Design Chit-Chat vol.16 – An

What is Design Chit-Chat?

PayPay has grown into a mobile payment service with 58 million users, which translates to one in every two smartphone users in Japan. Integral to the development of this service is our team of unique product members from more than 50 countries and regions around the world. Through the process of understanding both the differences and similarities in each other’s thinking, we have transformed into a team capable of creating ideas, approaches, and products that have never existed before.

In this Design Chit-Chat series, we would like to present a series of member’s voices to give you a clear picture of the PayPay Design Team and its unique vibe of craftmanship.
This time, we would like to introduce Stefanie Angelia (An) from the Design Department of the Product Division.

What is your team and what does it do?

I joined as part of the Core App & Growth Team. I think my experience there helped me to understand PayPay and its services as a whole, as I was able to work on several core features such as login, registration, vouchers, and so on. Just recently, the Core App Team was divided into two teams, making me a part of the Payment and Mini App Team. I am now responsible for features related to Payment such as Payment History and Payment Details, along with components for PayPay’s various mini apps.

What made you decide to become a designer?

I have a degree in Computer Science and used to work as a frontend coder. During that time, I found myself more interested in drawing up rough sketches and talking to people to exchange ideas than being stuck in my chair working on thousands of lines of code. I love experimenting with my sketches and learning about people ― namely, what they feel and experience when they use products I’ve created. I realized coding was never my thing, and that’s ok!

So, after a year working as a coder, getting my master’s in design and 180’ing my career, I’ve worked as a designer ever since.

What are some recent projects you are working on?

We just recently launched a new improvement to the Gift Voucher project that was released last year. We also released a report on user interviews that we conducted in May.
It was really interesting to have face-to-face interviews with our users and observe their behavior while using PayPay.

Aside from that, I am currently working on an improvement involving PayPay Card. We will also soon release a project related to Myna Card, the new Individual Number Card created by the Japanese government.

How do you come up with ideas?

Through data analysis and talking with a lot of people. Conducting user interviews on short notice is often difficult, so I usually ask the people around me.
I have conversations with people of many different backgrounds, including my friends who use PayPay, our PMs, and the Customer Service Team to get a better understanding about the challenges our users face.
I also get input from my fellow designers to get a different perspective on my design ideas.

Also, whenever I randomly get an idea, I tend to quickly jot down a wireframe for it on paper so I don’t forget about it.

What do you value when creating a product at PayPay?

In PayPay, speed is everything. But we should not compromise our product’s quality and user experience just because we want to release things fast.
As such, it’s important to get feedback after a release and make improvements as soon as possible. That’s why we need to be creative when gathering feedback, be it from simple questionnaires, or analyses of data or competitors.
I think it’s all about striking the balance between speed and quality.

What sort of challenges do you want to take on at PayPay?

In order to create a user-friendly product, I want to observe and talk directly to users. It’s true that data can help with making decisions, but PayPay users come from different backgrounds and age ranges, so I think user research is very important.
I want to create a payment product that can be used by all kinds of people.

Do you have a message for our readers?

Cashlessness continues to grow in Japan, and so does PayPay, meaning we are offered a lot of opportunities to grow here. On top of that, you’ll be able to work with a lot of people from diverse backgrounds here at PayPay.

Please join us in creating a great product that anyone can use easily!

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