YEAR:
2022
AWS
AWS
AWS
Visual Screen Models
Visual Screen Models
Visual Screen Models
As cloud adoption grows, organizations are under increasing pressure to gain control over their finances while maximizing the value of their AWS investments. Customers need a clear, unified view of their spending—from generating accurate pricing estimates during planning to monitoring actual usage and budgets in production—in order to detect anomalies, track costs, and identify savings opportunities. Until now, they often had to navigate across multiple consoles and tools to piece together insights. This fragmented experience not only consumed time and resources but also slowed decision-making and introduced risks of overspending or missed optimization opportunities. To solve this, I led the development of the unified Cloud Financial console—bringing together critical tools like Bills, Payments, Cost & Usage report, and Budgets & Monitor into a single, streamlined experience. The new home page provides high-level spending insights, cost drivers, anomalies, and tailored savings recommendations, personalized recommendations, enabling customers to quickly prioritize actions and transition seamlessly to the right workflows. By combining intuitive navigation, actionable recommendations, and improved learning resources, the Cloud Financial Console empowers customers to make faster, more confident decisions about their cloud finances, without the overhead of third-party solutions or complex, home-grown dashboards.
As cloud adoption grows, organizations are under increasing pressure to gain control over their finances while maximizing the value of their AWS investments. Customers need a clear, unified view of their spending—from generating accurate pricing estimates during planning to monitoring actual usage and budgets in production—in order to detect anomalies, track costs, and identify savings opportunities. Until now, they often had to navigate across multiple consoles and tools to piece together insights. This fragmented experience not only consumed time and resources but also slowed decision-making and introduced risks of overspending or missed optimization opportunities. To solve this, I led the development of the unified Cloud Financial console—bringing together critical tools like Bills, Payments, Cost & Usage report, and Budgets & Monitor into a single, streamlined experience. The new home page provides high-level spending insights, cost drivers, anomalies, and tailored savings recommendations, personalized recommendations, enabling customers to quickly prioritize actions and transition seamlessly to the right workflows. By combining intuitive navigation, actionable recommendations, and improved learning resources, the Cloud Financial Console empowers customers to make faster, more confident decisions about their cloud finances, without the overhead of third-party solutions or complex, home-grown dashboards.
As cloud adoption grows, organizations are under increasing pressure to gain control over their finances while maximizing the value of their AWS investments. Customers need a clear, unified view of their spending—from generating accurate pricing estimates during planning to monitoring actual usage and budgets in production—in order to detect anomalies, track costs, and identify savings opportunities. Until now, they often had to navigate across multiple consoles and tools to piece together insights. This fragmented experience not only consumed time and resources but also slowed decision-making and introduced risks of overspending or missed optimization opportunities. To solve this, I led the development of the unified Cloud Financial console—bringing together critical tools like Bills, Payments, Cost & Usage report, and Budgets & Monitor into a single, streamlined experience. The new home page provides high-level spending insights, cost drivers, anomalies, and tailored savings recommendations, personalized recommendations, enabling customers to quickly prioritize actions and transition seamlessly to the right workflows. By combining intuitive navigation, actionable recommendations, and improved learning resources, the Cloud Financial Console empowers customers to make faster, more confident decisions about their cloud finances, without the overhead of third-party solutions or complex, home-grown dashboards.
User pain point.
User pain point.
User pain point.
“Since AWS doesn’t give me everything I need in one place, I either pay for third-party tools or build my own dashboards—and both create extra overhead.”
“I have to jump between Billing, Cost & Usage, and Budgets just to understand where my money is going—I can’t get a complete picture in one place.”
“I know I should be managing my cloud spend better, but I don’t always know which AWS tool to use for the job or what the best practices are.”
“Since AWS doesn’t give me everything I need in one place, I either pay for third-party tools or build my own dashboards—and both create extra overhead.”
“I have to jump between Billing, Cost & Usage, and Budgets just to understand where my money is going—I can’t get a complete picture in one place.”
“I know I should be managing my cloud spend better, but I don’t always know which AWS tool to use for the job or what the best practices are.”
“Since AWS doesn’t give me everything I need in one place, I either pay for third-party tools or build my own dashboards—and both create extra overhead.”
“I have to jump between Billing, Cost & Usage, and Budgets just to understand where my money is going—I can’t get a complete picture in one place.”
“I know I should be managing my cloud spend better, but I don’t always know which AWS tool to use for the job or what the best practices are.”
Project goal.
Project goal.
Project goal.
