Halo Benefits · design options · 1 November 2026

The final design for Halo, end to end

Final (top row): Anna's structure and menus, Matt's chrome, Chris's control-room build, with Chris's own dates, existing selections and known-as names added. The six options it came from are below for reference. Each row is one design direction carried through every surface: Guardian building a benefits programme from documents, the employer app with a new menu, the employee site, the broker desk, and the phone app on Apple and Android. Everything is clickable and runs on the real page list and the Fernhill demo documents.

Employer pages 219, regrouped into 7 areasEmployee pages 59Build steps 17Decisions asked 5Plan template 48 working days

Direction	Guardian build	Employer app	Employee site	Broker desk	Phone app
★FinalAnna's structure, Matt's chrome, Chris's control room	Control room, 18 stepsOwn dates, existing selections, known as, Plan view	Simple and fullMatt's tiles, one red dot	Employee site	Broker desk	Apple and Android
AControl roomIcon rail with fly-out panels, live counts, pins	Lanes and tilesCard lifts from its tile	Rail and flyoutSlate and orange	Employee site	Broker desk	Apple and Android
BGuardian threadAsk first, browse second	Narrated feedAnswers fold to a receipt	Ask or go toPlum on paper	Employee site	Broker desk	Apple and Android
CChrome, after MattMatt Norton's Flex Biz guide: tiles, chips, black pills, one red dot	Slide-in decision paneMono, red for must-do	Top bar and tile menusMatt's Chrome	Employee siteMatt's prototype, rebuilt	Broker desk	Apple and Android
DMonths to minutesCommand bar first, planning-wall look	Gantt race48 days against the clock	Command firstNavy, amber, cyan	Employee site	Broker desk	Apple and Android
EGuardian inbox, after AnnaAnna Guy's portal shell: Simple and Full menus	Needs you and handlingAnna's inbox items	Simple and fullAnna's green	Employee site	Broker desk	Apple and Android
FPlan and live previewJobs as spaces, Guardian docked; patterns from Mobbin	Plan beside the live siteWatch your answer land	Jobs as spacesGraphite, cobalt, coral	Employee site	Broker desk	Apple and Android

What sits under all six

The 17 build steps are the new-scheme implementation plan in the product today. Guardian runs them in parallel and asks five things: the choice window, missing partner and child details, design sign-off, the staff message, and the go-live.
The employer menus use all 219 real admin pages. Today 102 of them sit under Configuration; here they are regrouped into Home, People, Benefits, Payroll and providers, Launch and renewals, Reports and Settings, with search over every page's job.
Figures come from the Fernhill demo documents, which are synthetic: pension match up to 7%, life cover 4 x salary, medical from £58.00 a month, dental from £9.50, cycle up to £4,000. Example broker clients are invented and marked as examples.
Navigation patterns were checked against current products on Mobbin: Plane, incident.io, Searchable, Tana, Dropbox Dash, Devin, Browserbase and Wix.
These are clickable prototypes over a scripted run. The direction we pick gets built into the sandbox over the real build.

Directions C and E follow Matt Norton's and Anna Guy's design work.