> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ JULY 2017[ 78 ]
professional but fun
CLIENT
[ before ]
Refundo
http://www.refundo.comWe’re looking for real-world makeovers for future installments of the “Design Makeover,” so let us know if you recently had a branding makeover or if you did
a branding makeover for a client that you’d like us to consider. We cover everything from product packaging or labels, print advertisements, websites, logos, and
magazine covers that are currently in the marketplace. So if you’d like to be considered, send us an email at [email protected].makeover submissions
Founded in 2011, Refundo helps taxpayers receive tax
refunds faster than if they had to wait for the IRS to mail
a check. “We partner with tax professionals, accountants,
and bookkeepers nationwide who offer our service as a
plug-in to their tax preparation software,” says company
CEO Roger Chinchilla. He estimates that Refundo has
about 3,500 tax professionals using the platform, each of
whom has maybe 100 clients.
One way the company speeds up the refund process
is by setting up a temporary bank account for the tax-
payer. “Most of the consumers that we’re helping are low-
to moderate-income taxpayers who don’t have a direct
deposit account,” says Chinchilla. The temporary account
lets the taxpayers receive a speedy electronic transfer.
The tax professionals interact with the company
through a dashboard on the Refundo site. After logging
in, the preparers can see all their clients, print out checks,
run reports, and measure how their office is performing.
“Really, the heart of the operation is our dashboard,” says
Chinchilla.
The company launched with a site and dashboard that
Chinchilla designed and built himself. “I’d fire up Photo-
shop, and write the HTML and CSS all on my own. That’s
how we got by,” he recalls. For the first couple of years,
Chinchilla just added to that initial site as needed: “It
was kind of put together little by little in a Frankenstein
way,” he says. But the company never did any real prod-
uct design or usability testing, and while Refundo gained
plenty of users, the site no longer represented how the
company had grown. “As we started to process hundreds
of thousands of taxpayers’ refunds equivalent to billions
of dollars a year,” says Chinchilla, “eventually it required
a more professional look. People expect something a little
more polished.”JAKEWIDMAN
Design Makeover