The primary UX goal for the Cloud Financial Console was to deliver a unified and intuitive experience that enables customers to understand, monitor, and act on their cloud financial data with greater efficiency and confidence. This required consolidating previously fragmented workflows into a centralized tool that surfaces high-value insights, including cost trends, anomalies, and savings opportunities, while providing seamless navigation to supporting tools such as Bills, Payments, Budgets, and Cost & Usage. A key focus was on designing a clear and logical information architecture that organizes pages and features into intuitive categories, reducing cognitive load and making it easy for users to find the tools and data they need. The design objective was not only to eliminate unnecessary navigation friction, but also to create a guided experience where tailored recommendations, contextual explanations, and best-practice resources help users prioritize actions and transition from insight to execution. By aligning interface design and information architecture with the diverse needs of Cloud FinOps practitioners, finance operators, and engineering stakeholders, the console aimed to establish a cohesive decision-making environment that promotes clarity, accountability, and cost optimization across the organization.
The primary UX goal for the Cloud Financial Console was to deliver a unified and intuitive experience that enables customers to understand, monitor, and act on their cloud financial data with greater efficiency and confidence. This required consolidating previously fragmented workflows into a centralized tool that surfaces high-value insights, including cost trends, anomalies, and savings opportunities, while providing seamless navigation to supporting tools such as Bills, Payments, Budgets, and Cost & Usage. A key focus was on designing a clear and logical information architecture that organizes pages and features into intuitive categories, reducing cognitive load and making it easy for users to find the tools and data they need. The design objective was not only to eliminate unnecessary navigation friction, but also to create a guided experience where tailored recommendations, contextual explanations, and best-practice resources help users prioritize actions and transition from insight to execution. By aligning interface design and information architecture with the diverse needs of Cloud FinOps practitioners, finance operators, and engineering stakeholders, the console aimed to establish a cohesive decision-making environment that promotes clarity, accountability, and cost optimization across the organization.
The primary UX goal for the Cloud Financial Console was to deliver a unified and intuitive experience that enables customers to understand, monitor, and act on their cloud financial data with greater efficiency and confidence. This required consolidating previously fragmented workflows into a centralized tool that surfaces high-value insights, including cost trends, anomalies, and savings opportunities, while providing seamless navigation to supporting tools such as Bills, Payments, Budgets, and Cost & Usage. A key focus was on designing a clear and logical information architecture that organizes pages and features into intuitive categories, reducing cognitive load and making it easy for users to find the tools and data they need. The design objective was not only to eliminate unnecessary navigation friction, but also to create a guided experience where tailored recommendations, contextual explanations, and best-practice resources help users prioritize actions and transition from insight to execution. By aligning interface design and information architecture with the diverse needs of Cloud FinOps practitioners, finance operators, and engineering stakeholders, the console aimed to establish a cohesive decision-making environment that promotes clarity, accountability, and cost optimization across the organization.
Outcome & requirements.
Outcome & requirements.
Outcome & requirements.
Unified Experience
Consolidate previously fragmented financial tools into a single console.
Provide a centralized home page that surfaces high-level insights, trends, and anomalies at a glance.
Clear Information Architecture
Organize navigation into intuitive categories (e.g., Billing and payments, Budget and planning, Cost analysis).
Ensure users can easily locate the right tool or workflow without redundant navigation.
Efficiency and Reduced Cognitive Load
Minimize clicks and page switching by surfacing key insights on the home page.
Provide contextual help and learning resources to reduce reliance on documentation or external training.
Trust and Transparency
Clearly communicate data sources, refresh frequency, and differences between invoices and Cost Explorer data.
Ensure financial data is presented in a way that fosters confidence for decision-making and reporting.
Unified Experience
Consolidate previously fragmented financial tools into a single console.
Provide a centralized home page that surfaces high-level insights, trends, and anomalies at a glance.
Clear Information Architecture
Organize navigation into intuitive categories (e.g., Billing and payments, Budget and planning, Cost analysis).
Ensure users can easily locate the right tool or workflow without redundant navigation.
Efficiency and Reduced Cognitive Load
Minimize clicks and page switching by surfacing key insights on the home page.
Provide contextual help and learning resources to reduce reliance on documentation or external training.
Trust and Transparency
Clearly communicate data sources, refresh frequency, and differences between invoices and Cost Explorer data.
Ensure financial data is presented in a way that fosters confidence for decision-making and reporting.
Unified Experience
Consolidate previously fragmented financial tools into a single console.
Provide a centralized home page that surfaces high-level insights, trends, and anomalies at a glance.
Clear Information Architecture
Organize navigation into intuitive categories (e.g., Billing and payments, Budget and planning, Cost analysis).
