01 — Case Study
A confidence-first mobile payments app that helps older adults pay digitally on their own — without fear, hesitation, or dependence on family.
02 — The Change
Concept · Hackathon prototype — not shipped to production
Context — what this is
PayNORA is a concept mobile payments app built during the Design for Change hackathon. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is India's instant bank-to-bank payment standard; most UPI apps are designed for speed, not for people who are afraid of making an irreversible mistake.
Who it serves
Adults aged 50+ who own a smartphone but hand it to a family member the moment a payment screen appears — and the relatives who currently pay on their behalf.
My role — what I owned
Key evidence
Design Process — Double Diamond
4 stages · 6 weeks
01 · Discover
Divergent02 · Define
Convergent03 · Develop
Divergent04 · Deliver
Convergent03 — Research
Field interviews and shadowing with 20+ older adults across households, shops and community spaces. Every insight was tied to a design decision.
Insight 01
Observation
Users rechecked every screen twice before tapping Pay.
Insight
Confirmation isn't a step — it's a source of anxiety.
Decision
Introduced a calm, plain-language confirmation screen.
Insight 02
Observation
Many handed the phone to a family member at UPI PIN.
Insight
Dependence protects them from a mistake they can't undo.
Decision
Practice Mode lets users rehearse safely with zero risk.
Insight 03
Observation
Font sizes and dense UI caused visible strain.
Insight
Accessibility isn't a toggle — it's the default state.
Decision
Senior Mode with larger type, higher contrast, calmer layout.
Insight 04
Observation
Fraud calls were the #1 topic in interviews.
Insight
Trust is broken outside the app, not inside it.
Decision
In-flow fraud awareness prompts before sensitive actions.
Research Artifact — Affinity Board
20+ interviews clustered across four lenses, surfacing the hesitation patterns behind every design decision.
04 — Product Strategy
Product Vision
Enable every older adult to pay digitally — independently and without fear.
North Star
Independent transactions completed with high confidence, per active user, per week.
Success Metrics
40%
Faster task completion
75%
Independent success
0 → 3.6
Confidence score (of 5)
AA
WCAG 2.1 compliance
Design Principles
Confidence over speed
Optimise for how safe users feel, not seconds saved.
Recognition over recall
Show, don't ask users to remember.
Reassurance in-flow
Explain what will happen — before it happens.
Accessibility by default
Legible type, contrast and touch targets baseline.
How might we make users feel safe before, during and after payment?
How might we let users practise without financial risk?
How might we design for the widest range of ability by default?
05 — Feature Strategy
Each one starts with an observed behaviour, states what we chose to build, and what we saw when older adults used it in moderated testing.
Practice Mode
Signature
Problem
Users feared making a real mistake with real money.
Decision
A sandbox that mirrors real payment flows without transacting.
Impact
Users tried features 3× more often before real use.
Voice Guidance
02
Problem
Small type and silent screens left users unsure at each step.
Decision
Calm, plain-language voice cues woven into every critical action.
Impact
Users self-corrected mid-flow instead of stopping.
Fraud Awareness
03
Problem
External scam calls broke user trust in the app.
Decision
Contextual prompts before sensitive actions.
Impact
Users paused, verified, and reported suspicious cases.
Mistake Recovery
04
Problem
Near-misses left users afraid to try again.
Decision
Named scenarios and a calm path back to safety.
Impact
Recovery reframed as learning, not failure.
06 — Experience Design
Participants lost confidence when a screen offered more than one thing to think about. Four top-level hubs and one linear payment path keep every decision small and reversible.
End-to-End Payment Journey
01
Open App
02
Select Contact
03
Enter Amount
04
Review Summary
05
Voice Confirm
06
Enter PIN
07
Success + Recap
Supporting Artifact — Information Architecture
Four top-level hubs keep the surface area calm and the mental model predictable.
Three passes and a final direction. Every change answered something a participant did, not something we preferred.
Wireframe 01
Baseline
Standard payment flow — dense UI and small confirmation states.
Wireframe 02
Calm & Guided
Plain-language confirmation, larger targets, in-flow reassurance.
Wireframe 03
Practice-first
Sandbox mode surfaced as a first-class entry to the app.
Final Direction
Confidence-First
Senior Mode, Practice Mode, and voice woven into the core journey.
08 — Final Solution
Grouped by user intent — not by screen count.
Journey 01
1 screen
Home Dashboard
Calm entry into the app.
Journey 02
1 screen
Practice Mode
Rehearse without risk.
Journey 03
1 screen
Fraud Protection
In-flow awareness before sensitive actions.
Journey 04
1 screen
Caregiver Approval
A trusted second pair of eyes on larger payments.
09 — Interactive Prototype
Best viewed on desktop · takes 20–40 seconds to load
10 — Validation & Impact
Moderated usability testing with older adults across three cities, refined over six iteration cycles. Every number below was measured on the prototype — PayNORA was not deployed, so there are no production or business results to report.
40%
Faster task completion
75%
Independent completion (from 0%)
3.6 / 5
Post-test confidence score
AA
WCAG 2.1 compliance
Task success rose across every mode. The largest lifts came from Practice and Senior Mode — the two flows built directly from testing feedback.
11 — Recognition
Best Team Project — Design for Change Hackathon.
PayNORA was developed during the Design for Change Hackathon and was recognised as one of the Best Team Projects during the final showcase. The project received on-stage recognition for its confidence-first approach to helping older adults perform digital payments independently.
View Hackathon Showcase↗
12 — Reflection
What I learned
Framing the problem as confidence, not usability, unlocked clearer design decisions.
What I'd do differently
Recruit participants who had already been defrauded. We designed fraud awareness from second-hand accounts, and that group would have tested the copy far harder.
What remains unresolved
Whether confidence holds outside a moderated session. Every result here comes from a supervised prototype test, not from weeks of unsupervised real use.
What I'd measure next
Independent completion rate at week four without a facilitator present, and how often Practice Mode is used before a first real payment.
Closing
Designing confidence into every payment.
PayNORA was never about making payments faster. It was about helping people feel confident enough to complete them on their own.
— Contact
— Get in touch
Hi, I'm Nitya - a Product Designer / UX/UI Designer working across fintech, healthcare and learning. Currently focused on research-led, accessible product work. If you're hiring or want to talk about a project, the fastest way is email.