Years of building what matters now

Optio

Global Equity Management

We joined Optio’s internal team for 4+ years, scaling their equity platform from a local startup to a global enterprise solution serving over 100k users.

Problem solvers with aesthetic superpowers. We make your users say "damn, that's good" without knowing why. Strategic minds, artistic souls, and zero tolerance for mediocrity.

Interface showing options to add shortcuts for managing employees, sending acceptance reminders, viewing equity programs, and accessing financial reports.

Blurred person walking past three posters on a perforated metal wall, each saying 'Motivate your team with equity' with variations in background color.

Laptop screen displaying a website titled 'Where know-how meets tech' featuring equity compensation and equity management details with user profiles and vesting progress.

Website header with navigation and text saying 'Where know-how meets tech' alongside financial dashboard showing estimated gains and vesting progress.

Blue notification bell icon with a badge showing the number 1 and a checkmark in a white box.

Outdoor billboard on building reading 'Motivate your team with equity' with a blue and purple gradient background.

Fintech requires business DNA, not just design. For Optio, we weren't an external agency - we were an embedded product team. Working side-by-side with PMs and developers, we translated complex compliance frameworks into an intuitive ecosystem and interfaces.

Deliverables

About

Optio is a global equity management platform that helps companies master compensation planning by combining powerful software with local expertise. The system covers the entire asset lifecycle, flowing from an admin portal for organizational management to investor cap tables and financial reporting.

Equity Programs Managed

100+

Participants

1M+

Customers

500+

White circular chain link icon with two interlocking arcs on a blue gradient background.

Line graph showing share price, total gain, and available gain from April to December 2021 with a data point highlighted on 01/03/2023: share price 12 NOK, total gain 21,000,000 NOK, available gain 4,000,000 NOK.

Interface showing four options: Manage employees with info on participant registration; Send acceptance reminders for unaccepted awards; Get an overview of equity programs for board meetings and analysis; Get financial reports with downloadable exports.

Abstract 3D shapes floating above a cylindrical pedestal with soft blue and green lighting.

Website landing page showing equity compensation and management services with user profiles, vesting progress, and a demo request form.

Stack of four blue coins with white euro currency symbols floating against a light blue background.

Open book showing a design guide page titled 'Colors' with a large blurred number 02 on a blue cover and a color palette with hex codes on the right page.

Line graph showing value over time from 2022 to 2025 for three plans: Total, Plan Name, and Plan Name 2, with Total having the highest value and steadily increasing.

Branding

Trust in the Details

In finance, trust is the only metric that matters. We built an identity based on precise grids and deep blues to communicate institutional reliability. The system balances financial rigor with modern simplicity, reassuring CFOs without feeling stiff or bureaucratic.

Outdoor billboard on a white wall between two glass doors, displaying text 'Empower your team with equity incentives today!' and the website optioincentives.no.

White circular intertwined shape on a blue gradient background, resembling an abstract loop or chain link design.

Branding materials for Optio including a poster, business cards, and a standee with text promoting the Optio Portal and equity incentives.

Blurred man walking past metallic panel wall with three posters saying 'Motivate your team with equity' in blue and white tones.

Billboard on a building reading 'Motivate your team with equity' under a blue sky with clouds.

Window display with a poster reading 'Global Equity Management with Local Expertise' and a website optioincentives.no.

Open booklet showing visual identity guidelines with a blue gradient color palette and hex codes.

Typography guidelines showing Manrope font in four weights: Light, Regular, SemiBold, and Bold with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols samples.

Page from Optio Visual Identity Guidelines explaining symbol construction with six colorful glassmorphic icons in blue and purple gradients arranged in a grid.

Color palette of primary colors with White (#FFFFFF), Black (#000000), Navy (#131E2D), Light Grey (#EEF2F4), Grey (#D4DFE4), and Dark Grey (#9A91B8) including HEX, RGB, and CMYK codes.

Diagram showing symbol construction with two horizontally offset black semi-circles aligned to form a continuous loop, overlaid with dashed construction lines and circles.

Visual identity guidelines showing Optio app icons with a white circular segmented symbol on gradient blue and monochrome backgrounds, including color variants and rounded corner adaptations.

Circular gradient example showing a color blend from turquoise to blue with five hex color codes around it: #4896FF, #14C8C8, #004096, #887DFD, and #FFFFFF.

It has been a real pleasure working with Paulina, Asia, and the whole Properly team. They have supported us with everything from branding to tactical marketing campaigns and materials, and we’ve also received great help through alignment workshops, ensuring consistent messaging and efficient communication across the company.