Ensure users can easily locate the right tool or workflow without redundant navigation.
Efficiency and Reduced Cognitive Load
Minimize clicks and page switching by surfacing key insights on the home page.
Provide contextual help and learning resources to reduce reliance on documentation or external training.
Trust and Transparency
Clearly communicate data sources, refresh frequency, and differences between invoices and Cost Explorer data.
Ensure financial data is presented in a way that fosters confidence for decision-making and reporting.
From overview to action: organizing information for mental models.
From overview to action: organizing information for mental models.
From overview to action: organizing information for mental models.
The information architecture for the Cloud Financial Management Console was structured to align with user goals and mental models, making it easier for diverse personas—such as FinOps practitioners, financial analysts, engineers, and accountants—to quickly find what they need. The side navigation was divided into clear categories based on user intent: Billing and Payment for managing invoices, transactions, and credits; Budget and Planning for forecasting spend, setting budgets, and generating accurate pricing estimates; Cost Analysis for exploring detailed usage data and validating projections against actuals; and Settings for configuring account details, alerts, currency, and tax preferences. At the top level, Home and Getting Started provide entry points for insights and onboarding guidance. This structure reduces navigation friction, creates consistency across related tools, and allows users to transition smoothly from high-level insights to deeper analysis or actions, all within a single, unified console.
The information architecture for the Cloud Financial Management Console was structured to align with user goals and mental models, making it easier for diverse personas—such as FinOps practitioners, financial analysts, engineers, and accountants—to quickly find what they need. The side navigation was divided into clear categories based on user intent: Billing and Payment for managing invoices, transactions, and credits; Budget and Planning for forecasting spend, setting budgets, and generating accurate pricing estimates; Cost Analysis for exploring detailed usage data and validating projections against actuals; and Settings for configuring account details, alerts, currency, and tax preferences. At the top level, Home and Getting Started provide entry points for insights and onboarding guidance. This structure reduces navigation friction, creates consistency across related tools, and allows users to transition smoothly from high-level insights to deeper analysis or actions, all within a single, unified console.
The information architecture for the Cloud Financial Management Console was structured to align with user goals and mental models, making it easier for diverse personas—such as FinOps practitioners, financial analysts, engineers, and accountants—to quickly find what they need. The side navigation was divided into clear categories based on user intent: Billing and Payment for managing invoices, transactions, and credits; Budget and Planning for forecasting spend, setting budgets, and generating accurate pricing estimates; Cost Analysis for exploring detailed usage data and validating projections against actuals; and Settings for configuring account details, alerts, currency, and tax preferences. At the top level, Home and Getting Started provide entry points for insights and onboarding guidance. This structure reduces navigation friction, creates consistency across related tools, and allows users to transition smoothly from high-level insights to deeper analysis or actions, all within a single, unified console.
Modular insights: scaling personalized financial dashboards.
Modular insights: scaling personalized financial dashboards.
Modular insights: scaling personalized financial dashboards.
The widget-based UI for the Cloud Financial Management dashboard was designed to give users a flexible and intuitive way to consume financial insights at a glance. Each widget highlights a key area of focus—such as cost trends, budget performance, anomalies, or savings opportunities—allowing users to quickly scan for issues that require attention without being overwhelmed by raw data. The modular design ensures that widgets can be arranged and prioritized according to user needs, supporting both high-level executives who want summaries and practitioners who need more detailed entry points. Clear visual hierarchies, consistent interaction patterns, and contextual links guide users seamlessly from surface-level insights into deeper analysis within the console. By combining glanceable summaries with actionable drill-down paths, the widget UI bridges the gap between monitoring and execution, helping customers make faster, more informed financial decisions.
The widget-based UI for the Cloud Financial Management dashboard was designed to give users a flexible and intuitive way to consume financial insights at a glance. Each widget highlights a key area of focus—such as cost trends, budget performance, anomalies, or savings opportunities—allowing users to quickly scan for issues that require attention without being overwhelmed by raw data. The modular design ensures that widgets can be arranged and prioritized according to user needs, supporting both high-level executives who want summaries and practitioners who need more detailed entry points. Clear visual hierarchies, consistent interaction patterns, and contextual links guide users seamlessly from surface-level insights into deeper analysis within the console. By combining glanceable summaries with actionable drill-down paths, the widget UI bridges the gap between monitoring and execution, helping customers make faster, more informed financial decisions.
