Tidelock

Product design, app UI

Two matte black phones on grey, one showing an abstract savings screen made of lime and grey bars

Brief: Help people who have never saved make the first RM 1,000 feel possible.
Role: Product design lead, from research to the shipped iOS and Android app
Year: 2025
Outcome: 61% of users still saving after 90 days, against 23% in the beta

Tidelock's first version had seven tabs and a pie chart. Our interviews with 24 people in their first job said the same thing: they did not want to see where the money went, they wanted to stop touching it.

So the app shrank to one screen per goal. A single bar fills as you save, the locked amount is the biggest number on the screen, and unlocking early takes three deliberate taps and a 24 hour wait.

Process note

Every screen was tested as a paper print taped to a phone before it became a prototype. The 24 hour unlock wait came from one tester who said she only buys things at 2 am.