Credit Karma

Senior Designer · 2021 – Present

SCOPE

Email, landing pages, design systems, paid social

ROLE

Design lead, systems contributor, cross-functional collaborator

SCALE

One of the largest personal finance platforms in the US

OVERVIEW

At Credit Karma, I design across the full marketing stack email campaigns, landing pages, paid social, and design system components for a platform serving tens of millions of members. My work sits at the intersection of brand, product, and performance: every asset needs to be visually strong, systematically sound, and built to convert.

THE EMAIL EVOLUTION

One of the defining challenges of my time at Credit Karma has been navigating a major brand system transition from a playful, illustration-heavy, metaphor-driven visual language to a cleaner, product-focused, people-centered approach. I designed across both eras, which required not just executing within a new system but helping establish what that new system looked like in practice across email.

Conceptual phase

Bold illustrations, conceptual analogies, and energetic layouts designed to make complex financial topics feel accessible and human — a visual language that turned abstract concepts like credit scores and debt into stories.

New brand system

Shifted to clear product UI representation, modern color palettes, and warm, relatable photography. Quickly adapted to the new framework — learning to interpret product UI, integrate people-focused imagery, and maintain visual clarity without losing engagement.

DESIGN SYSTEMS WORK

Beyond individual assets, I contributed directly to expanding Credit Karma's design system through two modular solutions built for scale.

Product snipe module

Designed a reusable email module that standardized how product snipes appear across multiple product lines. The pattern was built to flex across campaigns while staying consistent, accessible, and brand-aligned reducing design and implementation time for future work.

Tax engagement module

Created in response to a direct ask from marketing leads: make annual tax emails more visually engaging and easier to parse at a glance. Introduced structured visual hierarchy, product UI, simplified iconography, and guided content zones. Delivered full development specs exact pixel spacing, responsive behavior, fallback rules — to ensure accurate handoff and consistent reproduction across email clients.

PAID SOCIAL

Worked across briefs targeting distinct audience segments — Gen Z banking awareness for Credit Karma Money, auto insurance comparison, prime credit card personas, and balance transfer card consideration. Each required translating a specific audience insight and product claim into social creative that could cut through while staying on-brand.

WHAT IT SHOWS

The ability to design at scale — across channels, across brand systems, and across audience segments without losing craft or consistency. The design systems work in particular shows something beyond execution: the ability to identify a repeatable need, build a flexible solution, and document it well enough that other designers and developers can use it without your involvement.