Three users, one product, no instruction manual

Zexel Pay started from scratch — just an idea in the partners' heads. The initial challenge wasn't designing for three user types: it was that nobody had a clear picture of what they wanted to build. Three-hour meetings were a swamp of noise and actual requirements mixed together.

When pressure came to cram everything into a single interface for all users, I saw the problem before it happened: a platform that tries to serve everyone ends up serving no one well. I proposed separating experiences by primary task, not by abstract user type.

Each user had different jobs-to-be-done: companies needed to process bulk payments and consolidate invoices; influencers needed to get paid quickly with minimal effort; admins needed to oversee the entire payment flow.

I worked as the sole designer, connecting product, development, and marketing — each team speaking their own language. My job was to filter, translate, and bring things down to earth.

I designed extensive information architecture maps, user flows, and prototypes while learning Figma on the job. Within a month of joining, I was already delivering designs for the front-end team to start working from. The first stable version shipped in September.

I designed components as a lowest common multiple: a reusable base for all users, with per-user specifics layered on top. This unblocked a mostly junior dev team and kept design and development moving in sync.

Three profiles, each with access only to what they needed: companies with batch management, CSV uploads, and payment monitoring; influencers with a minimal, direct flow; admins with full visibility and permissions. The improvements that did reach production — copy corrections, flow simplification, contextual help, translation — measurably reduced human errors and left users able to anticipate where each action would take them.

Everything design-related, plus something that rarely shows up in portfolios: being the translation layer between teams. Business to dev, dev to marketing, stakeholder input to actionable requirements. I made prioritization calls to unblock work when direction from above wasn't clear.

Multi-user design:

• Task-aligned interfaces beat feature buffets.
• Design reusable components with user-specific variations.

Product design:

• Balance business goals, technical constraints, and user needs.
• Translation between teams matters as much as visual work.

What I'd do differently:

• Trust my judgment earlier, learn metrics tools sooner, polish less in early stages.

About myself:

• I blend creative and analytical thinking, see details and big picture, stay resilient, and advocate effectively.