A seamless remote closing experience that transforms complex, high-stakes workflows into intuitive, guided interactions for borrowers and notaries.
2024
Sr. UX Designer · End-to-end lead
Rocket Close & Rocket Mortgage
Mobile-first web app
Rocket Close is a subsidiary of Rocket Companies that manages the title services and closing of the mortgage process.
Worked closely with product, engineering, legal, support, and notary operations to identify pain points, define solutions, and ensure feasibility and regulatory compliance across state-by-state requirements.
Clear Sign is a web-based application that enables remote online closings for Rocket Mortgage clients. It brings borrowers and notaries together in a secure, guided digital environment, allowing users to complete one of the most critical steps of the home buying process entirely online. The original experience was fragmented, confusing, and difficult to navigate — especially for first-time users. The redesign focused on transforming Clear Sign into a modern, mobile-first platform that simplifies onboarding, reduces friction, and builds confidence throughout the closing journey.
Result: high friction at critical moments in the closing journey, leading to user frustration, increased support calls, and failed or canceled signings.
The original Clear Sign experience required users to navigate a complex, unfamiliar process with little guidance. Borrowers often struggled with a cumbersome check-in, identity verification, an outdated signing room, legal language and unclear steps — resulting in confusion, drop-off, and heavy reliance on support.
Lead UX Designer — end-to-end redesign. I owned the redesign of Clear Sign from research through execution. I led UX strategy, interaction design, and usability improvements across onboarding, check-in, and the signing room.
I worked closely with product, engineering, legal, and support teams to identify pain points, define solutions, and ensure feasibility and compliance.
Redesign Clear Sign into a mobile-first, accessible, personalized, and intuitive experience that reduces friction, improves clarity, reduces user stress, and minimizes support dependency. We focused on: simplifying complex workflows, reducing cognitive load, improving accessibility and usability, and creating a more human, guided experience.
Instead of asking "how do we make users complete the process?" we asked: how do we make an intimidating process feel simple, guided, intuitive, and delightful?
Clear Sign didn't ship as a single redesign — it evolved across three distinct phases. Each version sharpened a different layer of the experience: usability, brand, then a complete rethink centered on personalization and humanization.
The initial version was not mobile responsive and difficult to use. The design was cluttered and not aligned with our brand. We performed emergency triage to make it minimally usable.
More significant UX and branding updates were implemented, making the app more user-friendly and bringing it closer to Rocket Mortgage's branding.
A completely redesigned app with major improvements — a more intuitive interface, a streamlined check-in process, and a reimagined signing room enhanced with personalization and humanization.
The initial version was not mobile responsive and difficult to use. The design was cluttered and not aligned with our brand. We performed emergency triage to make it minimally usable.
More significant UX and branding updates were implemented, making the app more user-friendly and bringing it closer to Rocket Mortgage's branding.
A completely redesigned app with major improvements — a more intuitive interface, a streamlined check-in process, and a reimagined signing room enhanced with personalization and humanization.
The original experience was not optimized for mobile, despite most users accessing it on their phones.
Implemented a mobile-first redesign — optimizing layouts, prioritizing essential features, and designing intuitive touch interactions. Users now enjoy improved readability, navigation, and usability, resulting in a more convenient and enjoyable remote closing experience.
Legal and technical language created confusion for users unfamiliar with the process.
Simplified content, restructured information architecture, and emphasized clarity through clean, minimal design.
Users struggled to scan QR codes from desktop to mobile, driving high support volume.
Introduced SMS-based link delivery for ID verification.
Knowledge-Based Authentication questions were overwhelming and time-sensitive without clear feedback — resulting in frustration, failed attempts, and canceled signings.
Presented questions one at a time with a visible timer to reduce stress and cognitive load while improving accessibility.
Separate Terms of Use and Privacy Policy pages caused cognitive overload and lengthened the check-in process.
Condensed Terms of Use and Privacy Policy into a single experience with expandable content and a simplified agreement flow. Users now agree through two checkboxes and don't see the entire contract unless desired — reducing cognitive load and anxiety.
Communication gaps between borrowers, notaries, and support caused delays and cancellations. Audio issues and unknown phone numbers from notaries calling borrowers further disrupted the process, resulting in canceled signings.
Introduced a real-time chat feature enabling seamless communication between users and notaries, with a separate tab for support chat. This minimized disruptions and ensured a smoother remote closing experience.
