Product Design
Zelle® • Capital One
Zelle is a US-based digital payments network owned by Early Warning Services, a private financial services company.
Capital One’s Zelle experience satisfied basic functional criteria for a time, but had fallen out of compliance. As the Zelle network grows, new use cases are identified by EWS and incorporated into their guidelines. Participating banks are expected to keep pace with these mandated updates.
Through a reiterative certification process, banks work with both design and tech teams at EWS to ensure participant compliance. As the lead designer on Zelle at Capital One, I successfully negotiated two mature design systems to bring the Zelle experience at Capital One into EWS compliance.
The complete UX process documentation for this engagement lives at the direct link below.
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Capital One had fallen out of compliance with Zelle®'s evolving experience mandates from Early Warning Services. As the Zelle network grew and new use cases were incorporated into EWS guidelines, participating banks were required to keep pace. The challenge wasn't just technical — it required negotiating two mature, distinct design systems (Capital One's enterprise design language and Zelle's brand standards) without compromising either. The stakes: user trust, regulatory standing, and Capital One's position within the largest bank-owned P2P payments network in the US.
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Daryle M. // Lead Designer
Cameron C. // Project Manager
Scott A. // iOS Engineer
Christopher M. // Android Engineer
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Led a reiterative certification process in direct collaboration with EWS design and engineering teams. Audited the existing Capital One Zelle experience against updated EWS compliance requirements, identifying gaps across iOS, Android, and web.
Developed a reconciliation framework for resolving conflicts between Capital One's design language and Zelle's brand standards — determining where each system had to yield and where both could be honored.
Worked across a cross-functional team of iOS, Android, and project management to ship compliant experiences across all platforms simultaneously. -
The work restored Capital One's compliance, strengthened user trust through new product features, and positioned Capital One to grow alongside the Zelle network.
The broader network context: Zelle® processed $307 billion in total payments across 1.2 billion transactions in 2020 — a 62% increase in dollar volume and 58% in transaction volume year-over-year.
