Loading
Metro was the first bank to introduce the concept of ‘freezing’ your card back in 2014. Before this, if you lost your card you had a much simpler choice: cancel it now, or ransack your own home, admit defeat, and cancel it anyway.
Freezing your card essentially blocks it with software. It’s reversible, meaning you don’t have to wait a week for your new card to arrive—if you find it.
And for the 6% of brits who admit to having lost their card more than 4 times, this feature might get more usage than many of the apps on their phone.
So I wanted to see how easy it was to freeze my card with each bank.
Summary: Whilst the challenger banks have made this feature more accessible, they had a poor overall experience. Barclays was considerably better.
👩🏫
Better education.
🤝
Work better with third parties.
🏂
More pro-active anti-fraud notifications.
🚦
Dynamically suggesting next steps.

A behind the scenes look at how I redesigned the Built for Mars sign-up flow, and iterated from early feedback.
The two "obvious" fixes that did nothing
Why you shouldn't always force an input
Why limiting the user's choices can be beneficial
Hinge built its reputation on a single promise: it's the dating app that wants you to leave. This is a breakdown of how the interface is actually engineered to make sure you don't.
How dating apps keep you engaged (not romantically)
The design equivalent of clickbait headlines
How Hinge leverages social scarcity
The challenge for a navigation app isn't to efficiently show you the best route, it's to make you believe that you've found the best route.
How strategy influences design
Waze is cornered, and slowly shrinking
What Apple's strategy appears to be

From rat mazes to coffee apps: why the motivation to reach a reward increases the closer your users get to their goal.
How to use the Goal Gradient Effect
Spinning the flywheel of purchases
Why your rules need to be clear
Sometimes, the best onboarding is no onboarding, and simple products get bogged down with unnecessary explanations. This case study on Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Asda demonstrates when to just let the user try it for themselves.
Sometimes the best onboarding, is no onboarding
“Show, don’t tell” often beats education
Data can’t always tell you when onboarding is wrong

An analysis of Monzo’s 1p challenge, focusing on the middle slump, where progress slows and motivation quietly fades.
Delight can replace progress, but only temporarily
"The middle" is the real retention problem
Motivation needs contextualised reference points
Metro was the first bank to introduce the concept of ‘freezing’ your card back in 2014. Before this, if you lost your card you had a much simpler choice: cancel it now, or ransack your own home, admit defeat, and cancel it anyway.
Freezing your card essentially blocks it with software. It’s reversible, meaning you don’t have to wait a week for your new card to arrive—if you find it.
And for the 6% of brits who admit to having lost their card more than 4 times, this feature might get more usage than many of the apps on their phone.
So I wanted to see how easy it was to freeze my card with each bank.
Summary: Whilst the challenger banks have made this feature more accessible, they had a poor overall experience. Barclays was considerably better.
👩🏫
Better education.
🤝
Work better with third parties.
🏂
More pro-active anti-fraud notifications.
🚦
Dynamically suggesting next steps.

A behind the scenes look at how I redesigned the Built for Mars sign-up flow, and iterated from early feedback.
The two "obvious" fixes that did nothing
Why you shouldn't always force an input
Why limiting the user's choices can be beneficial
Hinge built its reputation on a single promise: it's the dating app that wants you to leave. This is a breakdown of how the interface is actually engineered to make sure you don't.
How dating apps keep you engaged (not romantically)
The design equivalent of clickbait headlines
How Hinge leverages social scarcity
The challenge for a navigation app isn't to efficiently show you the best route, it's to make you believe that you've found the best route.
How strategy influences design
Waze is cornered, and slowly shrinking
What Apple's strategy appears to be

From rat mazes to coffee apps: why the motivation to reach a reward increases the closer your users get to their goal.
How to use the Goal Gradient Effect
Spinning the flywheel of purchases
Why your rules need to be clear
Sometimes, the best onboarding is no onboarding, and simple products get bogged down with unnecessary explanations. This case study on Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Asda demonstrates when to just let the user try it for themselves.
Sometimes the best onboarding, is no onboarding
“Show, don’t tell” often beats education
Data can’t always tell you when onboarding is wrong

An analysis of Monzo’s 1p challenge, focusing on the middle slump, where progress slows and motivation quietly fades.
Delight can replace progress, but only temporarily
"The middle" is the real retention problem
Motivation needs contextualised reference points