Operative

OperativeStreamlining Political Compliance with Clear, Focused Design

UX Director

2 years

Saas Software

Operative.vote

Sections

Intro

Operative was created to modernize the fragmented world of political compliance and campaign finance. We designed a platform that simplifies complex workflows for compliance professionals—turning manual, multi-step tasks into seamless, guided experiences.

Team

As Director of Design, I led end-to-end strategy and execution, from discovery through delivery. I partnered closely with product, engineering, and research teams to understand user needs and design workflows that could handle scale without sacrificing clarity. I also guided a small team of designers, helped prioritize work across sprints, and ensured that our design system supported consistent, efficient development.

Goals

Streamline Data Workflows

Simplify uploading, organizing, and tagging large volumes of financial data through intuitive tools and focused UX patterns.

Design Proactive Reporting

Help users surface and resolve compliance issues before they become problems—minimizing prep time and reducing stress.

Unify Financial Reconciliation

Integrate compliance, reporting, and reconciliation into a single experience that’s intuitive, consistent, and fully traceable.

Insights

Compliance professionals are deeply detail-oriented but often work across disconnected systems.

Larger firms build their own patchwork solutions; smaller campaigns are left overwhelmed. We focused on giving both groups tools that felt modern, focused, and flexible enough to grow with them.

deliverables

Comprehensive Wireframes

for MVP modules: Transactions, Reports, and Budgeting.

Design strategy documentation

to align stakeholders on structure, tone, and visual direction.

Scalable Design System

built to support fast iteration and consistent patterns across modules.

Dynamic Flow Documentation

linking key use cases to annotated screens and requirements.

150+ High-Fidelity Screens

connected to our system for seamless development handoff.

Marketing Landing Page

designed in parallel to reflect the product’s clarity and trustworthiness.

handoff

We delivered a lean but complete handoff—animated references, annotated flows, and real-time collaboration with engineering. I partnered directly with our development team to clarify design intent throughout implementation, ensuring nothing got lost in translation.

A Dynamic Design System

Our comprehensive design system is integrated across every screen, providing clearly defined and reusable components along with precise usage guidelines. It includes cohesive color palettes and styles designed with detailed accessibility considerations. Additionally, interactive states—default, hover, active, disabled, and error—are meticulously documented to ensure consistency and clarity throughout the user experience.

Organized, Modular Structure

Create reporting interfaces that help users identify and resolve compliance issues early, improving accuracy and reducing time spent on preparation.

Functional Annotations & Flow Documentation

We provide comprehensive documentation for all MVP user flows, dynamically linked to detailed UX requirements. Each flow includes clear functional annotations, along with insights into user intent ensuring all design decisions are transparent and aligned with project objectives.

LEarnings

The more complex the system, the more clarity matters—both in product and process.

I learned the value of not just designing great solutions, but documenting them in a way that builds alignment and trust across the team. Regular check-ins, clear expectations, and thoughtful follow-up made this one of the smoothest large-scale builds I’ve been a part of.

Results

Operative delivered a clearer, faster, and more focused way to manage political compliance—saving teams time, reducing errors, and helping campaigns focus on their mission instead of their paperwork.

NurseGrid

Enhancing User Engagement Through Thoughtful Design

Made for and by Alex Severino™