E-commerce / Telecom / Growth

Tello

Building Tello’s Consumer Platform from the Ground Up

Role: Product & Brand Design Lead
Market: US consumer telecom (MVNO)
Platform: Web + Mobile
Focus: Acquisition, subscription customization, conversion

Tello started as a startup MVNO entering the highly competitive US telecom market, offering voice, text, and data plans to a price and quality sensitive audience. I led the design of Tello’s consumer platform, shaping both the brand experience and the end-to-end subscription journey.

Although the company already had a logo, the broader brand system and product experience needed to be defined from scratch, while meeting the usability and polish standards set by the established market.

The Tello plans page in the browser: build your own plan, with rows for minutes, texts and data and the price under them

How we got to 3× revenue growth.

Creative challenges

Entering the US telecom market meant competing against mature players with high expectations around clarity, trust, and ease of use. As a startup, Tello needed to:

establish credibility quickly
communicate complex plan options clearly
enable fast, confident purchase decisions
deliver an experience comparable to established competitors

A woman in a lilac jumper blows a kiss at the phone in her hand; Tello SIM cards fly up from it

The product experience had to work hard, both as a brand signal and as a conversion engine.

Key Value Props

Nationwide 5G Coverage, Fully customizable plans, Budget-Friendly Family Plans, Awesome referral program

Design Strategy & Key Decisions

Decision 1

Using clarity as a competitive advantage

Telecom products are often overloaded with jargon and confusing pricing structures. I focused on simplifying how plans were presented, allowing users to understand, compare, and customize subscriptions without friction or guesswork.

Clarity became a core differentiator.

The plan tool: Build your own plan, with a row each for minutes, texts and data, the middle choice of each picked, $12 for the first month and an I want this deal button — The plan tool: three rows, one choice in each, one price.

Decision 2

Designing the website as the product

Rather than treating the website as a marketing layer, it was designed as the primary product surface, where users could explore, configure, and purchase plans in one continuous flow.

This reduced handoffs, shortened the path to purchase, and increased user confidence at the decision moment.

Tello's homepage in the browser: Get the wireless service you deserve, a Get started button and a plan with its price — The homepage: a plan to buy on the first screen.

Decision 3

Validating early through testing

User testing informed both information hierarchy and interaction decisions, while unit-level validation ensured critical flows were reliable and predictable.

This helped surface issues early and reduced risk before handover to development.

Option AFixed plans, side by side. Quick to scan, but nothing can be mixed.
Option BThree menus and a button. Any mix, but the choices and the price stay out of sight.
Option CThree rows, every choice in view, the price following each one.

Impact

The resulting platform positioned Tello as a credible alternative in a crowded market, supporting customer acquisition and subscription growth through a clear, conversion-focused experience.

Competitive, launch-ready consumer platform
Clear subscription customization and purchase flows
Strong foundation for future iteration and scaling

3×: Revenue growth
1.5M+: Users connected

From Strategy to Execution

Execution focused on supporting high-intent users while maintaining a clean, trustworthy brand presence.

Plan Customization & Purchase Flow

Designed to make pricing and options transparent, enabling fast decision-making without overwhelming users.

Homepage
What Tello is and a plan to buy, on the first screen; the reasons to choose it under them.
Build your own plan
Minutes, texts and data, each picked from its own row; the price follows every choice.
The Shop
Every phone with its price, one button each.
A phone
Price, condition, colour and memory beside the pictures; the specifications under them.
Bring your own phone
One field answers whether a phone can join; three steps say what happens next.
Checkout
One page: the order, billing and payment, with progress on top and the total always in view.
My Tello
The account: its sections on the left, and the app that carries them.

Brand Expression

Developed a visual and interaction language that balanced approachability with reliability, helping the brand feel credible despite its startup stage.

Four plans as cards, one colour each: Internet Surfer, Starter Pack, Value Pack and Smart Pack, each with its data, its price and a Get this plan button — Plans as cards: a colour each, the price the largest thing on them.

A woman in sunglasses steps out of a phone's outline; a backpack, books and a notebook float around her — The brand in pictures: light, bright, at ease.

Prototyping & Handover

Delivered low- and high-fidelity prototypes with clear specifications to ensure smooth implementation and design intent preservation.

Pay as you go
Four amounts, or your own; one button to order.
Build your own plan
The plan tool on a phone: the same three rows, the price at the foot of the screen.
My account
The number, the phone, and the four places to go from here.
Dashboard
The plan and its price, then what is left of each allowance.
Account activity
Every call, text and megabyte used, with its date and cost.
Order history
Each order with its amount, number and date; a tick or a cross for how it went.

Pay As You Go Credit: $5, $10, $20 and $50, with $20 chosen, a field for a custom amount, and an Order now button

Reflection

Tello reinforced how design can level the playing field in competitive markets.

By focusing on clarity, trust, and end-to-end experience ownership, startups can meet, and sometimes exceed, the standards set by much larger incumbents.

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