They were incredibly responsive, flexible through countless changes, and consistently delivered top-tier creative. If you're looking to build a standout brand, they’re the team.

Marko Tomas

CMO

・

Optio

Website

Equity Made Simple

The website acts as a bridge between complex finance and user-friendly software. It balances high-level trust indicators for decision-makers with the approachable vibe needed for employee engagement, stripping away jargon to prove that equity management can be simple.

Person using a laptop displaying a webpage titled 'Where know-how meets tech' with equity compensation and management information.

Equity management dashboard showing cap table with NOK valuation of 60 million, 1 million invested, 12 stakeholders, and 300,000 shares, listing top shareholders with percentages, share numbers, classes, and relationships.

Section titled Public with a brief description and icons listing Employee portal, Administration portal, Valuation and accounting, and Trading, share warehousing and settlement, plus a See all features button.

Optio equity compensation steps featuring administrator portal, valuations and accounting, employee portal, and trading and share custody.

3D Design

Adding Dimension to Data

Equity concepts can feel cold, so we warmed them up with a custom 3D library. We designed playful but professional icons like folders and stacking coins to give the interface personality. This visual layer bridges the gap between marketing and product, designed with the simple truth that real humans are the ones behind the screen.

3D purple notification bell with a blue badge showing the number 1 and a floating checkmark icon.

Grid of twelve 3D icons including folder, euro coins, calendar with clock, pie charts, notification bell, bar graphs, trophy, slider controls, headset, and magnifying glass in blue and turquoise tones.

Four purple and blue 3D icons: secured servers with a lock and checkmark, notification bell with a checkmark and one alert, a document labeled IFRS with a paperclip, and a colorful bar chart with stacked layers icon.

Stack of four blue coins with white Euro currency symbols on a light blue background.

UI & UX Design

Simplifying Complex Data

We designed the platform to handle heavy data without overwhelming the user. Whether it is the Participant Dashboard tracking vesting periods or the Administrator Interface managing cap tables, every screen focuses on clarity. We used advanced charts and filters to turn legal numbers into understandable timelines, giving users total confidence in their assets.

Dashboard displaying the structure of financial instruments with filters for date granted and categories, showing 10,000 in pool, 9,000 outstanding, and 1,000 grantable, plus a bar chart comparing RSA, RSU, and Options instruments across vested and unvested status.

Investment portfolio overview showing holdings in Shares (37,333 NOK), PSU (19,999 NOK), Options (10,333 NOK), and Cash (153 NOK) with a bar chart visualizing their values and a tooltip detailing PSU breakdown into Settled, Vested, and Unvested amounts.

Line graph showing trends in available gain, share price (USD), and total gain (NOK) with data point details on 01/03/2023.

Laptop screen showing a portfolio dashboard with portfolio value, active and vested instruments value, and share price graph.

Portfolio performance dashboard showing shares value of 240,481 NOK, gain of approximately 80,497 NOK (50.32%), invested amount of 159,984 NOK, and other securities gain of approximately 60,746 NOK, with a partial bar chart below.

Four dashboard options with icons and descriptions: Manage employees, Send acceptance reminders, Get an overview of equity programs, and Get financial reports, each with a plus sign to expand.

Line chart showing value growth over time from 2022 to 2025 for Total, Plan Name, and Plan Name 2, with Total reaching near 20k.

User interface showing 'My Events' with earliest vesting period ending in 60 days, a filter bar with 'Equity plan' and 'Active' filters, and a timeline from December to January highlighting Vesting Period 3 and an exercise window.

List of management options including managing employees, sending acceptance reminders, overview of equity programs, financial reports, granting new awards, and managing employee awards, each with descriptive text and a plus icon.

Dashboard interface showing financial instruments structure, vesting and expiry timeline, equity history, and shareholder composition charts with filters and download options.

User interface displaying share price settings, share classes, and configuration options for voting rights, dividend rights, and liquidation preferences.

Dashboard showing portfolio historical data with share price of 10 USD, total estimated gain of 54,000 USD, and available gain of 0 USD; includes a line chart tracking gains and share price over 2021, plus an overview of shares valued at 60,000 DKK with 40% gain and 21,600 DKK available gain; also shows upcoming event releasing in 120 days with a timeline.

Properly UX team really set the standard for what great product design should look like.

Through workshops, prototyping, and user testing, they helped us refine ideas into clear user flows and reduced uncertainty for our developers, resulting in solid UX outcomes for our users