CAPITAL ONE · AUTHENTICATION
Making Complex Authentication Feel Invisible
I led illustration and animation for Capital One's authentication platform. 7 Lottie animations from concept through production. Active on 75,000,000+ cards. The goal: make complex authentication invisible.
THE CHALLENGE
Capital One needed a visual system for AirKey that would work across 75 million active cards. The authentication process had to feel seamless while meeting strict security requirements. Every animation needed to load instantly, render consistently across devices, and communicate clearly without text.
THE APPROACH
I designed 7 core animations in After Effects and optimized them as Lottie files for web deployment. Each animation runs 4–6 seconds in a seamless loop, covering the full authentication flow from card tap to confirmation.
The illustration and animation process was never separate. From the first line I drew, I was already thinking about what would move, in what order, and at what depth. That mental model determines how you build the illustration — which elements sit on top, which sit below, how layers are organized. If you illustrate without thinking about motion, you end up rebuilding everything when animation starts.
Each animation went through multiple rounds of refinement to hit three targets: file size under 100KB, render time under 400ms, and zero dependency on external assets.
EARLY EXPLORATION
The only instruction: Explore how a user authenticates on mobile. No style, no gesture, no direction. These sketches were the process of asking the right questions before finding the right answers.
STRONG IDEAS, WRONG DIRECTION
The isometric style with a purple palette was technically sound and visually rich. The client chose to stay closer to their brand language. These concepts didn't ship, but they defined what the system was capable of.
DELIVERED
A system of 12 illustrations and 7 Lottie animations. Shown here: 6 animations covering the core authentication flows, and 4 static illustrations communicating business value to stakeholders.
BUSINESS VALUE
Four outcomes that made authentication worth the investment.
Increased Mobile Engagement
Customers tap AirKey-enabled cards to accelerate native app enrollment, driving up to 30% more mobile enrollment
Lower Servicing Costs & Higher Satisfaction
Customers tap their cards to verify identity, reducing servicing time and cost while driving higher satisfaction.
Bank-Led Identity Verification
Branded payment cards used for online identity verification, reducing operating costs using existing card production investments.
Premium Experience for High-Value Customers
AirKey replaces costly hardware authenticator tokens — built into the payment card, easy to use, always on hand.
CONTEXT
The animations and illustrations as they appear on airkey.com — authentication flows embedded in the product, not in isolation.
IMPACT
Cards in market
12
Illustrations
7
Lottie animations
Jorge is 10/10 the best teammate you could ask for. His creativity and breadth of experience shine through when given seemingly impossible tasks from seemingly impossible people.
— DUSTIN COGSWELL,
Product & QA, Kunai
> LIVE_PRODUCT
This authentication system is currently active on 75,000,000+ Capital One cards.
REFLECTION
The style didn't arrive fully formed. We explored flat, linear, and 3D before landing on isometric. The card tapping the device went through 3–4 rounds of revision on its own — then multiple rounds focused exclusively on color and style. That's before a single frame was animated.
What that process produced was a visual language with a clear foundation: hands, card, device, bright colors on an isometric grid. Every subsequent illustration was built on that foundation. When you define the rules that carefully upfront, the system scales without losing coherence.
The goal was never to make authentication look impressive. It was to make users feel that their phone is an extension of their bank — something familiar and trustworthy, not a security checkpoint.
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