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Canada Life

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How I led UX strategy, research and design to modernise a legacy adviser platform and improve efficiency at scale

©

2024

Challenge: Modernising an outdated platform to maintain market leadership

Canada Life’s existing Key Facts Illustration (KFI) generator was becoming outdated, making it increasingly difficult for financial advisers to find and compare mortgage products efficiently. The system was:

Falling behind competitors in usability, speed, and accessibility.

Cumbersome for advisers, requiring complex workarounds that slowed down their workflows.

Lacking flexibility, making it difficult to scale for future business needs.

Increasingly expensive and risky to change, with technical complexity slowing delivery and innovation.

To remain competitive and improve adviser efficiency, Canada Life made a bold decision: to completely re-architect the KFI generator from the ground up. This meant rethinking everything from the information architecture to usability and design systems, while ensuring compliance with financial regulations.

Role & Approach: UX Leadership, research, and cross-functional collaboration

I played a critical role in shaping the new KFI experience, contributing to:

Facilitating cross-functional collaboration between design, development, product management, and compliance teams.

Architecting the new user experience, applying UX best practices to streamline the adviser journey.

Conducting qualitative usability testing with financial advisers to validate pain points and inform design improvements.

Leading the design system creation, ensuring a scalable, future-proof solution aligned with Canada Life’s ‘Simplified Platform’ vision.

Proactively designing the next phase, considering how the KFI tool would transition into the full mortgage application experience.

By integrating user research and a component-based design system, we ensured that the new KFI generator would not only meet business objectives but also provide a best-in-class experience for advisers.

Role & Approach: UX Leadership, research, and cross-functional collaboration

I played a critical role in shaping the new KFI experience, contributing to:

Facilitating cross-functional collaboration between design, development, product management, and compliance teams.

Architecting the new user experience, applying UX best practices to streamline the adviser journey.

Conducting qualitative usability testing with financial advisers to validate pain points and inform design improvements.

Leading the design system creation, ensuring a scalable, future-proof solution aligned with Canada Life’s ‘Simplified Platform’ vision.

Proactively designing the next phase, considering how the KFI tool would transition into the full mortgage application experience.

By integrating user research and a component-based design system, we ensured that the new KFI generator would not only meet business objectives but also provide a best-in-class experience for advisers.

Key Insights & Decisions: What drove the UX Strategy

User testing and research uncovered several critical pain points that directly informed our design decisions:

Overwhelming Search & Filtering – Advisers struggled to find relevant mortgage products quickly.

Lack of Pricing Transparency – Fees were not presented in a way that was easy to compare.

Inefficient Information Layout – Key details were scattered, making decision-making difficult.

Accessibility Gaps – Existing UI elements were not optimised for colour-blind users and assistive technologies.

Addressing Our Findings:

Refined Search & Filtering: Implemented dynamic filters that advisers could adjust in real-time without disrupting the flow.

Improved Pricing Transparency: Designed an at-a-glance comparison view to make financial decisions clearer.

Optimised Information Architecture: Streamlined navigation and grouped key details logically.

Key Insights & Decisions: What drove the UX Strategy

User testing and research uncovered several critical pain points that directly informed our design decisions:

Overwhelming Search & Filtering – Advisers struggled to find relevant mortgage products quickly.

Lack of Pricing Transparency – Fees were not presented in a way that was easy to compare.

Inefficient Information Layout – Key details were scattered, making decision-making difficult.

Accessibility Gaps – Existing UI elements were not optimised for colour-blind users and assistive technologies.

Addressing Our Findings:

Refined Search & Filtering: Implemented dynamic filters that advisers could adjust in real-time without disrupting the flow.

Improved Pricing Transparency: Designed an at-a-glance comparison view to make financial decisions clearer.

Optimised Information Architecture: Streamlined navigation and grouped key details logically.

Solution: A scalable, adviser-centric platform

Redesigned the Home Finance Adviser Portal – A completely new KFI generator, enabling advisers to find, compare, and generate illustrations faster than ever.

Built a Component-Based Design System – Ensuring consistency, scalability, and alignment with Canada Life’s broader ‘Simplified Platform’ initiative.

