The Paradox of "Make it Simple": Designing the Orbi Fintech App

When a client brings us a complex application, the most common request we hear is: "Just make it simple." It is a great goal. But there is a massive paradox in software design: making an interface look and feel "simple" to the user requires an immense amount of hidden complexity, iteration, and sweat from the engineering and design teams.

There is no magic wand for simplicity. You just have to do the work.

Nowhere is this more true than in fintech. When we partnered with Orbi to design and build their financial app, we faced a massive UX challenge. Financial products are inherently complex. But unlike sitting in a bank, there is no financial advisor next to the user to explain the risks, the upsides, or what specific legal fields mean.

The screen has to do all the heavy lifting. If you explain too little, the user doesn't trust you. If you explain too much, they get overwhelmed and abandon the app.

Here is how Yolk Studio and the Orbi team found that delicate balance, using their flagship car insurance flow as our testing ground.

One of the Big Flows: Car Insurance Onboarding

Orbi's car insurance product was the main driver for their early marketing campaigns. That meant the onboarding flow had to be flawless. If the marketing worked but the form was too confusing, they would be paying for traffic that just bounced.

Buying car insurance involves dozens of variables, legal requirements, and coverage options. To prevent users from dropping off, we had to design an experience that felt conversational rather than like a tax audit.

The UI Toolkit for Simplifying Complexity

To achieve that clean, simple feel, we used a specific set of design strategies to guide the user without overwhelming them.

• Contextual Help and Infographics: Instead of walls of text, our design team built custom interactive elements and infographics. If a user didn't understand a specific insurance term, they could tap a subtle explanation icon to get a bite-sized, plain-English breakdown right when they needed it.

• Hiding the Noise: We aggressively collapsed and hid non-essential information. We only showed the user the exact fields they needed to see at that specific moment, keeping the screen clean and focused.

• Smart Defaults (The Orbi Magic): The Orbi product team did some incredible heavy lifting on the business logic side. They figured out how to safely pre-select certain form inputs and coverage options based on the user's profile. By providing smart defaults, users didn't have to manually configure every single aspect of their insurance policy unless they wanted to.

Simplicity Requires Iteration

You don't get the UX right on the first try. The clean interface Orbi has today is the result of rigorous testing and feedback.

We started by testing the flows on friends and family to catch the obvious confusing bits. But the real polish came from production. When real users ran into issues or dropped off, the Orbi team took a very hands-on approach. They personally reached out to those users, thanked them for trying the app, and asked them exactly where they got stuck.

We took that direct user feedback, went back to the drawing board, tweaked the UI, and pushed out an update. Then we did it again.

The Bottom Line

Designing a finance app that users actually enjoy requires a delicate balancing act. You have to respect the complexity of the financial products while fiercely protecting the user's attention.

If you want your application to feel effortless, you need a team willing to put in the effort.