Role: Lead Designer – Native Systems & Patterns
Platform: React Native (iOS & Android)
Duration: 12+ months
Summary:
As Achieve expanded its mobile footprint, I led the creation of a unified native design system that supported both Achieve Money and the acquired GOOD app. My focus was on embedding native best practices, aligning with Achieve’s web system (Ascend), and enabling scalable design across platforms using React Native Paper.
Background:
- Achieve had a rebranded web system but no native design standards.
- Existing apps (GOOD, MoLO) lacked cohesion and didn’t follow Material or native iOS guidelines.
- My task was to build a native system that worked across GOOD and Money, while preparing for future products like FDR.
Challenges:
- Integrate native design standards with an evolving web design system.
- Standardize across two existing apps built in different styles and at different maturity levels.
- Ensure scalability with minimal rework for engineering.
Actions:
- Audited GOOD and MoLO to identify usable patterns and modernization opportunities.
- Created a Figma branch of Ascend tailored for native UI, including typography, spacing, input controls, menus, and bottom sheets.
- Integrated React Native Paper components into the system, adapting them to match Achieve branding and native platform norms.
- Designed both light and dark themes simultaneously to streamline engineering implementation.
- Established bi-weekly cross-functional reviews with engineering, PMs, and tools teams to sync design + dev efforts across platforms.
- Consulted with the FDR app team, bringing Ascend Native into their MVP work.
Results
- Native library used in the design and development of Achieve’s Money and GOOD apps, improving design consistency and accelerating engineering handoff
- Components and documentation enabled faster ramp-up and reuse across projects, including jumpstarting UI for Freedom Debt Relief under tight timelines
- Streamlined cross-platform collaboration through weekly reviews with iOS and Android leads; engineers welcomed the design-led guidance
- While new app initiatives are currently paused, the system remains in use and has proven scalable across multiple business lines
Skills
- Product Design
- Native Design
- Design Systems
- Cross-Platform Design
- UX Strategy
- Figma
- React Native
- Stakeholder Management
- Mobile UX
- Collaboration
Project Feedback
“Kim listens intently to stakeholder feedback while still trying to solve for user problems and balance the two. She’s a highly collaborative problem solver who reaches deep inside her knowledge of native app designs to come up with innovative solutions and the precise mobile components that reduce friction and increase user delight.”
~ VP of Design, Achieve