Work > TD Bank - Project Spark: Innovation for Credit Cards

TD Bank - Project Spark: Innovation for Credit Cards

UX Design Manager | Strategist

ROLE
UX Design Lead & Strategic Facilitator

TEAM
U.S. Credit Cards (Mobile App & Web)

DURATION
3 months, ongoing

01. Overview

Project Spark is a forward-thinking initiative aimed at reimagining the end-to-end onboarding journey for TD Bank’s credit card customers—from the moment they encounter an ad to submitting an application and becoming an active cardholder.

While the immediate focus was to enhance the mobile experience, my team identified a much larger opportunity: to go beyond incremental fixes and instead envision a more holistic, North Star experience for the future of credit card onboarding.

02. Problem

TD brought in Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to lead the effort over a three-month sprint. While BCG was focused on refining the current experience, our internal UX team recognized that limiting the effort to short-term optimizations risked missing the opportunity for true innovation.

Navigating this project required sensitivity. We needed to:

  • Respect the consultant-led structure, without stepping on toes

  • Advocate for user-centered innovation and long-term thinking

Align multiple stakeholder groups, each with competing goals and perspectives

03. Strategic Opportunity

Alongside our design researcher, I saw a clear opportunity to extend the project’s scope beyond the three-month horizon.

We proposed a series of UX-led workshops to guide the group toward a future-state vision grounded in real research and customer needs.

Workshop Series Structure

  • Problem Statement Workshop

    • 50% of this session focused on a strategic research readout, leveraging prior credit card research conducted by our team.

    • We also surfaced in-flight mobile designs and workstreams to help stakeholders connect the dots across silos.

    • The second half of the session facilitated problem definition and alignment across teams

  • Co-Creation Sessions (in progress)

    • These workshops bring cross-functional stakeholders together to refine problem statements and ideate on future flows.

    • Our team is driving efforts to explore radically improved experiences that break away from legacy constraints.

  • Testing & Validation (planned)

    • Once key concepts are developed, we’ll test new designs with real users to validate ideas and prioritize next steps.

We facilitated a hybrid session from in-person in our NJ office

04. The Role of Strategic Communication

This project has required a careful balance of diplomacy and direction. As an educator and UX leader, I’ve drawn heavily on my communication strengths to:

  • Keep our internal design team grounded, even as tensions with external consultants ran high

  • Present research and vision work clearly and persuasively, helping stakeholders grasp the long-term value of UX strategy

Align internal and external partners, ultimately earning buy-in from both BCG and internal teams on our workshop approach

05. Outcomes So Far

We successfully pivoted the group toward a North Star vision, while still respecting the scope of the original BCG engagement.

  • Our workshop structure has been endorsed by both TD leadership and the consulting team.

We’re building momentum toward testing innovative application flows that better communicate product value and reduce user friction.

Key Takeaways

Strategic foresight matters. It would have been easy to let consultants lead the charge—but by stepping in with a vision, we reshaped the scope of innovation.

  • User research is a powerful alignment tool. Presenting existing insights helped ground the team, close knowledge gaps, and build credibility for our approach.

Communication is UX leadership. My experience teaching diverse learners helped me clarify strategy, defuse tensions, and unite stakeholders under a shared vision.