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From Vision to Believability

A story about adapting fast, choosing the right medium, and building a vision investors could believe in.

⚠️ NDA Note

For Investor Day 2025, I was tasked with designing a vision demo that showcased the future of our advisor experience. With shifting requirements and limited detail, I became responsible for transforming an abstract strategy into something clear, compelling, and believable.

Even though the actual demo can’t be shown due to confidentiality, I am able to showcase my process in a hectic, vague environment.

Designing for investors, not advisors.

We needed to persuade the investors in our bank of our idea.

The constraints were directionally strategic, not tactical.
And the requirements evolved daily.

The main challenge was finding clarity in ambiguity.

Choosing a catchy medium

Nothing was predefined, so I switched mediums constantly not out of indecision, but out of strategy.

At first, to explore tone and convey abstract concepts, I used:

lightweight 3D scenes
spatial layouts
motion-driven storytelling

The demo was supposed to convey the future of the bank, so spatial design visualized things to help stakeholders understand the feel of the future experience.

This made alignment faster and allowed us to lock onto a direction before moving into UI.

Shifting to the interface

Once the narrative direction solidified, I transitioned into UI work and built a fully clickable prototype in Figma.

Due to confidentiality, I can’t share:

specific screens,
interaction flows,
system logic,
or visuals from the prototype.

What I can share is the design philosophy behind it.

From Design Fiction to Reality

I used design fiction and spatial explorations to spark conversations and help investors emotionally connect with our concept. But fiction alone isn’t enough for a logical audience The real challenge was converging that vision into something buildable. Framing the iterations from north star to MVP became my goal.

Showcasing Multiple Futures

I used futures thinking: exploring probable, preferred, and possible scenarios for the advisor experience. This allowed us to show investors a range of outcomes, not a rigid forecast, and positioned our team as strategic, adaptable, and ready for multiple trajectories.

Grounding foresight with insight

We needed to anchor everything back to real insights from our current technology and advisor workflows. The demo needed to show not just where we could go, but how we could realistically get there.

The Outcome

I'm very proud of what happened next

Our demo became the only demo with a built UI in Investor day
It provided a tangible, realistic picture of where advisor tools are heading
After the event, the design direction Kickstarted internal initiatives
Teams referenced this work as a guiding blueprint for future projects

The demo shaped internal momentum.

What I learned

I’m not defined by tools, I can choose whatever medium best communicates the idea.
Ambiguity is my opportunity to define the project.
Vision work requires a delicate balance between imagination and feasibility.
Creating Speedy prototypes is a superpower.
Good demos are persuasive, as opposed to just flashy.