n1u
Built for gamers.
The problem, in one number
of users dropped off during onboarding — 16,000 downloads vs. 2,000 completed sign-ups — before any redesign work began.
Overview
n1u was a digital wallet for Gen Z and gamers. Not just another wallet, it combined fiat (pesos), crypto, physical and virtual Visa card, service and transport payments, top-ups, QR, and its own engagement system: weekly missions, n1ucoins, and a store where users could redeem gaming benefits like Riot Points, Discord Nitro, and more.
I joined when the company decided to migrate the product to an in-house version. Until then, it had been built in 7 months by three external agencies — backend, frontend, and design — resulting in multiple friction points. From that moment I worked on two simultaneous tracks: iterating on the live version with high-impact changes, and designing the new version from the inside.
Problem
The first thing I encountered was that the documentation didn't match what was in production. With active users and a live product, I couldn't assume anything. I did an extensive audit of all live flows before touching anything. There was no prior research: no personas, no information architecture, no userflows, no validation.
The data confirmed it: out of 16,000 downloads, only 2,000 users completed onboarding. An 87% drop-off that wasn't being prioritized on the roadmap. The gamer audience wasn't finding the language, habits, or experience they expected in n1u, and the first contact with the product was losing them before they even started.
Real funnel data from the live product — each step's user count made the 87% drop-off concrete, not just a headline number.
Design Process
The first step was the audit: mapping everything in production, identifying gaps with existing documentation, and understanding where the critical friction points were. Without that, any design decision was a guess.
From that diagnosis I set up two parallel tracks. On the production track: high-impact fixes and iterations on the live app, home, profile, cards, payments, store, prioritized by friction frequency and short cycles. On the in-house track: a redesign with real criteria, flows built from scratch, documented structure.
UX/UI was part of the technology team: I participated in dailies, planning sessions, retros, and iteration sessions alongside back- and front-end. That integration was key to ensuring design decisions had real technical context and devs had unambiguous specs.
The research that didn't exist, I built it: interviews with the target segment, surveys on gaming, streaming and financial consumption habits, competitor analysis, user personas and documented information architecture. I built the onboarding journey map to identify concrete pain points, frustrating KYC, long forms, unexplained password rules, and clear improvement opportunities. All of it served both tracks simultaneously.
Before the full migration I led Android testing during the Friends & Family release, real-condition validation before the definitive launch.
Benchmark across 12 digital wallets — the "Es Gamer" column made the market gap explicit.
Personas built from the interview and survey data.
Survey campaign (PS5 giveaway to drive participation) and eight moderated interviews with 16-30 year old gamers.
Onboarding journey map — emotions and pain points mapped step by step, from account creation to password setup.
Design Philosophy
Small changes, big impact — every design decision focused on improving the experience in a tangible, measurable way.
Solution & Results
On the production track: incremental iterations on the highest-friction flows — home, profile, cards, payments, and store. Each change small, each one intentional.
On the in-house track: a complete onboarding redesign focused on reducing the friction identified in the journey map — visible progress, real-time KYC feedback, DNI autocomplete, simplified forms, and clear password rules. Transfer, savings account, and crypto payment flows redesigned from scratch, with n1ucoins system given clear progression and redemption logic.
The redesigned onboarding was validated with real users through the Friends & Family beta before the project was deprioritized at the time of release — moving the product from zero UX documentation and no prior research to a tested, evidence-based flow, with the audit and structure now serving as the foundation for whoever continues the product.
Home screen, before and after — same core actions, redesigned for clarity.
The redesign, end to end — home, activity, transfers, store, crypto, and onboarding, shipped across the production track.
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