Dayan Romero — Case 05: S&P Global SPICE 3.0

Overview

A Strategic Bridge Between Complexity and Clarity

SPICE is a complex financial data platform used by ETF issuers, asset owners, consultants, and financial advisors. It delivers data on more than 400,000 indices across expanded asset classes with powerful tools, advanced filtering capabilities, and access to extensive historical and constituent-level data. Users rely on it to research, compare, and analyze indices to inform investment decisions.

The initial mandate was a targeted UI uplift. What was discovered was a much deeper systemic design challenge that required reframing the entire approach to modernization.

SPICE — My Dashboard with index lists and data

The Challenge

From Reskin to Strategic Modernization

The Initial Mandate

On paper, this was straightforward.

Extend the SIB design library into SPICE
Create visual consistency
Bridge overlapping features between SPICE and SPICE Index Builder
Preserve existing workflows

The Real Problem

SPICE had grown significantly in capability but the experience hadn't evolved cohesively.

Inconsistent navigation patterns across products
Overlapping features behaving differently
Increased cognitive load from accumulated UX debt
Friction when moving between related tools

A visual refresh alone would not address these systemic issues.

The Insight

Why Modernization Requires More Than Aesthetics

Modernizing a complex data platform requires more than updated visuals. Because users interact with large volumes of data—clarity, predictability and consistency directly impact efficiency and trust.

How do we reskin SPICE?

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How do we modernize responsibly while setting a scalable foundation?

The Approach

Three Pillars of Modernization

Business Alignment

Clarified priorities, constraints, and rollout strategy to ensure decisions supported broader product evolution. This alignment became foundational to all downstream work.

Experience Consistency

Leveraged and extended the SIB design library to unify shared components and patterns across SPICE and related products, reducing cognitive load.

Future Readiness

Used interactive prototypes to explore improvements beyond the immediate scope and test design direction early with stakeholders and users.

SPICE — Design Activities 4-phase plan (Understand, Organise, Hands On, Hands Off)

User Personas

Three Key User Types

ETF Product Manager

As an ETF product manager, I want to build and monitor custom indices with real-time updates on corporate actions, so I can ensure my products stay aligned with index methodologies and market changes.

Asset Owner & Consultant

As a consultant advising pension funds, I want to discover and customize niche benchmarks using your platform, so I can recommend passive strategies that meet specific investment goals.

Financial Advisor

As a financial advisor, I want to research indices and download historical performance data, so I can build diversified portfolios and explain investment strategies clearly to my clients.

Validation

Resonance Testing with Domain Experts

Before finalizing key decisions, we conducted resonance testing sessions with selected subject-matter experts using clickable prototypes. The objective was directional validation—not traditional usability testing. These experts interact with large-scale financial data daily and have strong mental models of workflows. They could quickly identify inefficiencies or inconsistencies that had become normalized.

What Was Gained

Strong Validation on Clarity

Experts confirmed that visibility and usability improvements directly addressed their workflow pain points and significantly reduced cognitive load.

Increased Stakeholder Confidence

Expert feedback provided evidence-backed validation that gave stakeholders confidence in the direction and justified investment in the modernization effort.

Hidden Frustrations Surfaced

We discovered frustrations that had become so normalized that users had stopped mentioning them. These became high-priority improvements in the roadmap.

Validated Future Opportunities

Expert feedback validated several high-impact UX improvements that extended beyond the current scope, shaping our strategic roadmap for phase two.

Strategy

Scope Management as Strategic Asset

The Parking Lot Concept

Throughout the redesign, we identified several high-impact UX improvements. However, some required deeper architectural or cross-team changes that extended beyond our current phase.

Rather than overextend the current phase, we:

Documented enhancements clearly with rationale
Validated them through expert feedback
Structured them into a defined second-phase roadmap

The "parking lot" became a strategic asset—not a compromise. It protected delivery while enabling future evolution.

Strategic Impact

Reduced UX and design debt
Strengthened collaboration with the design system team
Created a validated roadmap for continued improvement
Established a repeatable modernization framework

SPICE — User flow and navigation architecture diagram

SPICE — Design process baseline flowchart

Framework

A Reusable Modernization Framework

This project revealed a repeatable, six-step approach for modernizing complex platforms responsibly while protecting delivery and enabling future evolution.

1

Start with the Brief

Understand the stated goals, but dig deeper to identify what's really driving the request. Look for systemic issues hiding beneath surface-level asks.

2

Evaluate Ecosystem Impact

A component redesign in one product often affects others. Map dependencies, overlaps, and integration points before committing to a direction.

3

Reframe When Systemic Risks Emerge

If your analysis reveals deeper issues, reframe the problem. Propose a broader scope if it addresses root causes while protecting the delivery timeline.

4

Deliver High-Impact Improvements Within Scope

Focus on improvements that have the greatest effect on user efficiency, trust, and consistency. These become the foundation for everything that follows.

5

Validate Direction Early

Use interactive prototypes and expert feedback to validate your direction before finalizing design systems or scaling implementation across the product.

6

Explicitly Design for the Next Phase

Document improvements that go beyond current scope. Structure them into a strategic roadmap that becomes the foundation for sustainable, continuous evolution.

Reflection

More Than a UI Uplift

SPICE 3.0 was not simply a UI uplift. It was a strategic bridge between accumulated complexity and a more unified, scalable product experience. The most meaningful outcome wasn't just the interface shipped—it was positioning the platform to evolve with confidence.

Platform Intelligence

Understanding how the platform had evolved, where complexity had accumulated, and why users developed workarounds shaped every decision.

User-Centered Validation

Domain experts brought credibility and discovered insights that internal research had missed. Their confidence directly enabled stakeholder buy-in.

Experience Simplification

Consistency, clarity, and predictability aren't cosmetic—they're essential infrastructure for complex data platforms where users manage high cognitive load.

Modernizing a High-Complexity Financial Platform Without Disrupting Momentum