Aura
Aura provided affordable, credit-building loans to working families across four states, primarily through partner stores and agents serving the Latinx community. When I joined, the company had just rebranded, leaving the team with almost nothing to work with: a logo and a colorful mural.
I built the design system from the ground up.
That meant defining every visual element: color palette, typography, iconography, illustration style, responsive layout templates, and component guidelines. The system had to work across the Aura website, in-store materials, and product features, all while conveying warmth, cultural resonance, and the kind of trustworthiness that matters when someone is applying for a loan.
Our colorful brand (literally and figuratively) embodied the richness of the Latino culture we served.
From the use of color to our voice and tone, we wanted our customers to feel at home, at ease, and trust that Aura was there to help. One of the more nuanced design challenges was maintaining a positive brand perception even when users were declined for a loan. The visual language had to feel supportive and human at every touchpoint, not just the happy path.
Aura website
The consumer website was a close collaboration with Senior Product Designer, Brittany Pepper. Together we tackled it from scratch, including navigation architecture, marketing copy, responsive layouts across breakpoints, legal disclaimers, and internal brand approvals. I worked across engineering, legal, product, and marketing to get it shipped.
Responsive layouts
When developing the site, my responsibilities included designing type styles, responsive layouts, and templates across multiple breakpoints to ensure the best experience for our web users.
Aura Cash
The Aura Cash card extended the system into physical product design, giving customers a branded debit card they could choose from a range of styles, a small but meaningful detail that reinforced the brand's commitment to dignity and choice.
Aura Posters
In-store poster design required a different kind of discipline: competing for attention on busy retail walls, with limited real estate and a customer who had other things on their mind. Every design decision had to earn its place.