M&S Money reimagines what financial services could look like for one of the UK's most recognized retailers.
I lead the M&S Money rebrand and optimization, grounding every decision in research with real customers, carrying the beloved M&S brand into financial services, a space it had yet to make its own.
Role
Product Design
Research
Design systems
Timeline
Jan - Sept 2026
Team
3 Designers
2 PMs
10 developers
Platform
Responsive web design
Sample of the old designs before rebrand and optimization
A snapshot of the research behind the rebrand and ongoing optimization
Early brand exploration
Content Square analytics after rebrand launch influenced further optimization
Iterating on the credit card hero, guided by usability testing and heatmaps
Final designs
From insight to interface
Every layout decision traced back to what research surfaced — simplified card layouts, clearer hierarchy through space and weight, and a system built to stay consistent as we kept shipping and testing.
What we created:
5+
new components
10+
responsive pages
3+
workshops run
1
design guideline doc
Responsive design for the digital rewards page
Design tokens and usage guidelines that kept the system consistent as we scaled the rebrand across every product line, shipping and testing in parallel
A modular component library built to serve all three product lines — credit cards, Travel Money, and insurance — without duplicating design work at each step
Carrying the new brand system into the insurance journey — Eucalyptus tones, simplified layouts, and the same clarity principles applied across the rest of M&S Money
Components tailored to insurance-specific content — coverage details, disclaimers, and quote summaries — while staying visually consistent with the wider system
The quote-to-purchase flow redesigned to cut the jargon and information overload our research flagged as the biggest source of drop-off
Since launch in April 2026, we've seen:
M&S Money landing page views
successful credit card applications
scroll depth — users are engaging deeper with content than previously
Cookied and M&S Money magazine made for launch!
M&S Money with the new rebrand on banners across London!
Reflection
My takeaways
Research wins arguments 🔬
Whenever stakeholders pushed back, I stopped arguing my opinion and just showed them what customers had actually said. It worked almost every time.
Collaboration defines what's possible 🫱🏼🫲🏽
None of this happened in a vacuum — the workshops with brand, product, and compliance were honestly where most of the good ideas came from.
A good future proof design system is worth the investment 🎨
Once we had a real design system in place, everything sped up. I wish I'd pushed for it sooner instead of patching things page by page.