Confidential · Shared under NDA for hiring purposes only
Redefining ATM & ITM experience
Redefining ATM & ITM experience
When Emirates NBD rebranded, the ATM and ITM screens people used every day suddenly felt out of place. I spent just over a year redesigning both machines for the new brand, in English and Arabic.
Research
UX & UI Design
Rebranding
Design System
Arabic / RTL
My role
My role
Senior Product Designer
Senior Product Designer
Timeline
Timeline
Jan 2025 – Feb 2026
Jan 2025 – Feb 2026
Team
Team
2 Designers, 3 Stakeholders
Overview
The problem
The old ATM was hard to read in the sun, asked too many questions and didn’t match the new brand. The ITM, the bank’s teller machine, carried the same old look and needed to follow.
What I did
I went to the branches, watched people use the machines and cut the ATM flows down to what mattered. Then I rebranded the ITM to match and built one design system both machines share.
The result
In testing, customers rated it 4.8 out of 5 and not one of them got lost. The platform now runs on 1,066 machines across the group, with the same screens in two languages.
Achieved
We tested the new flows with 11 ENBD customers aged 20 to 59. This is what they told us.
User rating
4.8 / 5
Said the task was very easy
78%
Got confused at any point
0%
For a detailed view of the case study, please access it on your desktop 🙂
What I drove
•
I ran the branch visits and the hands-on testing in the ATM lab.
•
I designed the withdrawal screen and argued for the layout that’s live today.
•
I set the ITM error rule: try again first, and offer a teller only after two failures.
•
I reworked the ITM video call so the task and the call each get their own space.
How I worked with the team
•
I brought options with the trade-offs spelled out, so stakeholders could decide quickly.
•
Every screen I made was built from the bank’s design system components.
•
Before sign-off, I checked each flow on a real machine, not just in Figma.
•
I turned research into design changes and took hardware problems back to the vendor.
Challenges
When I started, three things were slowing people down at the ATM.
✴︎
The screens were hard to read. The old brand colours had low contrast, and in UAE sunlight they almost disappeared.
✴︎
There were too many steps. Extra confirmation screens made people pause right before their cash came out, while the queue behind them waited.
✴︎
Updates were slow. Every screen was built twice by hand, once in English and once in Arabic, so new services took ages to ship.
The ITM, rebranded too
The ITM was already in branches, but it still wore the old brand. It does the work of a bank teller: it cashes cheques, orders cheque books, prints IBAN letters and can even put you on a video call with a live agent. My job was to bring it into the new brand and make every one of those tasks feel as simple as the redesigned ATM.
How I tackled it
1. Observe
I spent time in ENBD branches watching people use the machines, in bright light and with a queue behind them.
2. Test
I tried every new screen on real hardware in the ATM lab, then ran a survey with 11 customers.
3. Simplify
If a step didn’t help the customer, I removed it. Each screen ended up asking one clear question.
4. Systemise
I built screen templates both machines share, so the ATM and ITM look and behave the same way.
In the branch
Chatting with staff and customers in the self-service area, right beside the machines.
In the ATM lab
Checking the new screens on real hardware: readability, touch targets and every slot.
Research insights
A few numbers from testing changed how I approached the design.
55%
use an ATM every day
For people who come back daily, every small delay adds up. So fast cash and the most common actions moved to the front.
55%
needed more than one try to deposit cash
The machine kept rejecting their notes. I added clearer guidance on screen and raised the note reader with the hardware team.
89%
still took a paper receipt
Paper was still the default for most people. We added a Go Green option so skipping it became the easy choice.
0%
got confused by the new flow
Nobody got stuck, which told us the simpler structure worked. We made it the standard for every flow.
How often do you use an ATM?
Most of them come in daily
Daily
55% · 6
Weekly
27% · 3
Monthly
18% · 2
How easy was the task?
Nearly everyone said very easy
Very easy
78% · 7
Easy
22% · 2
Neutral or harder
0% · 0
The ATM, before and after
Here’s the withdrawal screen before and after the rebrand.
Before
•
You had to type an amount first, though most people want a common one
•
There were only four quick amounts
•
The withdrawal limit was hidden in small text under the input
•
Grey panels on a grey background made it hard to read
After, live today
•
Fast cash comes first, so common amounts are one tap away
•
There are six quick amounts, with custom entry on the same screen
•
The withdrawal limit sits clearly at the top
•
A clean white screen with strong contrast and bigger text
Key decisions
Three moments in this project could have gone either way. Here’s what I pushed for, what we gave up, and why I still think it was the right call.
01. How should people pick an amount?
We had two good directions for the withdrawal screen, and I pushed hard for the first one.
Option 1: Fast cash first · Chosen, live today
Six one-tap amounts up front, the limit in plain view and a custom field on the same screen.
Option 2: Type first · Not chosen
A large amount field at the top, with four quick amounts sitting underneath it.
