Standardizing Login + Account Creation Across the User Journey
Creating a unified login experience for users at various touch points while streamlining user data collection.
Role on the team: Led cross-functional exploration and design execution, shaping the UX strategy and system level approach from early ideation through final design.
Deliverables: Design audit, responsive wireframes, key user flows, interactive prototypes for workflow validation.
Mapping the Authentication Journey
The MVP goal of this project was to deliver a consistent login experience, no matter where a user entered the journey. We started by mapping the core authentication paths across products, including Sign In, Create Account, and Reset Password, and identifying how each flow differed depending on entry point and platform. From there, we documented product-specific constraints and technical limitations so we could design a shared framework that worked across real conditions, not ideal ones.
Stretch goal: design an experience flexible enough to support third-party authentication (e.g., Google, Apple) across products in the future.
Various user paths from our ecommerce platform into the app login.
Focusing on Core Authentication Flows
To make progress quickly while still building toward a scalable solution, we prioritized the most common—and most fragmented—user workflows: Sign In + Create Account, Reset Password. These flows represented the majority of authentication-related friction, support tickets, and inconsistency across the ecosystem—making them the highest-impact starting point.
A Scalable Framework for Sign-In + Account Creation
The final design system successfully scaled across use cases while maintaining a consistent structure, interaction model, and visual language.
The framework supported:
Shared layout and messaging patterns
Product-specific exceptions without breaking cohesion
Consistent experience that felt familiar regardless of where users started
This gave teams a reusable foundation that could evolve without reintroducing fragmentation.
Standardizing Password Reset Across Products
Reset Password was one of the clearest examples of inconsistency across the ecosystem. Although users were resetting the same account password, the experience varied significantly depending on product, including:
Different security steps (e.g., reCAPTCHA in one product vs. security questions in another)
Inconsistent error messaging and tone
Mismatched input behaviors and validation rules
These differences created confusion, reduced trust, and increased support needs, making it a critical workflow to standardize.
Improving Recovery Across UI + Email Touchpoints
In addition to aligning the in-product workflow, we expanded the scope to include supporting password reset emails and related recovery touch points. This ensured the experience felt cohesive across the entire recovery journey, not just within the UI.
This also allowed us to account for more real-world user scenarios, including:
Switching devices mid-flow
Receiving reset emails outside the product context
Needing clearer language and consistent expectations throughout
Mobile First By Design
Both products have a large mobile user base, so we prioritized mobile as a first-class experience. The framework was designed to scale across device sizes inside a consistent container, creating continuity across desktop, tablet, and mobile. By consolidating Create Account and related workflows across products, we also created a more unified stream of user data—unlocking insights we previously couldn’t capture due to fragmented entry points and inconsistent fields. In addition, streamlining Reset Password reduced friction and contributed to lower support volume by making account recovery more predictable and easier to complete.
Framework in both experiences, mobile and laptop.
Impact Beyond Design: Increased User Satisfaction and Role Based Data Collection
This project improved the authentication experience for users but it also delivered meaningful gains for the business and platform:
Increased user satisfaction through consistency and reduced friction
Improved backend security through standardized workflows and validation logic
Streamlined data collection into a single source of truth
Enabled future role-based experiences by capturing more structured user information
Reduced operational burden through fewer support cases tied to authentication
The result was a scalable authentication foundation that improved consistency, security, and long-term flexibility across products.