Enhanced Search & Filtering – Giving advisers greater control and clarity in finding the right mortgage products.

Optimised Accessibility – Improved contrast, icons, and tooltips, validated by colour-blind user testing.

Impact & Outcomes: Business & User Success

9/10 median satisfaction rating from 55 advisers in usability testing.

Faster workflow, significantly reducing time spent generating illustrations.

Stronger alignment with Canada Life’s long-term UX strategy, paving the way for continued digital transformation.

Stakeholder enthusiasm for UX investment, reinforcing the value of a research-driven approach.

Impact & Outcomes: Business & User Success

9/10 median satisfaction rating from 55 advisers in usability testing.

Faster workflow, significantly reducing time spent generating illustrations.

Stronger alignment with Canada Life’s long-term UX strategy, paving the way for continued digital transformation.

Stakeholder enthusiasm for UX investment, reinforcing the value of a research-driven approach.

Reflection & Learnings: Growth as a UX Leader

A Full Rebuild = UX Freedom – Unlike many projects constrained by legacy systems, this redesign gave us an opportunity to craft an ideal UX solution from scratch.

Compliance Should Be Part of the Cross-Functional Team – Not having compliance involved at all stages caused rework when their input was introduced later. Future projects should ensure compliance and actively participate from the beginning.

Scaling UX Requires a Vision Beyond the Immediate Project – The biggest frustration was not extending our UX work into the mortgage application journey. If given the chance, I would advocate for a full end-to-end redesign upfront to prevent usability gaps between KFI and applications.

Confidence in UX Advocacy – The success of this project reinforced my ability to advocate for UX at a strategic level, helping solidify Canada Life’s trust in UX-led decision-making.

Next Steps

Expanding the platform – Future opportunities to redesign the full mortgage application process to match the modernised KFI experience.

Continued usability testing & iteration – Ensuring ongoing optimisation based on adviser feedback.

Advancing UX maturity at Canada Life – Strengthening UX integration within product and business strategy.

Final Thoughts


This project was an exciting opportunity to modernise a financial platform, improve adviser efficiency, and reinforce UX as a core business driver. More importantly, it provided a strong case for why investment in UX research, strategy, and collaboration leads to tangible business success.

Reflection & Learnings: Growth as a UX Leader

A Full Rebuild = UX Freedom – Unlike many projects constrained by legacy systems, this redesign gave us an opportunity to craft an ideal UX solution from scratch.

Compliance Should Be Part of the Cross-Functional Team – Not having compliance involved at all stages caused rework when their input was introduced later. Future projects should ensure compliance and actively participate from the beginning.

Scaling UX Requires a Vision Beyond the Immediate Project – The biggest frustration was not extending our UX work into the mortgage application journey. If given the chance, I would advocate for a full end-to-end redesign upfront to prevent usability gaps between KFI and applications.

Confidence in UX Advocacy – The success of this project reinforced my ability to advocate for UX at a strategic level, helping solidify Canada Life’s trust in UX-led decision-making.

Next Steps

Expanding the platform – Future opportunities to redesign the full mortgage application process to match the modernised KFI experience.

Continued usability testing & iteration – Ensuring ongoing optimisation based on adviser feedback.

Advancing UX maturity at Canada Life – Strengthening UX integration within product and business strategy.

Final Thoughts


This project was an exciting opportunity to modernise a financial platform, improve adviser efficiency, and reinforce UX as a core business driver. More importantly, it provided a strong case for why investment in UX research, strategy, and collaboration leads to tangible business success.

If you’re interested in how I solve complex UX challenges, take a look at my approach, or dive into some of my work to see the impact in action.

If you’re interested in how I solve complex UX challenges, take a look at my approach, or dive into some of my work to see the impact in action.

If you’re interested in how I solve complex UX challenges, take a look at my approach, or dive into some of my work to see the impact in action.

Curious about better experiences? Let’s connect.

Curious about better experiences? Let’s connect.

Font used PP Object Sans by Pangram Pangram Foundry

©2025

Curious about better experiences? Let’s connect.

Font used PP Object Sans
by Pangram Pangram Foundry

©2025