FairSquare · Dave Batt

FairSquare is an online car finance platform that lets people buy a car on credit, regardless of their credit score.

It uses live credit data to match customers with the best possible offer from a panel of lenders, alongside a catalogue of cars from dealerships across the UK. I worked on this at Gravity Global as part of a small team building the product from scratch over a 9 month period.

Client
FairSquare

Deliverables
Website

Design team
Dave Stewart
Dave Batt

The Challenge

FairSquare was a complex, greenfield product built on an evolving business model. The team needed to both understand the client’s long-term vision and expand on an early proof of concept centred around auctions and live bidding.

The platform required multiple user journeys—ranging from browsing vehicles to completing finance applications—while integrating with third-party systems for credit checks, payments, and dealership data.

A key challenge was translating complex financial products, such as PCP and HP agreements, into clear, user-friendly experiences that enabled customers to make informed decisions. At the same time, the platform needed to meet regulatory requirements, support SEO, and scale as a startup product.

My Role

I was part of a small core team working closely with stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle. My role focused on UX and product design, contributing to:

• Defining user journeys and purchase funnels.
• Creating wireframes and interaction flows.
• Developing the design language and component structures.
• Collaborating with developers and backend teams to ensure feasibility and consistency.

I worked directly with stakeholders in weekly sessions to present progress, gather feedback, and refine the product direction.

Process

The project was driven by user journeys from the outset. We began with low-fidelity UX flows, collaborating closely with stakeholders to validate assumptions and align on requirements.
From there, we iterated through multiple rounds of wireframes—starting on paper before progressing to higher-fidelity designs. This helped us fully understand complex interactions, including:

• Vehicle browsing and discovery.
• Credit checking and eligibility flows.
• Account creation and management.
• Purchase and delivery journeys.

Given the number of entry points and financial scenarios, mapping these journeys in detail was critical.

We also worked alongside an offshore backend development team and later embedded more closely with the client’s strategic and technical leads during an intensive final phase. This collaboration ensured alignment across design, frontend, and backend systems.

The design language initially followed semantic UI principles, before evolving to better reflect FairSquare’s brand identity.

Results

The project delivered a fully realised, scalable platform that translated a complex financial proposition into a clear and accessible user experience.

Through a highly collaborative and iterative process, we helped shape not only the product itself but also the client’s understanding of their own offering. The final outcome included:

• A robust set of end-to-end user journeys.
• A flexible design system to support future growth.
• Seamless integration with third-party services, including payment and credit systems.
• A platform capable of supporting multiple browsing and purchasing paths.

This project significantly deepened my experience in designing large-scale, complex digital products, particularly in balancing business requirements, technical constraints, and user needs.