•
More than half of our testers use an ATM every day. For them, one tap beats typing every single time.
•
It offers six quick amounts instead of four, and typing a custom amount still takes no extra step.
•
The trade-off is a busier screen. I kept it calm with a single primary button and a clear Fast cash heading.
02. Where should the video call go?
On the ITM, someone might be cashing a cheque while talking to an agent. Early designs stacked the call controls down the side with no real split between the task and the call, so I split the screen in two.
Left: what the customer does
Only the task at hand. Check the cheque, then press one big Confirm button.
Right: where help lives
The agent, the customer’s own camera and the call controls, always within reach.
•
The task and the call stopped competing. People know where to act and where to look for help.
•
I moved the controls from a vertical stack into one labelled row (Mic, Chat, End call), with volume underneath.
•
The team wanted a floating panel. I kept it docked, because a floating one could cover the cheque or the Confirm button.
03. When should a teller step in?
If every error offered a teller, most people would tap it straight away and the remote tellers would be swamped. So the help button only changes after two errors in a row.
Customer is on a task
Continue →
First error
Try again →
Second error in a row
Connect to a teller
•
A lot of errors are one-offs, like a cheque inserted upside down. A quick retry usually sorts it out.
•
Only people who are genuinely stuck reach a teller, so tellers spend their time on real problems.
•
After the second error, help becomes the main button. Nobody gets trapped in a loop of retries.
Design system
I didn’t want anyone drawing screens from scratch. We built components with settings instead: pick one, set a few options and the screen is ready, on the ATM and the ITM alike.
PageTitle
One title for every screen. Toggles show or hide the description, overline and logo.
Variables underneath
Each component reads shared variables for layout, content, theme and screen size.
AnimationView
Machine moments like take card are one component, with a setting for the type.
Arabic is a switch
Every screen ships in English and Arabic. Before this, Arabic meant rebuilding each screen by hand. Because our components run on Figma variables, a designer now just switches two modes. The copy changes and the layout flips to right-to-left. The same variables handle themes too, so one set of screens can take on a new look without being redrawn.
The final product
These are the flows as they shipped. Every screen uses Emirates NBD’s design system components, which I can’t share because of bank policy.
ATM: withdrawing cash
Card in, cash out, with nothing in the way.
1. Insert card
2. Pick language
3. Enter PIN
4. Choose amount
5. Pick account
6. Take card
7. Take cash
8. Done
•
The most common amounts are one tap away.
•
The card comes back before the cash, so nobody walks off without it.
•
The screen always tells you what the machine is doing.
ITM: cashing a cheque without a teller
Skip the branch counter and the queue. Cashing a cheque takes just a few steps at the machine.
1. Insert Emirates ID
2. Scan fingerprint
3. Choose service
4. Insert cheque
5. Confirm amount
6. Take cash
•
No card needed. An Emirates ID and a fingerprint are enough.
•
The machine reads the cheque, so the customer only checks the amount and date.
•
If they get stuck, a live agent is one video call away.
The small moments
A few screens that rarely get attention, but shape how the whole machine feels.
A calm, clear cancel
Asking for more time, not timing out
Go Green, to skip the receipt
At scale
Today, the platform behind these screens runs across the Emirates NBD group.
Machines on ATM X
1,066
Cash deposits
AED 94.6B
Cash withdrawals
AED 70.1B
Value for the bank
Shorter queues
Fewer steps per transaction, so each machine serves more people in a day.
Less pressure on tellers
People retry before asking for help, so tellers only take calls that need them.
Fewer branch visits
Cheques, cheque books and IBAN letters are handled at the ITM, away from the counter.
Faster releases
New services start from existing templates, so nobody builds from zero.
Ready for new markets
Templates and built-in Arabic mean a new country doesn’t need a redesign.
One brand everywhere
The ATM, the ITM and the app finally feel like the same bank.
Key learnings
1. Speed is a design decision
One extra screen costs every customer a few seconds, and the whole queue feels it.
2. Design for the real place
Sunlight, noise and people waiting behind you change what usable really means.
3. Arabic isn’t a translation
Treating it as a first-class language from day one saved us weeks on every release.
What next?
✴︎
ATM X is rolling out further across the UAE and abroad, and the same templates are going with it.
✴︎
Next on the list: more branch services on the ITM, and fewer rejected notes, together with the hardware team.
Let's discuss more with coffee!
Have an opportunity, wanna collaborate on something cool or just say hello!
Ishaqami47@gmail.com
Ishaqami47@gmail.com
Let's discuss more with coffee!
Have an opportunity, wanna collaborate on something cool or just say hello!
Ishaqami47@gmail.com
Ishaqami47@gmail.com
Let's discuss more with coffee!
Have an opportunity, wanna collaborate on something cool or just say hello!
Ishaqami47@gmail.com
Ishaqami47@gmail.com