Difficult document navigation and lack of usability during document signing.
Redesigned the signing room with improved navigation, dark mode, and better collaboration tools.
Users didn't know what to do after completing the process, leading to confusion, stress, and an increase in support calls.
Introduced a user-specific "What's Next" page with clear, concise information on subsequent actions and where to find their documents — ensuring a more seamless and informed post-signing experience.
Conducted user interviews with borrowers, notaries, and support teams. Analyzed support call data to identify top pain points.
Identified key friction areas and restructured the experience around clarity, accessibility, and guidance.
Created wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes. Iterated through usability testing and stakeholder feedback.
Tested with real users and refined flows to ensure clarity, usability, and reduced friction.
I conducted user interviews with borrowers and notaries to understand their pain points and gather feedback on the existing app. I interviewed support agents and analyzed support call data to identify the most common issues, and ran a competitive analysis to benchmark against other remote closing solutions in the market. This research provided a clear direction for the redesign.
I created wireframes and interactive prototypes for the new interface, focusing on a mobile-first design. Usability tests with target users were conducted to gather feedback and iterate on the designs. Throughout this phase I collaborated closely with the development team to ensure that the designs were feasible and aligned with technical constraints.
I organized multiple rounds of user testing to validate design decisions and refine the experience. Feedback was incorporated to enhance clarity, accessibility, and overall usability. Regular review sessions with stakeholders and end-users ensured the design met both business and user needs.
Closing is a high-stakes, emotional moment. We rewrote system messages, error states, and progress copy to feel like a calm guide rather than a compliance document — preserving accuracy while removing intimidation.
Ensuring a seamless experience for multiple user roles and closing types — notaries, single borrowers, multiple borrowers, witnesses, etc., across RON, hybrid, and other closing types.
Created tailored user flows for each role and closing type, and tested extensively with real users to ensure a seamless experience for everyone.Our demographic was anyone purchasing a home or part of the closing — across a wide range of computer literacy, languages, ages, and devices.
Designed the interface to accommodate varying levels of computer literacy and demographics. Implemented a user-centered design approach, incorporating feedback from diverse user groups to ensure inclusivity and accessibility.Complex legal flows and regulatory requirements differing state to state. Some states don't allow fully remote closings, but allow hybrid closings and other constraints we had to work around.
Worked closely with the legal team to ensure compliance while keeping the experience friendly — particularly in T&C and Privacy Policy. Streamlined legal copy and integrated it into the UX in a more user-friendly manner, improving clarity and reducing cognitive load.MISMO and other regulatory constraints are complex and rigid around identification.
Addressed MISMO compliance and other regulatory constraints around security questions for ID verification. Despite limitations (e.g., inability to show a timer or feedback on wrong answers), we developed a compliant solution that balanced security and usability — and continued iterating within those boundaries.Multiple complex back-end systems needed to work together for Clear Sign to function.
Managed the integration of various systems and technologies to ensure smooth operation and data flow. Collaborated with cross-functional teams to address technical challenges and streamline the integration process.
Simplified check-in · mobile-first design · in-app chat · improved signing room. The MVP focused on the steps that drove the most support volume and the highest drop-off, leaving room for personalization and "what's next" guidance to follow in CS 3.0.
The comprehensive redesign of Clear Sign successfully addressed user pain points, leading to a significant increase in user satisfaction, reduced support calls, and streamlined remote closings. Users now enjoy a more accessible, secure, and delightful experience — solidifying Clear Sign's position as a modern, user-centric platform under Rocket Companies.
Engaging with users and stakeholders early and often was paramount. Continuous testing and iteration drove better outcomes — letting us identify pain points and ship solutions that genuinely met user needs.
Simplifying language and flows had a major impact. The single biggest unlock — across check-in, KBA, and T&C — was treating clarity as a compounding force rather than a polish step.
Working closely with legal and compliance teams was crucial. The best solutions came from treating regulatory constraints as design inputs, not obstacles — and finding the seam where the two could co-exist.
Three years of iteration taught me that resource constraints sharpen prioritization, and that security and privacy decisions are felt by users even when they're invisible. Continuous improvement — not big-bang launches — built lasting trust in the platform.
AI-assisted onboarding and guidance · enhanced personalization · continued accessibility improvements · expanded mobile capabilities — including an integrated AI assistant during check-in and an AI-supported notary in the signing room.