The UPI Revolution: How India Mastered the Art of Frictionless Payments

India has become a leader in digital payments with its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and widely used QR codes. This success comes from understanding user experience (UX) and human behavior. This is not just about technology; it’s about people. Let's explore why UPI works so well.

1. The Power of Simplicity: Low Cognitive Load, High Accessibility

UPI makes paying for things—from street-side chai to groceries—very simple. You just need to Scan and Pay.

Before UPI, digital payments were complicated. People had to remember bank account numbers and IFSC codes, which was hard to handle.

• The "Scan → Pay" : process simplifies this. It is easy to use; if you can point your phone, you can pay.

• Open to Everyone: UPI only needs a bank account and a smartphone. It removed long approval processes and credit score checks seen in traditional banking, helping millions who were left out of digital payme

• Works Everywhere: The true strength of UPI is its ability to work across various apps, like Google Pay, PhonePe, or your bank’s app, using the same QR code. This means it is consistent and reliable from the smallest vendors to large businesses.

  
  

This simplicity made digital payments available to everyone and led to quick adoption by different groups.

2. Building Trust: Safety and Assurance

Trust is essential for any financial system, and digital payments need it too. UPI includes features that help users feel safe.

• Instant Confirmation: UPI lets both buyers and sellers know immediately if a transaction goes through. This removes uncertainty, similar to the feel of handing over cash.

• Personal PIN for Safety: Users must enter a secure PIN for every transaction. This gives users control and a sense of safety over their money.

• The "One Rupee Test": Many users start with a small, one-rupee transaction to check if a new merchant works. UPI apps often support this behavior, showing how users can influence the design.

  
  

These features collectively fostered an environment of trust, critical for a nation transitioning from a predominantly cash-based economy.

3. The Effect of Easy Spending

While simplicity is good, it can lead to increased spending.

• Money Feels Less "Real": Scanning a QR code or tapping your phone makes spending feel less tangible than handing over cash. This lowers the mental barriers to spending money.

• Impulse Buying: Many UPI users report spending more due to the ease of transactions, leading to less careful financial choices.

• The UX Dilemma: When to Add Friction: This creates a challenge for UX designers. While reducing friction is important, sometimes adding a little can help. For products aimed at reducing impulse buys, reminders or moments of pause can encourage users to think before spending.

  
  

The UPI success story shows how understanding people and keeping things simple can drive technology forward. It highlights that effective UX design solves real problems and gently shapes behavior—sometimes for better financial decisions, and sometimes for risky ones!

50 Essential User Interview Questions Every UX Designer Needs

User interviews are important for understanding users, their experiences, needs, and challenges. These interviews help gather detailed insights, find new ideas for improvement, and check if our assumptions are correct. They show what users think and feel when they use a product, allowing teams to see things from the users’ perspective.

The information we get from these interviews helps in designing and developing better products. It leads to creating user-need statements, empathy maps, personas, and customer journey maps. To get useful insights, we should ask open-ended, non-leading questions. This encourages honest and detailed answers, often by asking for examples or explanations of their experiences.

Here are 50 useful user interview questions:

I. Introduction & Context Questions

These questions help build rapport, understand the user's background, and establish the context of their daily life or work habits in relation to your product or topic.

1. Please tell me about yourself and your relationship to [project topic/area of interest]?

2. What is your occupation/role? How long have you been in that occupation/role?

3. Describe your typical day.

4. How is this particular product/service/user interface relevant to your daily life?

5. How often do you use/interact with [product/service/user interface/topic]?

II. Current Experiences & Pain Points Questions

These questions delve into users' existing behaviours, challenges, mental models, and the "why" behind their actions, helping to identify problem areas and opportunities.

6. Walk me through the last time you did this [issue/task].

7. What if any issues/pain points do you have with [issue/task]?

8. How do you currently deal with [issue/task/problem]?

9. What are the most difficult parts of [issue/task]? Why?

10. What are the easiest parts of [issue/task]? Why?

11. Are there any obstacles you must overcome when dealing with [issue/task]? Tell me about those.

12. Do you have any workarounds for this [issue/task]? Tell me about those.

13. How much of your time is typically spent dealing with [issue/task], and how much time would you like to spend?

14. Why is this [issue/task] important to do?

15. What other methods, if any, have you tried for dealing with this [issue/task]? How well did they work/not work?

16. What do you like, if anything, about how you are currently dealing with [issue/task]? If yes- what is it? If no- why not?

17. How would you describe your experience with [tool, website, or application/product]?

18. In what ways is [product/service/interface] better or worse than those you felt were similar? Why?

19. What do you like about the current [project website or application/product]?

20. What don’t you like about the current [project website or application/product]?

21. Is there anything you often look for on [project website or application] that is missing or hard to find?

22. Is there any way [project website or application] isn't supporting your needs currently?

23. What is the most important when you look for [product/service]?

24. How do you usually get to [project website or application]? (Follow up: Do you use a bookmark? What terms do you search? What sites do you link from?)

25. What devices do you normally use when visiting/using [website/tool/product]?

26. When you are on a computer and the internet, are there any challenges you face accessing information?

27. What are the most important tasks you need to perform using [product or application]?

28. How do your [colleagues/friends/family/etc.] complete [task]?

29. Where did you learn how to do [task]?

30. How did you feel when learning how to do [task]?

III. Opportunities & Future State Questions

These questions help uncover potential solutions, explore new ideas, and understand user needs and desires for a future or improved product/service.

