Design Chit-Chat vol. 9 – Eri Fujiki

What is Design Chit-Chat?

PayPay has become a national service with 50 million users, and one thing that is indispensable in its development is the presence of product members with rich personalities from more than 40 countries around the world. The process of understanding the “differences” and “commonalities” in each other’s thinking one by one has transformed us into a team capable of creating ideas, approaches, and outputs that have never existed before.

In this Design Chit-Chat, we would like to present a series of member’s voices to give you as direct a picture as possible of the PayPay Design Team and its atmosphere of craftsmanship. This time, we would like to introduce Eri Fujiki from the design team.

What team does she belong to and what does she do?

When PayPay was launched, we had a small number of designers, so I designed almost all of the PayPay apps. I am currently a member of Team B, which is in charge of the Financial and P2P (person-to-person money transfer) sections of the Consumer App. I am mainly in charge of bill payment, miner points, etc. in Financial. PayPay is focusing on this field, so it is very rewarding. I try to make sure that the design is simple, easy to understand, and reassuring even for users who have no knowledge of finance, even though there is a lot of formal content in this field.

What made you decide to become a designer?

I have enjoyed drawing pictures and playing with computers since I was a child, and I used to draw pictures using software called Kidpix on my parents’ Macintosh. I had a vague idea that I wanted to work in the art and design field or in a technical field in the future, so I decided to enroll in the Information Design Department of an art college to enhance my professional knowledge. While studying the basics of design at university and participating in an internship program at Yahoo Japan, I realized that I could enjoy designing on a computer without feeling any pain. I felt that I was suited to be a designer for an IT company, and decided to become a product designer, which is what I am doing now.

Projects I have been working on recently

I am in charge of various finance-related tasks, but mainly I am adding new features and modifications to the bill payment system. Recently, I redesigned the top page of Bill Payment. We tried to make the UI easy for beginners to understand and want to use, such as by adding an animation that briefly describes how to use bill payment. Bill payment is often related to administrative matters such as taxes and utility bills, and there are sometimes severe restrictions. I feel a mission and a sense of fulfillment in providing users with easy-to-understand designs despite these restrictions.

The Process of Drawing Out Ideas

I value both input and output time. For input, the best way is to try out as many applications and services as possible, but I also like to visit art museums and participate in design events, as these activities broaden my knowledge. For output, I try to create all the ideas I can think of. Even if I thought it would be rejected at the time of creation, it may actually be useful from a different perspective, so I tend to keep all the ideas I come up with until they are completed.

What I value in creating things at PayPay

User first and speed are always important to us. In addition, PayPay is a multinational development site, so I try to make sure that the results are understandable to non-Japanese. For example, all design data is written in English except for the basic screen text. In addition to design, text-based conversations with teammates are basically conducted in English. (I speak in Japanese because we have an interpreter when we meet or talk, but many people use English. I enjoy it.

What I would like to challenge in the future with PayPay

Many people are already using cashless payment, but I have the impression that the younger generation is not yet ready for it. This is because I recently had a child and started thinking about how to teach my child about money. I have already started to think about how to teach money knowledge to my children. I often hear that even young children are already using PayPay to play house. So I would like to teach them how to use PayPay along with their knowledge of money when they are able to understand it to some extent, rather than shutting them out because they are children and cannot use it yet. Based on this, it is my personal wish, but I would be happy if PayPay could realize a simple PayPay with limited functions that can be easily used by children and the elderly, or a “watch over” function (a function that allows parents to manage their children’s account information) like the ones in games now.

Message to prospective PayPay users

PayPay is now well known to many people in Japan, but it is still a young company in its infancy. Because we are a young company, we are able to execute quickly, and we are evolving into a better company through new initiatives and improvements on a daily basis. The work environment also offers a high degree of freedom, including remote work, making it easy to work according to one’s personal environment and style. The company also offers generous support such as maternity leave as well as nursing leave, so it is very easy to work while raising a child. The field of cashless payment still has a lot of room for growth, and I think it will continue to gain momentum. Working at the cutting edge of cashless payment in Japan has always been a fresh and exciting experience for me. If you want to try something new, please apply to PayPay! I look forward to working with you.

*The recruitment status is current at the time of the interview.

Author: Eri / Supervisor: YAGI / Editor: Mina
*Employees’ affiliations are as of the time of the interview.