Clear Accounting

A modular Design System to make accounting easy, intuitive, and enjoyable

Yuki Software | Rotterdam 2019 - 2021

Context

Yuki is a cloud-based accounting platform for SMEs and accounting firms across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain. It automates financial tasks and gives users real-time insight into their business. When I joined the product team, Yuki was mid-migration to a new codebase and in need of a modernized, unified experience. The platform had grown fast, and design approaches varied across teams.

Business challenge

Yuki had been built by teams working independently and in silos. Users valued its powerful functionality but struggled with an experience that felt outdated and inconsistent. Over time, the platform also became difficult to maintain. We set out to rebuild the foundation, creating a design system that brought clarity, consistency, and confidence back to the product.

The starting point

My role

I was the UI designer on the team, leading the visual direction and helping build the Yuki Design System from the ground up. I focused on modular, accessible components, a bold visual language, and contributed to the custom icon set while working with UX to create templates and flows for the entire platform.

The process

To rebuild Yuki’s foundations, we started with a deep audit of existing interfaces and workflows to understand where things broke. From there, we aligned on brand and design principles, explored ideas through sketches and moodboards, and set clear goals for usability and scalability. Every step was about turning a complex financial tool into something simple, intuitive, and distinctly Yuki.

Platform audit: An inventory of existing styles, components and patterns to understand the scope.

User research: Learning what users needed and where they struggled.

Brand alignment: Making sure the design reflected Yuki’s identity.

Sketching and ideation: Exploring ideas early and often.

Goal setting: Aligning on what we wanted to achieve.

Core styling: Creating the core foundations

Goal

Our goal with the re-design was to make the users feel:

  • Unburdened: I feel relieved knowing Yuki will notify me about what I need to know, when I need to know it, and what I need to do. This allows me to focus on what truly matters to me.

  • Effective: I can complete my work quickly, stay in control, and feel productive.

  • Happy: I keep returning to the application because it’s enjoyable to use.

  • Calm: The app helps me complete my tasks without being intrusive.
    Innovative: I’m using a smart product powered by the latest modern technology.

  • Trust: I feel confident that the numbers provided are accurate.

  • Clear: I understand how the app works and what’s relevant to me.

  • Convenient: The platform is intuitive, easy to use, and fits seamlessly into my daily life.

  • Yuki: I instantly recognize this as a Yuki product.

Moodboard: Translating these feelings into visuals meant finding the right balance between professionalism and playfulness. The result was a clear, colorful system that felt confident, approachable, and true to Yuki’s values of happiness, clarity, and trust.

The result

The Yuki Design System brought structure to every level of the product, from color and spacing tokens to complex dashboards and templates. It made design and development faster, cleaner, and more aligned.

We took an atomic approach, building from the smallest tokens to complete templates. Each element was documented and reusable, supporting both product and brand needs. Alongside the components, we designed a custom icon set and visual assets that gave Yuki its own voice. The result was a system that felt both joyful and trustworthy.

Strategy

Yuki Design System

To ensure quality and scalability, we created the Yuki Design System using a modular approach based on atomic design principles.

Reflection

This project was both a creative and technical challenge. We had to find the balance between playfulness and professionalism, something not always easy in a financial product.

At first, I struggled to fully embrace Yuki’s bold brand. My early designs leaned too safe. Thanks to feedback from the team, we found ways to embrace the colorful energy in a meaningful way, and still keep things clear and usable.

Most of all, this project showed me the power of a strong design system. It brought alignment across teams and countries, sped up development, and gave Yuki a clear, unified voice that still feels uniquely its own.