Meridian · Process
The research, personas and flows behind Meridian. The case study covers the decisions; this is the work underneath them.
02 — User Research
Meridian's users range from Series B CFOs seeking real-time certainty, to VP Finance managing multi-entity consolidation, to startup Finance Managers needing automated spend controls — each with distinct evaluation criteria.
03 — Business Challenges
Real-time data is the product's core differentiator. But financial dashboards that try to show everything simultaneously create anxiety rather than confidence. Design needed to prioritize the right metrics at the right hierarchy.
Post-FTX and post-SVB, finance teams are deeply skeptical of fintech promises. Security and compliance signals had to be woven into the visual design language, not buried in a footer.
Meridian has 14 integration categories, 4 product lines, and enterprise-grade configuration. A landing page that tried to communicate all of it would communicate none of it. Ruthless prioritization was required.
The CFO, the Finance Manager, and the Ops Lead evaluate the product differently. A single landing page had to speak to all three without fragmenting the narrative or creating choice paralysis.
04 — Secondary Research
73% of SME and scale-up finance teams still perform manual bank reconciliation at least weekly — representing an average of 6 hours of finance staff time per cycle. This was the primary pain point Meridian needed to visually solve. (Source: Xero SME Finance Report 2024)
Companies with real-time financial data access are 4.2x more likely to catch fraud within 24 hours and 3.8x more likely to identify cash flow issues before they become critical. The live data proposition was strategically central, not a feature. (Source: Deloitte CFO Survey 2024)
87% of B2B fintech buyers list security certification and regulatory compliance as non-negotiable before evaluation — not a decision factor, but a qualification gate. Meridian had to pass this gate in the above-the-fold experience. (Source: G2 Fintech Buyer Survey 2024)
07 — User Flow
08 — Toolkits
Tools and methods used throughout the Meridian design process — from competitive audit and CFO interview synthesis through to precision financial dashboard execution.
09 — Process
Financial product design lives or dies on trust. Before any wireframe, the process started with understanding what breaks that trust — slow data, opaque fees, dashboards that show information but not insight. The process below reflects six phases, but honestly, the first three were mostly about unlearning assumptions about what a fintech dashboard should look like.