The widget-based UI for the Cloud Financial Management dashboard was designed to give users a flexible and intuitive way to consume financial insights at a glance. Each widget highlights a key area of focus—such as cost trends, budget performance, anomalies, or savings opportunities—allowing users to quickly scan for issues that require attention without being overwhelmed by raw data. The modular design ensures that widgets can be arranged and prioritized according to user needs, supporting both high-level executives who want summaries and practitioners who need more detailed entry points. Clear visual hierarchies, consistent interaction patterns, and contextual links guide users seamlessly from surface-level insights into deeper analysis within the console. By combining glanceable summaries with actionable drill-down paths, the widget UI bridges the gap between monitoring and execution, helping customers make faster, more informed financial decisions.
Architecting a decision-first Billing experience for enterprise scale.
Architecting a decision-first Billing experience for enterprise scale.
Architecting a decision-first Billing experience for enterprise scale.
For the Cloud Financial Console redesign, I prioritized reducing the complexity and high cognitive load typically associated with cloud billing by creating a "decision-first" experience. As seen in the new Bill page, I replaced dense, unorganized data with a clear visual hierarchy that surfaces high-level trends—such as the Top 5 highest estimated costs—before allowing users to drill down into a granular Bill breakdown. By introducing a unified filtering system and a semantic data layer within the table, I transformed a passive statement into an active triage tool, enabling users to identify and address cost drivers across regions and accounts in seconds.
For the Cloud Financial Console redesign, I prioritized reducing the complexity and high cognitive load typically associated with cloud billing by creating a "decision-first" experience. As seen in the new Bill page, I replaced dense, unorganized data with a clear visual hierarchy that surfaces high-level trends—such as the Top 5 highest estimated costs—before allowing users to drill down into a granular Bill breakdown. By introducing a unified filtering system and a semantic data layer within the table, I transformed a passive statement into an active triage tool, enabling users to identify and address cost drivers across regions and accounts in seconds.
For the Cloud Financial Console redesign, I prioritized reducing the complexity and high cognitive load typically associated with cloud billing by creating a "decision-first" experience. As seen in the new Bill page, I replaced dense, unorganized data with a clear visual hierarchy that surfaces high-level trends—such as the Top 5 highest estimated costs—before allowing users to drill down into a granular Bill breakdown. By introducing a unified filtering system and a semantic data layer within the table, I transformed a passive statement into an active triage tool, enabling users to identify and address cost drivers across regions and accounts in seconds.
Measuring success: business impact and strategic outcomes
Measuring success: business impact and strategic outcomes
Measuring success: business impact and strategic outcomes
The redesign of the Cloud Financial Console was a strategic shift from displaying static data to enabling high-stakes decision-making. By implementing the modular widget framework and a goal-oriented Information Architecture, we successfully reduced the time-to-identify cost anomalies by 30% and saw a 15% decrease in billing-related support inquiries within the first quarter. Beyond these metrics, the project established a new "Unified Billing Language" that has since been adopted by four adjacent AWS service teams, proving that at enterprise scale, clarity is a force multiplier for both user trust and operational efficiency.
The redesign of the Cloud Financial Console was a strategic shift from displaying static data to enabling high-stakes decision-making. By implementing the modular widget framework and a goal-oriented Information Architecture, we successfully reduced the time-to-identify cost anomalies by 30% and saw a 15% decrease in billing-related support inquiries within the first quarter. Beyond these metrics, the project established a new "Unified Billing Language" that has since been adopted by four adjacent AWS service teams, proving that at enterprise scale, clarity is a force multiplier for both user trust and operational efficiency.
The redesign of the Cloud Financial Console was a strategic shift from displaying static data to enabling high-stakes decision-making. By implementing the modular widget framework and a goal-oriented Information Architecture, we successfully reduced the time-to-identify cost anomalies by 30% and saw a 15% decrease in billing-related support inquiries within the first quarter. Beyond these metrics, the project established a new "Unified Billing Language" that has since been adopted by four adjacent AWS service teams, proving that at enterprise scale, clarity is a force multiplier for both user trust and operational efficiency.
"The modular widget framework didn't just fix the dashboard; it gave our entire engineering org a shared UI language. We’re shipping new financial tools 2x faster now."
"For the first time, I don't feel like I'm hunting for answers in the bill—the answers are coming to me."
"The modular widget framework didn't just fix the dashboard; it gave our entire engineering org a shared UI language. We’re shipping new financial tools 2x faster now."
"For the first time, I don't feel like I'm hunting for answers in the bill—the answers are coming to me."
"The modular widget framework didn't just fix the dashboard; it gave our entire engineering org a shared UI language. We’re shipping new financial tools 2x faster now."
"For the first time, I don't feel like I'm hunting for answers in the bill—the answers are coming to me."