felt more manageable and took a fraction of the time.

None of this came from asking for a better-looking form. It came from understanding why people struggled with the old one, and deciding what had to change for them to finish.