Project Overview
At American Express, I worked across UX research and UI design to support the development of the Intuitive Servicing Portal (ISP), a new internal platform designed to consolidate tools and workflows for global Customer Care Professionals (CCPs). ISP aimed to replace outdated, fragmented processes with a unified, intuitive interface that reduced inefficiencies and improved the servicing experience for card members worldwide.
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Prior to ISP, CCPs relied on a legacy PEGA-based system with complex workflows that often required navigating multiple screens, switching between tools, and stepping out of the portal to access relevant resources. These challenges extended call handling times, increased the potential for errors, and made onboarding new hires more resource-intensive.
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My role involved deeply understanding these operational pain points through contextual inquiry, interviews, and usability testing, then translating findings into actionable design solutions that aligned with brand standards, accessibility guidelines, and regulatory requirements. I partnered with cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and compliance leads, to ensure that proposed solutions were not only user-friendly but also feasible within technical and business constraints.
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Through this work, ISP evolved into a more efficient, cohesive platform, enabling CCPs to resolve inquiries faster, reduce the need for tool-switching, and provide a more seamless servicing experience to card members.
Disclaimer
* This case study has been abstracted to protect confidential American Express information. All proprietary UI designs and internal materials are not shown here but can be discussed during interviews. *
Duration
November 2022 - August 2025
My Role
UX Researcher, UI Designer
My Team
Worked cross-functionally across multiple teams with various designers, product owners, developers and other ISP stakeholders.
Tools
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Figma
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Sketch
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Optimal Sort
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Jira
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InVision
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Nexidia
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Craft
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Slack
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Webex
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Outlook
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Microsoft Office Suite
Defining the Research Process
When I joined the Capabilities and Servicing team, UX research was still a new discipline. A colleague and I developed a formal research intake process for designers and stakeholders, along with foundational research standards to guide future projects. This framework established clarity, consistency, and efficiency in how research was requested, planned, and executed.
Research Approach
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Contextual Inquiry & Interviews: Shadowed and interviewed CCPs across multiple departments (Membership Rewards, Credit & Fraud, Capabilities) to understand real-world workflows, mental models, and departmental differences.
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Card Sorting (Optimal Sort): Restructured the information architecture for the CHC (Customer Help Center) tool, revealing how different departments organized and accessed information. Adjusted categories to create a more standardized navigation structure across teams.
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Usability Testing: Designed and moderated over 30 participant sessions, evaluating new ISP designs for clarity, efficiency, and ease of navigation. Collected both task success metrics and qualitative insights to guide iteration.
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Compliance & Localization Studies: Researched and documented regional differences in banking regulations (UK, Canada) and language requirements, ensuring that solutions were adaptable for multiple markets without sacrificing usability.
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Synthesis & Reporting: Consolidated findings into actionable insights, presented through workshops, reports, and visual artifacts to align stakeholders and guide design priorities.
Design Solutions
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Embedded Knowledge Resources: Integrated relevant CHC article content directly into the ISP workflow, reducing “step-out” actions and keeping CCPs in a single environment.
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Streamlined Navigation: Reduced multi-screen workflows into consolidated task flows, minimizing tool-switching and improving efficiency.
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Localized User Experiences: Designed flexible interfaces adaptable for multiple languages, market-specific content, and varying compliance requirements.
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Error Prevention Measures: Added inline validation, contextual guidance, and clear feedback states to reduce transaction errors and rework.
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Consistent UI Components: Maintained a cohesive look and feel across ISP by leveraging shared design libraries, standardized components, and accessibility best practices.
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Scalable Design Framework: Created solutions that could be expanded across journeys and departments without requiring major structural redesigns.
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Examples of synthesized data from observational studies formatted as journey maps. These journey maps highlight pain points in the user experiences for 'Partner Linkage' and 'Market Transfer.
Example of synthesized data for a small qualitative study. This study was comparative, cross-referencing the user experience against the servicing customer experience.
Key Projects in ISP
Membership Rewards Journeys:
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Pay with Points History & Reversal – Enabled CCPs to quickly review and reverse point transactions directly within ISP.
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Gift Card Redemption & History/Reversal – Designed flows to streamline purchasing and reversing gift card redemptions.
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Statement Credit / Redeem for Deposit – Created a simplified process for converting points to credits or deposits.
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Points Transfer Redemption – Developed clear, guided steps for transferring points to partner programs.
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Cover Your Charges Redemption/History & Reversal – Designed an intuitive interface for offsetting charges using points.
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Security & Verification Journeys:
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UCID (Manual Authentication / Secure Push) – Created secure, user-friendly authentication flows adaptable for multiple markets.​
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Charge Verification – Designed guided workflows for validating customer-reported charges, reducing resolution time and errors.
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Servicing & Operational Journeys:
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Traveler’s Cheque Replacement – Streamlined the request process with improved form design and contextual help.​
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Card Replacement – Simplified multi-step flows to make replacing lost, stolen, or damaged cards more efficient.​
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Cancel Card – Designed a guided, compliant process for account closures, including tailored messaging for different customer scenarios.​
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Claim Work Basket – Created a clean, efficient interface for CCPs to manage and process queued service requests.
Preliminary sketches initially proposed for ISP Gift Cards History and Reversal journey.
Outcomes
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Reduced Call Handling Time: Embedded key CHC content directly into ISP workflows, cutting average handling time and eliminating unnecessary “step-out” actions.
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Improved Operational Consistency: Standardized navigation and task flows across departments, reducing variability in how CCPs completed similar tasks.
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Enhanced Onboarding Efficiency: Simplified workflows and clearer UI patterns reduced the learning curve for new hires, lowering training time and improving early performance.
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Increased Stakeholder Alignment: Established a repeatable research intake and reporting process that ensured stakeholders were engaged and informed throughout each project phase.
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Global Readiness: Designed adaptable solutions for multiple markets, incorporating language localization and regulatory compliance without sacrificing usability.
Key Learnings
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Department-Specific Needs Matter: Early card sorting results revealed that departmental context significantly influenced how CCPs navigated tools, prompting the creation of more universal but flexible navigation structures.
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Integrating Research Early Yields Stronger Designs: Embedding research from project inception ensured solutions addressed root causes rather than surface-level symptoms.
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Cross-Functional Collaboration is Critical: Partnering closely with product managers, developers, and compliance teams helped balance user needs with technical feasibility and regulatory requirements.
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Scalable Design Benefits the Entire System: Building reusable components and scalable workflows made it easier to expand ISP capabilities without redesigning from scratch.
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Continuous Feedback Loops Drive Improvement: Iterative testing and synthesis ensured designs evolved based on real user feedback rather than assumptions.