Cash App’s ambitions quickly grew beyond simple peer-to-peer transfers. As we introduced major features like Cash Card, stocks, and Bitcoin, the app needed a full redesign to support the expanding ecosystem.
I joined during this evolution as the sole motion designer. My role was to visualize new flows, bring clarity to complex interactions, and build a motion system that scaled with the product.
Cash App’s ambitions quickly grew beyond simple peer-to-peer transfers. As we introduced major features like Cash Card, stocks, and Bitcoin, the app needed a full redesign to support the expanding ecosystem.
I joined during this evolution as the sole motion designer. My role was to visualize new flows, bring clarity to complex interactions, and build a motion system that scaled with the product.
Cash App’s ambitions quickly grew beyond simple peer-to-peer transfers. As we introduced major features like Cash Card, stocks, and Bitcoin, the app needed a full redesign to support the expanding ecosystem.
I joined during this evolution as the sole motion designer. My role was to visualize new flows, bring clarity to complex interactions, and build a motion system that scaled with the product.
I saw an opportunity to bridge the clean UI style with Cash App’s bold, expressive, funky brand. Animation allowed us to inject the crazy brand style while resolving on simpler, informative illustrations when needed.
All animations were delivered in lightweight Lottie JSONs that run consistently across iOS, Android, and web.
I built a motion system from scratch for our 3.0 redesign. I designed transitions, defined timing and curves, and documented how and when to use each pattern.
The motion document became a single source of truth for engineering, containing all details needed for implementation.
I partnered with our Cash Card designer to shape an early vision for the card studio. I went all out with parallax effects, 3D cards, and a seamless signup flow.
Instead of pitching static screens or a simple Figma prototype, we showed it truly brought to life. Engineers who were initially hesitant got excited and devoted time to build out a 3D engine and complex transitions. The final launch stayed remarkably close to this original vision.
To support Cash Card rewards, I created a modal system for adding Boosts. The interaction centered around a lightweight carousel that let users activate rewards with a tap or flick.
The home keypad is Cash App’s most iconic screens, so the interations needed to feel perfect. I explored many variations for button interactions, number input, error states, even how the thousands comma animates in. Sorting out every edge case made engineering handoff smooth and predictable.
For multi-currency support, I developed several different motion approaches — from simple tap-based flows to more expressive gesture-driven transitions. These explorations helped the team look beyond a simple button or bottom sheet interaction.
Not all motion work is flashy. A lot of what I do is simply solve small interaction problems. I often collaborate closely with visual designers, breaking down static designs and create new interaction patterns.
For example, I worked with a designer to create a photo Lightbox for support chat. A simple interaction, but I explored a dozen variations. After diving in, I found most customer uploads were screenshots, and their baked-in UI frequently clashed with ours. The final solution expanded images within a tighter frame to avoid collisions and keep the experience clean.
This back-and-forth between static design and motion helps the team arrive at thoughtful solutions that feel invisible, but make the product better.
