Case study product/pangea-card · Pangea Money Transfer

Pangea: launching a debit card

On a mission to give everyone the power to move their money effortlessly — starting with those who need it most. I helped Pangea improve their cross-platform application and bring a brand-new product to market.

Pangea Money Transfer is a data-driven fintech startup specializing in money remittances — international money transfers made as easy and intuitive as possible. With a majority of users of Mexican descent, 66% of the user base is non-native speaking, unbanked or underbanked, and often undocumented. We were driven by the purpose of empowering an underserved class to manage their money and care for their loved ones.

Role
Senior Product Designer
Timeline
9 months
Team
Sole designer · 2 PMs · 3 developers
Partner
Green Dot Bank

Illustrations by Nico Rubio

The Pangea Visa Debit Card arriving in the app — a teal card over a celebration screen reading 'Your Pangea Visa Debit Card is on its way,' with direct deposit setup below.
FIG 01 The Pangea Visa® Debit Card — a banking product built for remittance customers.

Impact

Outcomes

The problem

Finding a differentiator

To continue Pangea's success we looked for a differentiator within our space, coupled with the needs of our unique user base. Looking to be the first remittance application to offer banking services to this niche market, Pangea set out to release a debit card specifically targeted at our remittance customers.

Over the following months we iteratively released The Pangea Visa® Debit Card, working with our banking partner Green Dot. I was the only designer on the product team, alongside two PMs and three developers, slowly releasing features and measuring their impact.

Early greyscale wireframe map of the entire new-user experience: onboarding carousel, splash pages, sign-up and KYC screens, remit flow, deposit paths, card management, and reset PIN.
FIG 02 The full new-user experience, wireframed end to end before a pixel of UI.

Defining success

From the beginning we noted rough success metrics, adjusting them as the product evolved, but always setting goals against KPIs:

Data-driven mindset

Awareness of customer impact

Even before the addition of a new card, our application features were quickly increasing in complexity. Given the number of changes we were proposing, it was important to have an awareness of customer impact. I regularly integrated customer feedback into final design decisions through user research and customer surveys.

The Pangea pattern library: typography scale, color palette, iconography, navigation, buttons, elevation styles, list items, form fields, special components, and illustration set.
FIG 03 The Pangea pattern library — the foundations under every screen in this story.
Before and after of the Pangea home screen: the redesign adds a card promo module and a richer repeat-transfers list beneath the FX calculator.
FIG 04 Home, before and after — promo placement and repeat transfers, both instrumented.

Testing the sign-up flow

Trust, identity, and the SSN barrier

It was important to start learning about our customers' feelings and behaviors around banking — specifically the sharing of personal information. Our users are known, for multiple reasons, not to trust banks. Understandably so; we needed to uncover how to make it easier.

The SSN requirement for an account is a huge barrier for our customers, with an estimated 25% representing undocumented workers. We looked to introduce support for other forms of government-issued IDs specific to Mexico, such as the Matrícula Consular.

The linear sign-up flow from phone number through phone verify, name, email, date of birth, address, SSN, password, and agreements, ending at the debit card confirmation screen.
FIG 05 The sign-up and KYC path — every screen a potential drop-off, the SSN screen most of all.
Animated onboarding welcome screen: 'Welcome to Pangea. There's a better world out there. You are a part of it,' with an illustrated globe and confetti.
FIG 06 The onboarding welcome, in motion.

First launch

Learning through waitlists

To quickly start learning from the real product and live customers, we ran a waitlist as the first exposure test: a controlled group of users began seeing promotion banners for the upcoming Pangea Card, giving us a read on demand within the existing base. Only 15% of our English-language users saw the promo. Beyond the usual metrics, we wanted to see how the new promotion and splash pages impacted overall use of the app.

The internal waitlist flow: FX page promo, card splash page, phone entry and verification, SMS opt-in, email capture, and a $10 give-$10 referral screen with SMS sharing.
FIG 07 Waitlist v1 — promo to splash to join to referral.

Waitlist: goals vs. results

With the success of the first waitlist, the business felt comfortable investing in another release.

External waitlist

A revised version of the waitlist, coordinated with an external marketing campaign.

The external waitlist flow in Spanish, entered from home promo, SMS, and email campaigns into a splash page, phone verification, email capture, and referral sharing.
FIG 08 The external waitlist — same funnel, now fed by SMS and email marketing, localized.

After adjusting our main promotional banner and splash page, we increased conversion from the home page into sign-up. Comfortable with our discovery and sign-up path, we were ready to push out full functionality.

Nine splash page copy and layout variants testing different benefit orderings: free transfers, early pay, $0 fees, ATM access, and Matrícula Consular acceptance.
FIG 09 Splash page variants — benefit positioning under continuous A/B test.

We learned a lot about how to position product features and which benefits to highlight, running A/B tests on anything uncertain and continually measuring performance of promotions and splash pages.

In interviews, people emphasized $0 down, no minimum balance, no overdraft fees. In the data, those benefits weren't unique enough to move our users.

The home promo module beside Android and iOS ad banner variations, each testing different card benefit copy: send for free, get paid early, no hidden fees, no minimum balance.
FIG 10 Promo banner variations across Android and iOS — copy as a test surface.

Market ready

Half the user base, full functionality

50% of our users would be exposed to the full functionality of the application — while I already had improvements designed and spec'd for ACH and Matrícula support.

Targets for the release

The full market-ready new-user flow: onboarding, home, splash pages, complete sign-up and KYC in Spanish, remit flow, deposit cash and bank paths, ATM locator, statements, card management, and support screens.
FIG 11 The market-ready new-user flow, end to end.
The returning-user flow: login with phone verification and password recovery, fraud check branch, logged-in home with card module, payment method and confirm amount screens with balance limits, and card and transfer activity views.
FIG 12 Returning users — login, fraud states, payment methods, and activity.

Still iterating

Following the funnel

The latest data showed where the product needed the biggest improvements. Ultimate success meant getting people to fund their accounts — we needed to move users through the Pangea Card funnel more effectively by consistently and strategically reminding them of their next step.

Activation results

Retention results

That last number mattered: remittances dipped among users who could see the promo. Our early hypothesis was that the card promo pushed repeat transfers below the fold, decreasing their use. In response we redesigned the promo banners and built a system of app notifications that strategically nudged users down the funding flow.

Funding flow optimizations: home banners for Android and iOS, a direct deposit modal, cash-or-ACH funding paths, and payment and thank-you intercepts reminding users to fund their card.
FIG 13 Funding flow optimizations — banners, modals, and intercepts nudging the next step.

Gamifying the funding flow

I proposed a flow that would encourage users to follow through on funding their cards — a visible apply → activate → deposit → earn progression, tested as both a timeline and interactive tabs.

The gamified card setup process in two treatments: a progress timeline and interactive tabs, both stepping through apply, activate, deposit, and earn with celebratory end states.
FIG 14 Apply → activate → deposit → earn — the setup funnel made visible, as a timeline and as tabs.

Epilogue

An honest ending

We planned to keep pushing the product and learning from our users — but due to COVID, front-end development was paused and a handful of the team was let go, including me. I hope the team keeps the product progressing and helping its users. If you ever need to send money internationally, check out Pangea Money Transfer.