Making the funeral claims journey easier to follow at a difficult time.
I started the project in early June 2025 with a brief to bring both funeral and life-cover claims into the Capitec app. The deadline was the end of July. I reviewed the existing claim journeys across the bank and worked closely with the product business analyst to understand the scope and dependencies.
The full brief was too large for the available time. Together, we narrowed the MVP to funeral claims submitted by policyholders, a scope decision recorded on 17 June 2025. The work that follows focuses on that funeral-claims journey.
End JulyDelivery deadlineThe insurance experience had previously been outsourced to a third-party team. Its interface differed significantly from the bank’s other products, and we initially had no access to the original design files. A developer still working with the team eventually helped us recover them.
Following the move to in-house insurance in December 2024, historical records still reflected data from the previous insurance partner. We needed suitable test accounts containing those records to understand what clients would see and which information the new journey needed to display.
Agent conversations highlighted manual communications and clients’ frustration with the time taken to complete a claim. SMS updates depended on an agent remembering to send them. Investigations could extend the wait, particularly when documents were incorrect or flagged as potentially fraudulent.
These were the measures of success we were given for the existing process, not results of my design.
Across the broader insurance service, clients could contact the bank through WhatsApp, email or a branch. For funeral claims, email was the main route recorded in my research. A branch agent would submit an email on the client’s behalf.
The app could not upload documents. That was a major gap for a claims journey, and my designs proposed how it could work. Clients also collected paperwork from different places, so they needed to submit what they had, see what was missing and come back later.
Claimant’s ID also required when the claimant was not the policyholder.
Claimant’s ID also required when the claimant was not the policyholder.
Partial settlement using the documents already received was also raised with the BA for further review.
These are the funeral-product rules captured during the project. They shaped the information, choices and exceptions the journey needed to handle.
These notes describe the product at the time of the project and are not a guide to its current terms.
I had not experienced the loss of a parent or someone close to me, so I needed to listen carefully rather than assume I understood what making a claim would feel like. A dear friend shared how she felt after losing her father.
“My mind was fuzzy, like it was filled with fog. I could not think straight. Don’t ask me about numbers or paperwork.”
This informal conversation helped me reconsider the tone of voice, the structure of the questions and how easily someone could navigate the flow while grieving.
“To help us process the claim as quickly as possible, please start by selecting the type of death. This helps us determine which documents and information may be needed.”
I began designing around the thought: “I don’t have the mental capacity to help you.” The question for us became: how easy and painless can we make this?
That guided simpler questions, a more considerate tone and a flow with clear next steps.
Here is what changed: a shorter, more personal question, with less work for the person grieving.
I flagged these gaps with the BA so we could understand the checks needed. They were questions to investigate, not confirmed fraud incidents.
I researched the existing channels and claim processes, worked with the BA to define a manageable scope, and translated the findings into the UX flow and screen designs. The interface used the bank’s previous design system, before Paragon, so I worked within its established components and constraints.
The project was reassigned to another designer before I could take it through the final stages. The feature had not launched as of October 2026.
Explore the existing insurance interface, the branch and WhatsApp journeys I mapped, my first low fidelity wireframes and the final happy flow.
Original project artefacts may refer to me by my maiden name, René du Plooy.
A walkthrough of the designed happy flow. This demonstrates the proposed experience, rather than a live feature in the app.
1 min 52 sec · Prototype walkthrough
In February 2026, news reports described a family bringing their deceased relative’s body to a Capitec branch amid a funeral-claim dispute. Reading about it was deeply upsetting, especially knowing that the app journey I had designed had not yet reached clients. I cannot know whether it would have changed that family’s experience, but it reinforced why clearer, more accessible claim journeys matter.
I learned how many steps sit behind a claim. Documents, decisions, exceptions and follow-ups, all while someone may barely have the capacity to think. Making it easier meant looking at the process, not just the screens.
I have a lot of respect for the people doing this work every day. Even the simplest wording can land badly. Dark humour helped me through the difficult parts of the project. The experience itself needed care and clarity.
My strongest learning was to ask less of the person grieving, and more of the experience we were designing for them.