Freddie Mac
Establishing UX practice in a legacy-heavy enterprise.
Freddie Mac
Establishing UX practice in a legacy-heavy enterprise.
Freddie Mac
Establishing UX practice in a legacy-heavy enterprise.
Summary
At Freddie Mac, I helped bring design thinking into a highly regulated, legacy-heavy environment. I led UX initiatives across the Loan Advisor Suite, which included Loan Collateral Advisor, Loan Selling Advisor, and Loan Coverage Advisor. My work simplified complex workflows, reduced redundant steps, and improved access to key data. Prototype testing showed up to 38% faster task completion, and advanced users rated the redesigned tools 7 out of 10 compared to the previous 5. Beyond measurable improvements, this work helped establish product design as a critical voice within the Single-Family division.
Summary
At Freddie Mac, I helped bring design thinking into a highly regulated, legacy-heavy environment. I led UX initiatives across the Loan Advisor Suite, which included Loan Collateral Advisor, Loan Selling Advisor, and Loan Coverage Advisor. My work simplified complex workflows, reduced redundant steps, and improved access to key data. Prototype testing showed up to 38% faster task completion, and advanced users rated the redesigned tools 7 out of 10 compared to the previous 5. Beyond measurable improvements, this work helped establish product design as a critical voice within the Single-Family division.
Summary
At Freddie Mac, I helped bring design thinking into a highly regulated, legacy-heavy environment. I led UX initiatives across the Loan Advisor Suite, which included Loan Collateral Advisor, Loan Selling Advisor, and Loan Coverage Advisor. My work simplified complex workflows, reduced redundant steps, and improved access to key data. Prototype testing showed up to 38% faster task completion, and advanced users rated the redesigned tools 7 out of 10 compared to the previous 5. Beyond measurable improvements, this work helped establish product design as a critical voice within the Single-Family division.
Key Results
38% Faster time on task
User satisfaction increase from 5 to 7 out of 10
Role & Timeline
UX Designer
2 years
Methods
User Research
Usability Testing
Information Architecture
Site Map Optimization
Design Systems
Understanding the problem
When I joined Freddie Mac, the Single-Family team was just beginning to build an in-house design function. Design maturity was low, and most product teams had never worked with a designer. The Loan Advisor Suite consisted of multiple fragmented, outdated tools with inconsistent user experiences.
Understanding the problem
When I joined Freddie Mac, the Single-Family team was just beginning to build an in-house design function. Design maturity was low, and most product teams had never worked with a designer. The Loan Advisor Suite consisted of multiple fragmented, outdated tools with inconsistent user experiences.
Understanding the problem
When I joined Freddie Mac, the Single-Family team was just beginning to build an in-house design function. Design maturity was low, and most product teams had never worked with a designer. The Loan Advisor Suite consisted of multiple fragmented, outdated tools with inconsistent user experiences.
What we learned
Through user interviews, SME conversations, and early usability testing, I surfaced key insights:
• Users with varying expertise (novice to advanced) needed flexible, clear ways to access data
• The legacy workflows had redundant steps and poor navigation
• Information hierarchy was unclear, leading to wasted time
• Search functions were rigid, making it hard to filter or explore
• Teams had no shared design standards, creating a fragmented experience
What we learned
Through user interviews, SME conversations, and early usability testing, I surfaced key insights:
• Users with varying expertise (novice to advanced) needed flexible, clear ways to access data
• The legacy workflows had redundant steps and poor navigation
• Information hierarchy was unclear, leading to wasted time
• Search functions were rigid, making it hard to filter or explore
• Teams had no shared design standards, creating a fragmented experience
What we learned
Through user interviews, SME conversations, and early usability testing, I surfaced key insights:
• Users with varying expertise (novice to advanced) needed flexible, clear ways to access data
• The legacy workflows had redundant steps and poor navigation
• Information hierarchy was unclear, leading to wasted time
• Search functions were rigid, making it hard to filter or explore
• Teams had no shared design standards, creating a fragmented experience
Designing the experiences
My design approach centered on improving efficiency and consistency while balancing compliance constraints.
Key design decisions included:
• Creating an enhanced dashboard with quick-glance data for newer users, and detailed drill-downs for advanced tasks
• Simplifying workflows by removing redundant steps
• Redesigning the sitemap and information architecture to improve navigation
• Introducing consistent, reusable patterns and aligning with front-end engineering for accessibility
• Prototyping conditional flows and testing with both novice and expert users
• Helping lay the foundation for a design system to scale consistent patterns across applications
Usability tests showed the redesign helped less-advanced users retrieve key data 38% faster, while advanced users rated the experience significantly higher.
Manager View of Dashboard for at-a-glance reporting
Customizable Search Filtering for locating results faster
Designing the experiences
My design approach centered on improving efficiency and consistency while balancing compliance constraints.
Key design decisions included:
• Creating an enhanced dashboard with quick-glance data for newer users, and detailed drill-downs for advanced tasks
• Simplifying workflows by removing redundant steps
• Redesigning the sitemap and information architecture to improve navigation
• Introducing consistent, reusable patterns and aligning with front-end engineering for accessibility
• Prototyping conditional flows and testing with both novice and expert users
• Helping lay the foundation for a design system to scale consistent patterns across applications
Usability tests showed the redesign helped less-advanced users retrieve key data 38% faster, while advanced users rated the experience significantly higher.
Manager View of Dashboard for at-a-glance reporting
Customizable Search Filtering for locating results faster
Designing the experiences
My design approach centered on improving efficiency and consistency while balancing compliance constraints.
Key design decisions included:
• Creating an enhanced dashboard with quick-glance data for newer users, and detailed drill-downs for advanced tasks
• Simplifying workflows by removing redundant steps
• Redesigning the sitemap and information architecture to improve navigation
• Introducing consistent, reusable patterns and aligning with front-end engineering for accessibility
• Prototyping conditional flows and testing with both novice and expert users
• Helping lay the foundation for a design system to scale consistent patterns across applications
Usability tests showed the redesign helped less-advanced users retrieve key data 38% faster, while advanced users rated the experience significantly higher.
Manager View of Dashboard for at-a-glance reporting
Customizable Search Filtering for locating results faster
Site map update recommendation for running searches and reports
Site map update recommendation for running searches and reports
Site map update recommendation for running searches and reports
Impact and outcomes
My work on Loan Advisor Suite delivered:
📈 Up to 38% faster time on task
📈 10% Increase in quote purch
📉 Higher user satisfaction, moving ratings from 5 to 7 out of 10
☎️ more consistent and accessible experience across tools
⭐️ Broader buy-in for product design as a critical partner in the single-family division
This momentum also led to growing headcount for the UX team, showing the business value of user-centered design.
Next steps
With early wins in place, the next steps included formalizing the design system to ensure consistency, and developing a governance model to keep future features aligned. We also saw opportunities to deepen stakeholder education and integrate more robust UX research across the broader enterprise.
Next steps
With early wins in place, the next steps included formalizing the design system to ensure consistency, and developing a governance model to keep future features aligned. We also saw opportunities to deepen stakeholder education and integrate more robust UX research across the broader enterprise.
Next steps
With early wins in place, the next steps included formalizing the design system to ensure consistency, and developing a governance model to keep future features aligned. We also saw opportunities to deepen stakeholder education and integrate more robust UX research across the broader enterprise.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for taking the time to view my work.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for taking the time to view my work.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for taking the time to view my work.