Zuniq
Borderless Payment Infrastructure for Global Businesses
Role
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
2024
Platforms
Web App · Marketing Site · API Dashboard
Status
Live
Overview
Zuniq is a cross-border payment infrastructure platform built for emerging market businesses — enabling multi-currency wallets, instant global payouts, real-time FX conversion, and OTC desk access from a single dashboard. The product targets businesses in Nigeria and across Africa who need to move money internationally without the friction of traditional banking rails.
The Problem
Businesses operating across borders face a structural problem: the tools built for global payments weren't built for emerging market realities. FX rates are opaque, payouts are slow, and the integrations needed to connect to global markets require months of engineering work. Zuniq needed a product experience that made all of this feel simple — without hiding the complexity that operators actually need to see.
Constraints
These constraints shaped every design decision:
Multi-currency complexity had to feel simple. Users manage USD, EUR, GBP, NGN and more simultaneously — the interface couldn't collapse under that data density.
Trust was the primary design constraint. Moving large sums of money across borders requires absolute confidence in the system. Every interaction had to communicate reliability, accuracy, and control.
FX and rate information changes in real time. Designing for live, volatile data meant every state — loading, confirmed, failed, rate-expired — needed explicit handling.
API-first product with a non-technical primary user. Finance and operations teams use the dashboard, not developers. Technical complexity had to be abstracted without hiding the controls operators need.
My Role
I led the full product design scope: information architecture for the core dashboard, multi-currency wallet and balance views, payment initiation and FX conversion flows, beneficiary management, OTC desk interface, API keys and webhook configuration, and the marketing site. I also defined the visual design system used across all surfaces.
Approach
The mental model I designed around was 'a global treasury in one place.' Every feature decision was tested against that frame: does this make the operator feel in control of money moving across borders? The dashboard hierarchy was built around real-time balance visibility first, then action surfaces. FX conversion was designed as a transparent, step-by-step flow — showing rates, fees, and delivery times before committing.
Key Decisions
Decision 1
Balance Visibility as the Default State
Most payment dashboards bury balance information below navigation or behind tabs. I made multi-currency balances the first thing an operator sees — a real-time overview of their global treasury position. This matched how finance teams actually work: they check their position before they act.
Decision 2
Transparent FX Flow
FX conversion in most fintech products hides the rate until after the user commits. I designed the conversion flow to show the live rate, total fee (shown as FREE for Zuniq's zero-fee model), and exact receiver amount before any confirmation step. Removing rate ambiguity removed hesitation.
Decision 3
Payment as a Guided Workflow, Not a Form
The payment initiation flow was designed as a sequential, step-verified workflow — not a single form with many fields. Each step confirms before proceeding: amount → currency → beneficiary → delivery method → confirm. This reduced errors on high-value transactions and built operator confidence in the system.
Outcome
Live product at zuniq.io serving businesses across African payment corridors
Multi-currency dashboard handling USD, EUR, GBP, NGN and more from a single interface
Zero-fee FX conversion flow with real-time rate and amount transparency
Payment infrastructure supporting instant payouts, OTC desk, and API integrations
Design system deployed consistently across dashboard, marketing site, and developer docs
What I'd Do Differently
The hardest design problem on Zuniq was trust at scale. When someone is sending ₦50,000,000 across a border, the interface needs to feel like the most reliable thing they've used today. That's not achieved through visual polish — it's achieved through information clarity, explicit confirmation states, and never letting uncertainty survive longer than one interaction.
