product design
Milestone Pages Revamp
Column Tax is a B2B embedded tax filing software that integrates into financial platforms, enabling seamless tax filing and helping more U.S. taxpayers successfully claim their refunds.
Timeline
From explorations to final designs in 3 weeks while working with multiple projects at the same time.
Background
ColumnTax's milestone pages help motivate users by visualizing their tax filing progress. However, as more sections were added over time, the design has become overly scroll-heavy and lost its clear hierarchy.
This project began as a small illustration revamp but evolved into a broader product update. We decided to restructure the milestone page and redesign the refund estimation component for better clarity and usability.
From Our Users
Last year's tax filers found the experience overwhelming due to text-heavy screens, excessive scrolling, and poor mobile usability, often needing to switch to a laptop for clarity. This highlights the need for a more structured and mobile-friendly design.
Lauren, 24 F
New York, NY
"The repetitive, text-heavy screens made the experience feel overwhelming."
Melissa, 42 F
New York, NY
"Filing taxes on my phone was frustrating due to the endless scrolling. It was hard to stay focused when every screen looked the same."
Matthew, 30 M
Newark, NJ
“On my 6.7-inch phone screen, it was hard to view. For anything detailed, I either have to work around the mobile view or switch to a laptop to finish.”
We reviewed user interactions by categorizing screens into input-heavy, item-addition, home, and review & milestone types. This helped us identify areas to reduce scrolling and enhance usability for a more pleasant, user-friendly experience.
Key Insights
Reduce long, scroll-heavy pages for a more seamless experience.
Improve layout and structure for easier comprehension.
Design Explorations
We explored three design directions to create a clear, structured hierarchy that naturally guides users from key information to the signup section.
After competitive research, we developed two estimation concepts: an ideal version for scalability and a viable version for simpler implementation. User testing showed 100% task success (vs. 85%) and 9 seconds faster completion with the ideal design.
Improved focused look by restructuring information and improving progress bar UI.
New Estimation Component
The proposed estimation component is integrated into the top navigation and dynamically collapses as users scroll, providing continuous encouragement to proceed.
Illustration revamp
I created a new illustration set for the milestone pages that best resonates with the headline.
Progress bar update
Irrelevant progress info is hidden, and future steps are dimmed to highlight the current progress.
Here, the outcomes and achievements of the project are highlighted, including user feedback, screen height and impact on partnerships.
Enhanced Layout Efficiency
The UI screen's height decreased by an average of 15.60%.
Positive User Feedback
High user satisfaction ratings and positive reviews highlight the app's intuitive and friendly interface.
Growing Partnership
With the revamped design, the GTM team pitched the next year's product vision and secured two major partnerships in Q4.
