All work

Lender

LendingDiscovery, product design, prototype

Lender builds mortgage lending technology, including its own loan origination system. We did its first prototype designs: a clear picture of the product to test and build from.

[01]the challengecat ./brief

Too big to guess at.

Loan origination is slow, and the same work gets repeated across tools. Lender set out to build a system for how lending works now.

A system like that touches every loan and everyone who works on it. Getting it wrong is expensive, so Lender wanted a clear picture of the product first.

[02]what we didls ./done

Questions, then screens.

We did the first prototype designs for their loan origination system. First came discovery, in three stages.

  1. Users. Who touches a loan, and what each of them needs.

  2. Process. How a loan really moves, and where it gets stuck.

  3. Requirements. What the system must do, written plainly.

Then we designed the screens and turned them into a prototype, not a stack of wireframes.

[03]how we workedrun ./process

Real screens, early.

Every design decision followed what discovery taught us. Ideas went onto real screens early, where people could react to them instead of to a document.

  • Senior people only. The ones you meet are the ones who design.
  • AI-native tools on the real work from day one, so ideas became screens fast.
  • A direct line to Lender's team. No layers, no lost messages.

[04]what changeddiff ./before ./after

A product they can see.

Lender came away with a clear picture of the new system, and a prototype to show, test and build from.

The first designs for their loan origination system were in place. Planning a system this important? See it before you build it.

[05]the workls ./visuals

The work, up close.

The prototype, redrawn

  • Dot-and-ASCII diagram of the discovery stages: users, process, requirements. Dot-and-ASCII diagram of the discovery stages: users, process, requirements.
    Discovery in three stages, then the prototype.
  • Dot-and-ASCII panel of a loan pipeline: applications in columns by stage. Dot-and-ASCII panel of a loan pipeline: applications in columns by stage.
    A loan pipeline, by stage.
  • Dot-and-ASCII panel of a single loan file with borrower details and documents. Dot-and-ASCII panel of a single loan file with borrower details and documents.
    A single loan file: details and documents.

Drawn in the site's style, not screenshots. No client data.

Lender's LOS, on lender.com

  • Lender's LOS page: the section
    Why Lender built its LOS, from lender.com/los.
  • Lender's LOS page: the section
    The LOS's design goals, from lender.com/los.
  • Lender's home page: the list of Lender Solutions, from point of sale and LOS to portals, TPO and CRM.
    Lender's suite of tools, from lender.com.

Screenshots of Lender's own public site, shown as they are. Not our work.

[06]nextcd ..

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