Arrival to Approval · Service design · IBM capstone, University of Waterloo
Making Canadian credit make sense for newcomers
Newcomers are expected to understand Canadian credit almost right away, but nobody really teaches them how it works.
- Role
- UX designer (group capstone project)
- Team
- Group project
- Tools
- Figma, Canva
- Timeline
- January 2025 – April 2025
TL;DR
- An IBM service design capstone: a multilingual platform that helps newcomers to Canada understand credit and build a credit history.
- We designed around Priya, a grad student with savings and a job who keeps getting turned down because she has no Canadian credit score.
- Short lessons, plain language, a multilingual AI chat and progress tracking make financial learning feel supportive instead of intimidating.
Problem
This one was personal. I immigrated to Canada too, and I remember how confusing the money side was at first. Credit scores, credit history and what banks expect are treated like common knowledge, and it feels like everyone else learned a system you were never taught.
Without a Canadian credit history, newcomers get turned down for apartments, loans and even phone plans. And most of the resources meant to help are long, formal and written for people who already know the terms.
Arrival to Approval was our 4th-year IBM service design capstone: a multilingual learning platform that explains credit in plain language, with an AI chat for anything the lessons don’t cover.
Research and insights
Nobody explains how the score works
Your score decides where you can live and what you can borrow, but a lot of people arrive not knowing how it’s calculated or why history matters so much. The resources we found assumed you already knew the banking terms. So we started from zero: what a score is, who looks at it, and what moves it.
The help that exists is intimidating
Most existing resources lean on long explanations and formal language. When you’re already adjusting to a new country, that makes learning stressful. That’s why we went with short lessons, conversational language and a chat you can ask anything.
Designing around real experiences
Meet Priya
- Recently moved to Canada for graduate school
- Adjusting to living independently in a new country
- Has savings and a part-time job
- Doesn’t fully understand Canadian credit history
- Struggles with approvals for housing and phone plans because she has no Canadian credit score
- Feels overwhelmed comparing banks, credit cards and financial advice
- Finds financial information too formal, or written for people already familiar with the system
- Relies on friends, Reddit or social media because she doesn’t know where to start
- Wants to feel financially confident while building a stable life in Canada
Priya’s user journey
We mapped Priya’s first months, from landing in Canada to feeling in control.
Translating research into design
The journey map turned into four decisions:
- Small lessons. Priya hit a wall of formal text, so lessons are short, one idea each, with a Next button.
- Guided onboarding. Most sites assume you know the system. Ours starts from the basics, like what a credit score even is.
- Your language. Newcomers come from everywhere, so the promise is in the sign-up line (“in your language”) and the chat answers in the language you ask in.
- Visible progress. Her confidence only came back once she could see she was getting somewhere, so lessons, streaks and badges track it.
User flow
Four main screens: a dashboard, lessons, the AI chat and progress. We wireframed them before any visual design.
High-fidelity mockups
The chat is one click away from every lesson, so you can ask about a word the moment you hit it. Answers stay short and link back to the matching lesson.
