“Suddenly, Everything Changed!” — A Case Study on PhonePe’s Overwhelming Redesign

I remember standing in a crowded store, bag of groceries in one hand and my phone in the other. I needed to make a quick payment, so I opened the PhonePe app — just like I’d done countless times before. Except this time, the interface staring back at me wasn’t the PhonePe I knew. The once-familiar layout looked completely different, new banners had appeared, and for a split second, I questioned where to even tap.

Welcome to the new PhonePe redesign: big, bold, and visually eye-catching, yet somehow jarring enough to make me pause mid-transaction. In this case study, I’ll walk you through my experience, explore why these changes felt overwhelming, and propose how redesigns can balance visual innovation with user familiarity.

Old Design

1. The Moment of Disruption

Standing at the Counter

My first thought on seeing the updated interface was confusion — like stepping into your own home but finding all the furniture rearranged. It’s still your space, yet you have to look around to figure out what moved.

Immediate Reaction