31. What would an alternative solution to this task look like [issue/task]?

32. What do you think [product] is best used for?

33. What are all the ways you use [product]?

34. For what else do you imagine you could use this product/service/interface for?

35. What’s stopping you from using [product/service/interface] for that?

36. If you could improve this product/service/interface, what would you change?

37. How would those changes affect your use of it?

38. How valuable would the product/service/interface be to you if you enacted those changes?

39. How likely/unlikely are you to use this product/service/interface? Why or why not?

40. Do you feel this product/service/interface would be useful for you? Why or why not?

41. In what ways would this product/service/interface be useful for you? In what ways would you use it?

42. What are reasons you might not use this product/service/interface?

43. What do you think is the primary function of the [project topic/product]?

44. What is your main goal when visiting the [project website or application]? Do you have any secondary goals?

45. What would prevent you from achieving [project goal]?

46. What improvements could be made to make [project goal] easier or better?

47. How do you use the information on the [project website or application]?

48. Would you ever need to share these metrics/information with others? If yes – who, what format and method of sharing?

49. Would you ever need to export [information or asset in project]? If yes – when, why and in what format?

50. What do you wish our product could do that it can't today?

When you conduct interviews, ask follow-up questions to get more information. Use questions like "Tell me more about that," "Can you expand on that?" or "Why is that important to you?"

These questions help uncover people's motivations and perceptions. Avoid leading questions that hint at a desired answer. While this guide gives a good starting point, make sure to tailor your questions to fit each project and its specific research goals.

How UX and Visual Designers Should Use AI Agents Today

AI agents are powerful tools that can help UX and visual designers work faster and smarter. Right now, they’re best for specific tasks that take about an hour or less.

Here’s how you can use AI agents in your design work today, while keeping the future in mind.

1. Use AI for Quick, Specific Design Tasks

AI agents shine at handling short, focused tasks. Stick to what they can do well right now instead of expecting them to tackle huge projects.

How to Do It:

• Use AI agents to create assets like wireframes, logos, color palettes, or typography suggestions. For example, ask an AI to “Generate a minimalist wireframe for a mobile app.”

• Input clear, simple instructions to get the best results. Avoid vague requests like “Design a website” and instead say, “Create a homepage layout for an e-commerce site.”

• Review AI outputs quickly to refine them manually, ensuring they fit your project’s needs.

2. Build Designs That Can Grow with AI

AI is improving fast. The agent you use today might handle more tasks next year. Plan your workflow to adapt to these upgrades.

How to Do It:

• Save AI-generated assets (e.g., wireframes or style guides) in formats that are easy to edit later, like Figma or Adobe XD files.

• Create modular designs, such as reusable UI components, so you can plug in better AI outputs as capabilities improve.

• Keep your design systems flexible. For example, use scalable color schemes or fonts that can adjust when AI starts offering advanced features.

3. Break Big Projects into Small AI-Friendly Tasks

Complex design projects are too big for today’s AI agents to handle in one go. Split them into smaller pieces.

How to Do It:

• Divide your project into steps. For a website, you might use an AI agent to:

  1. Create detailed requirement document.

  2. Define IA.

  3. Suggest content.

  4. Sketch a wireframe.

  5. Suggest a color scheme.

  6. Generate icons or images.

• Use AI for one step at a time, reviewing each output before moving to the next.

• Organize your workflow with tools like Trello or Notion to track which tasks the AI has completed.

4. Prepare for AI Agents to Work Together

In the future, AI agents will team up to handle bigger tasks. Start experimenting with ways to use multiple agents now to get ready.

How to Do It:

• Try using different AI tools for different tasks. For example, use one AI to create a layout and another to refine visuals.

• Combine outputs from multiple agents. For instance, take a wireframe from one AI and use another to apply a visual style.

• Provide feedback to each agent’s output to guide their collaboration. For example, if one AI creates a logo, tell the next AI to match its style for icons.

  
  

Practical Tips for Designers

• Test AI Tools: Experiment with AI platforms like MidJourney, DALL·E, or Figma plugins to find ones that fit your workflow.

• Keep It Simple: Use AI for repetitive or time-consuming tasks so you can focus on creative work.

• Stay in Control: Always review and tweak AI outputs to ensure they meet your project’s quality.

• Learn as You Go: As AI improves, test new features to see how they can enhance your designs.

Example: Using an AI Agent Today

Let’s say you’re designing a landing page for a fitness app. Here’s how you could use an AI agent:

1. Use AI to created detailed understanding document.

2. You can also use AI to create a detailed prompts for AI Tools.

3. Ask the AI to “Create a wireframe for a fitness app landing page”

4. Review the wireframe and ask the AI to “Suggest a bold color palette”

5. Use another AI to “Generate three fitness-themed icons”

6. Combine these outputs in Figma, tweaking them to fit your vision.

Why This Works

By using AI agents for small, specific tasks, planning for future improvements, breaking projects into chunks, and exploring multi-agent workflows, you can save time and boost creativity. AI is like a design assistant—use it to handle the heavy lifting while you focus on the big picture.

Start small, experiment with AI agents today, and watch how they transform your design process!