Framing the Problem

More than 45 million Americans are considered “credit invisible,” lacking the credit history needed to access loans, mortgages, and financial opportunities. Rent is often the largest monthly expense, yet until recently it wasn’t factored into credit scores. Esusu set out to fix this by reporting rent payments to the credit bureaus, helping renters build credit while giving property owners a tool to improve retention and increase NOI.

The challenge: How do you design a mobile experience that makes something as complex and intimidating as credit-building feel simple, trustworthy, and empowering - for renters at scale?

Approach

To bring that vision into reality, we focused on understanding renters’ needs, aligning with property managers, and creating a design system that made credit-building feel simple, trustworthy, and empowering from the very first tap.

1. Research & Alignment

• Met Esusu’s founders during a 3-month housing accelerator in Berkeley, where I gained firsthand understanding of their mission and target audience.

• Interviewed renters enrolled in the program to understand their fears, motivations, and what “credit” meant to them.

• Identified trust, simplicity, and transparency as the top design imperatives.

2. Establishing a Unified Brand System

• Created a rebranded visual identity that reflected both social mission and fintech credibility.

• Applied the new identity consistently across web, dashboard, and mobile to strengthen brand trust.

3. Redesigning the iOS App

• Simplified onboarding flows so renters could quickly connect their lease and understand the benefits of reporting rent.

• Designed dashboards showing credit-building progress in plain language, avoiding jargon.

• Introduced visual cues (progress rings, milestone cards) to make abstract financial growth tangible.

• Built flows for rental assistance, integrating moments of empathy and clarity to reduce stigma.

4. Partner Integration Considerations

• Designed app flows that tied into Esusu’s B2B2C model, making it easy for renters to see their property manager’s role in enrollment.

• Balanced user-first simplicity with the data visibility requirements of property managers.

Product & Brand Evolution

The Esusu iOS redesign became part of a broader design transformation:

• Web: A refreshed Esusurent.com positioned Esusu as a category leader in fintech for renters.

• Partner Dashboard: Gave property managers clear analytics on enrollment, retention, and NOI.

• Mobile: Empowered renters to track progress, understand credit-building, and access assistance.

Together, these pieces created a consistent ecosystem aligned with Esusu’s mission of financial inclusion.

Outcomes

Esusu successfully rolled out its redesigned apps, helping renters across the U.S. report rent and build credit.

• The unified brand system supported Esusu’s rapid growth and ability to close enterprise deals.

• Since the redesign, Esusu has raised over $100M from investors including SoftBank, and scaled to become a leading rent-reporting platform.

• Renters using Esusu reported credit score increases averaging 20–50 points after consistent rent reporting.

• The team walked away with a better understanding of the impact design can make.

Reflection

The Esusu Redesign was more than a design project - it was an opportunity to contribute to a mission of financial equity at scale. By rethinking onboarding, simplifying financial complexity, and embedding empathy into the product, I helped design an app that renters could trust and use to build real credit history.

For me, this project reinforced the value of designing with both social impact and enterprise scale in mind, creating products that are human, credible, and scalable for millions of users.