FROM MOCKUP TO MARKET

A project in collaboration with Smartbroker+

TIMELINE


2025/2026

SKILLS


Figma

CONTEXT


University Project

TEAM


Tu Linh Tran


From Mockup to Market was a collaborative course created in partnership with Smartbroker+, a Berlin-based neobroker, and led by Malte Voelker, Lead Product Designer at Smartbroker AG. The goal of the course was to give students insight into real-world UI/UX design work by simulating professional workflows and product challenges.


The course was divided into several assignments that increased in complexity throughout the semester. Each task focused on a different aspect of the Smartbroker app and addressed challenges relevant to financial product design.


Starting with smaller interface improvements, the projects gradually moved toward more conceptual and strategic design tasks, requiring research, idea development, and feature exploration based on realistic product scenarios.


From Mockup to Market was a collaborative course created in partnership with Smartbroker+, a Berlin-based neobroker, and led by Malte Voelker, Lead Product Designer at Smartbroker AG. The goal of the course was to give students insight into real-world UI/UX design work by simulating professional workflows and product challenges.


The course was divided into several assignments that increased in complexity throughout the semester. Each task focused on a different aspect of the Smartbroker app and addressed challenges relevant to financial product design.


Starting with smaller interface improvements, the projects gradually moved toward more conceptual and strategic design tasks, requiring research, idea development, and feature exploration based on realistic product scenarios.

I would like to present two assignments that my fellow student and I have worked on.

I would like to present two assignments that my fellow student and I have worked on.

DIVIDEND OVERVIEW FEATURE

We designed a new dividend overview feature for the Smartbroker app. The goal was to help users better understand and track their dividend earnings.


At the beginning, we worked with Voice of Customer insights to understand what users were missing and what information was most important to them. Since I had no previous experience with dividends or financial apps, learning the basics was one of the main challenges.


The final concept includes a clear overview of dividend performance, payout history, development over time, and key return metrics, structured to make dividend investing more transparent and accessible within the app.

We designed a new dividend overview feature for the Smartbroker app. The goal was to help users better understand and track their dividend earnings.


At the beginning, we worked with Voice of Customer insights to understand what users were missing and what information was most important to them. Since I had no previous experience with dividends or financial apps, learning the basics was one of the main challenges.


The final concept includes a clear overview of dividend performance, payout history, development over time, and key return metrics, structured to make dividend investing more transparent and accessible within the app.

INNOVATIVE FEATURES

In the last task we had to developed three concepts for personalized and innovative features within the Smartbroker+ app. The goal was to explore how the product could better support different user needs and create added value beyond the existing core functions.


Our main focus was on making investing more accessible for new users. We explored ideas around social trading and AI-based portfolio snapshots to help users better understand their investments and make more informed decisions.

  1. HELP FOR FIRST-TIME USERS

An AI-powered portfolio snapshot that summarizes your entire portfolio in a few easy-to-understand sentences:

  1. DAILY BREAKDOWN

An explanatory daily screen showing which factors influenced the portfolio.

  1. THE FIRST STEPS

A tutorial for the SmartBroker+ app.

KEY INSIGHTS

This course had a strong impact on my development as a designer. It required me to deeply engage with financial topics, which was completely new to me at the time. Beyond improving my skills in Figma and interface design, I gained valuable insight into how product design works in a real company setting.


Presenting our concepts in Berlin to the Smartbroker team, gave me a realistic understanding of professional feedback, expectations, and collaboration within the industry.

This work was created in the winter semester of 2025 as a study project at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with Smartbroker AG. It is an academic achievement and not a commercial commissioned work.

This work was created in the winter semester of 2025 as a study project at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with Smartbroker AG. It is an academic achievement and not a commercial commissioned work.

This work was created in the winter semester of 2025 as a study project at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with Smartbroker AG. It is an academic achievement and not a commercial commissioned work.

©Angel Pfitzmann, 2026