Geography
India
Domain
Banking
Platform
Mobile App
Services
Research, Strategy, Design
An intuitive, accessible & future-ready redesign.
Despite its legacy & massive user base, HDFC Bank’s mobile app struggled to match the simplicity & intuitiveness of modern digital experiences. Traditional banking workflows felt tedious & impersonal, deterring younger users while overwhelming existing ones. The interface lacked the warmth, accessibility & speed users had come to expect from new-age neobanks. This led to fragmented journeys, low engagement & declining user trust. The redesign set out to change that – by making banking feel effortless, inclusive & emotionally resonant across generations.
Challenge
With over six crore users relying on its mobile banking app, HDFC Bank faced mounting usability challenges – from a cluttered interface & disjointed navigation to inconsistent payment experiences. Basic financial transactions felt cumbersome & users often turned to third-party apps to perform everyday tasks. The goal was clear: simplify complexity, unify experiences & make traditional banking feel effortless for every demographic – from Gen Z to senior citizens.
Solution
NetBramha partnered with HDFC Bank to completely reimagine their native Android & iOS apps – creating a modern, inclusive & intuitive interface that bridges the gap between mobile & net banking. By aligning stakeholder expectations, streamlining information architecture & integrating accessibility-first design, the redesigned experience delivered both emotional resonance & functional clarity.
Research
A multi-layered research process combined stakeholder workshops, competitor benchmarking & proxy user interviews to map out the complete user ecosystem. Since direct user access wasn’t feasible, the team collaborated with customer support teams & product heads to surface recurring user frustrations & unmet expectations.
By benchmarking against leading neobanks & fintech disruptors, the team identified key UX gaps & amp;strategic opportunities to enhance trust, speed & discoverability – all while maintaining HDFC’s legacy of reliability.
Pain points discovered
Complex
Navigation
Users struggled to find & complete essential transactions quickly
Fragmented
Payment Journeys
Multiple methods (UPI, transfer, self-transfer) created redundant user paths
Visual
Inconsistency
Legacy UI patterns made the app feel outdated & difficult to trust
Lack of
Feedback
Absence of micro-interactions led to uncertainty during transactions
Strategy
Rooted in research insights, our UX strategy prioritized accessibility, personalization & performance. We mapped complete user flows for all major banking tasks, ensuring that both first-time & power users could navigate intuitively.
The information architecture was restructured to reduce cognitive load – grouping related financial actions under simple, meaningful categories.
To humanize the experience, we built personas representing India’s multigenerational banking audience, from digitally native users to those transitioning from offline banking.
A new design system was established to ensure scalability – enabling HDFC’s in-house team to roll out new features consistently & rapidly.
Simplified User Journeys
Streamlined key flows like payments & transfers, reducing drop-offs & confusion
Enhanced Accessibility
Improved visual hierarchy & interaction cues, ensuring inclusivity across user groups
Boosted Engagement
Improved overall app satisfaction & repeat usage through intuitive, personalized design
Design
Execution
We crafted a cohesive design language centered on clarity & confidence. The new bottom navigation bar improved discoverability, while smart shortcuts gave users one-tap access to frequent actions like payments & bills.
Micro-interactions & subtle animations made feedback instantaneous, reducing anxiety during high-stakes actions like money transfers.
The exhaustive design system – built on atomic principles, standardized every element, from typography to interactive states, enabling a future-proof, unified design rollout.
Information architecture
The Information Architecture for HDFC was built by combining user insights, stakeholder needs & competitor benchmarks to create a structure that’s intuitive, scalable & user-centric.
Rooted in key behaviours and pain points, the IA organizes every core banking task into a clear, low-friction hierarchy that reduces cognitive load. It defines a content strategy for each page, ensuring essential actions like transfers, payments & account management are always easy to find.
This foundation supports smoother flows today while enabling the app to scale consistently across both Netbanking & Mobile Banking.
Wireframes
To translate insights into structure, we created detailed wireframes that formed the foundation of HDFC Bank’s new mobile experience. Every key journey – from registration & login to the dashboard & money transfers, was mapped for clarity, efficiency & accessibility.
These low-fidelity prototypes helped us test & refine task flows early, reducing complexity & ensuring intuitive navigation across devices. By visualizing interactions, we aligned stakeholders on layout logic, hierarchy & functional priorities. The wireframes became the blueprint for a banking app that feels faster, lighter & smarter – shaping a design system rooted in usability & trust.
Design system
A comprehensive Design System built on the atomic model of Atoms, Molecules & Organisms, was created to serve as HDFC’s single source of truth for all future design needs. This system standardizes every visual & functional element, ensuring consistency across the mobile app while empowering HDFC’s in-house teams to scale rapidly & maintain quality.
With components like tabs, date pickers, calendars, cards & alert patterns, the system acts as a long-term framework that keeps the experience cohesive, accessible & easy to build upon as new features & flows are added.
Visual design
Building on the validated wireframes, our visual design phase brought HDFC Bank’s new digital identity to life – one that feels “modern, trustworthy & human”. We crafted a cohesive design language rooted in clarity & accessibility, balancing the bank’s legacy of reliability with the freshness of a neobank aesthetic.
Each screen, from registration & login to the dashboard & payment flows – was designed to reduce cognitive load & build user confidence through clean layouts, intuitive hierarchy & meaningful use of color. Micro-interactions & motion were thoughtfully integrated to provide feedback, guide focus & enhance engagement.
The result was a visually unified experience that made everyday banking not only functional but delightful, ensuring consistency & scalability across Android & iOS platforms.
Outcome
Simplified Transactions: Drastically reduced steps for key financial actions
Improved retention: A more engaging, reliable experience for all user segments
Empowered teams: Scalable design system for faster internal rollouts
Reduced Support Queries: Clearer user journeys & self-resolving UX flows
The redesigned HDFC Mobile Banking app now impacts over 6 crore Indian users, setting a new benchmark for fintech UX in India – merging trust, technology & human empathy into a single seamless experience.
