Video testimonial from Eric Fan, Founder and CEO, Lumos.
Eric FanFounder and CEO, LumosRefract
Refract Group2026
We design fintech apps, and the brands and websites that sell them.
DoughPro is a money app for people who have been told their whole lives that finance is not for them. We redrew the mascot, built the component set and brand materials around it, and designed the app it lives in. Our studio is in Sydney, Australia, and we work between Sydney and New York.
- Your customers think finance isn’t for them.We redrew DoughPro’s mascot, built its component set and brand materials, and designed the app.
- Your partners want their own brand on it.Managed, a property platform that handles rent and bills, sells through agencies, and we designed it an identity that steps aside when an agency’s colours arrive.
- The product grew one component at a time.For Atrium, a CRM for founders and salespeople, we refreshed the interface across the platform and built its design system.
What we think
Most finance products either talk down to people or assume they already know, and both say the same thing: this is not for you.
So the product has to do two jobs at once: keep someone going, and teach them what they are doing while they do it.
A convincing payment screen does not prove payment processing works.
A dashboard filled with sample data does not prove the integration is reliable. Keep a short list of these limits beside the prototype.
A tool that collects a request and leaves someone to wonder whether it was received has not completed the experience.
An MVP needs to let its intended users finish a meaningful task. That may be a much smaller task than the eventual product will support, but it needs an end.
Ask for the information needed to handle the next step.
Extra fields can be justified when they improve qualification or preparation, but each should have a purpose. Check the complete form experience, including validation, confirmation and follow-up.
Start with a product sprint.
One problem, a fixed length, and a working prototype in front of your users at the end. If it’s worth building, you’ll know. If it isn’t, you’ll know that cheaper.
- One product or flow
- Fixed length
- Price agreed upfront
Audit
An audit of the product or flow as it is
Prototype
A clickable prototype of the fix
Test
What your users did with it, in their words
Plan
A build plan and estimate, yours to keep
In their words.
Eric FanFounder and CEO, Lumos“Refract has killed it again. We call your team FEDEX because you always deliver!!”
RohithCOO, Managed
Video testimonial from Helen Murdoch, Founder, DoughPro.
Helen MurdochFounder, DoughPro“No really, I never thought we could ever have such an awesome website. I would see other brands and go, how did they do that. Now I know how: work with an awesome agency like Refract.”
JevonFounder and CEO, Keeyu
Video testimonial from Natasha Ritz, VP of Customer, Chirp.
Natasha RitzVP of Customer, Chirp“Super proud of the vision, energy & distinctive taste that went into bringing our refreshed brand to life.”
SejalGTM Lead, Trusst AI
Video testimonial from Majella Campbell, Former CEO, Fishburners.
Majella CampbellFormer CEO, Fishburners“We love our new look and website. Thanks so much, your team smashed it.”
PollyMarketing Specialist, KaiznQuestions
Yes. Refract designs apps and the brands around them. For DoughPro, a money app for people told finance is not for them, we designed the app, redrew the mascot and built the component set and brand materials. The app is built around coming back: streaks, small wins and a balance you can read at a glance, each one explaining what just happened. Our studio is in Sydney, Australia.
Yes. Refract is a studio in Sydney, Australia, and we work between Sydney and New York. For DoughPro we redrew the mascot and built the brand materials around it. Everything is drawn 2D and cartoon, which reads as friendly to someone who expects finance to be cold, and the palette is warm where the category is cold. Brand projects run from $15,000 to $100,000 or more.
We design it to teach as it goes. DoughPro is for people entering adulthood with the banks they inherited, and what they were missing was the ability to read their own money: what came in, what went out and what any of it means. So Refract designed the app to keep someone going and explain what they are doing while they do it.
Yes. Managed, a property platform that handles rent, bills and the money itself, sells through agencies who each want their own name on it. Refract split the brand in two: Managed’s purple, mark and illustrations run wherever Managed speaks under its own name, and inside the product the colours belong to the agency. We also designed the product and built its design system, in code.
Refract’s product design starts from $10,000 a month, and an embedded team costs from $10,000 to $30,000 a month. Brand projects run from $15,000 to $100,000 or more, depending on scope. For DoughPro the work covered the app design and the brand, from the mascot to the component set.
A closer look at the work
- What does a product designer actually do?Product design connects a user’s problem to a working product: research, flows, interface design, prototypes and the decisions needed to build and improve it.
- Prototype vs MVP: what should you build first?A prototype tests a question. An MVP is a usable first product. Choose the next build by the uncertainty you need to resolve and what real use requires.
- How to run a UX audit that leads to useful fixesA UX audit follows real tasks through your product, records where people get stuck and ranks fixes by user impact, evidence and the effort required.
Working on a fintech product?
Tell us what it does and who you want using it.
Most teams start with a call, then a sprint or an audit.
The people you’d work with, from the first call to launch