When we think of e-commerce growth in Southeast Asia, one thing stands out: Cash on Delivery (COD).

Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop all leaned heavily on COD to win trust from first-time buyers. For many Indonesians, COD felt safe: “I’ll only pay if the product arrives.” It solved a deep trust gap in online shopping.

But as COD usage exploded, so did the hidden costs for businesses. What looks like a driver of accessibility can quickly become a risk to sustainability.

Why Customers Love COD

For buyers, especially in Indonesia, COD isn’t just convenient — it’s a lifeline.

• 🛡️ Trust-first: Pay only when the product is in your hands, not just a picture online.
• 📦 Risk-free try: If the item looks wrong, damaged, or fake, you can simply refuse it.
• 💳 Low barriers: No need for a credit card, digital wallet, or even a bank account.
• 🏠 Everyday habit: Cash is still the default for many households — COD fits seamlessly into that flow.

The Hidden Cost for Businesses

For platforms and sellers, the story looks very different.

• ❌ Failed Deliveries (RTO): Customers cancel at the door or simply don’t show up. Every failed trip means wasted logistics and driver effort.
• 💸 Cash Handling: Drivers carry cash, reconcile it later, and businesses face delays in receiving payment. Security risks add another layer.
• ⏳ Revenue Delay: Unlike digital payments that settle instantly, COD ties up cash flow for days or even weeks.
• ⚠️ Abuse & Fraud: Fake orders, prank purchases, or impulsive buyers who change their mind by the time the package arrives.

The result? COD can make growth look bigger on paper than it really is, hiding a heavy operational burden underneath.

The Trade-Off: Growth vs. Sustainability

COD opens doors for millions of new buyers, but it’s a double-edged sword.

• For platforms, it accelerates adoption but inflates return rates.
• For sellers, it builds reach but eats into margins.
• For delivery teams, it boosts volume but increases inefficiency.

The irony? COD builds trust for buyers while eroding trust for businesses who carry the risk.

Beyond COD: Designing for Trust

If COD was the bridge to get users online, the next challenge is helping them cross over to digital payments without losing trust.

That means:

• Transparent Policies: Clear return/refund flows, so buyers don’t feel the need for COD as “insurance.”
• Social Proof: Reviews, ratings, and real customer photos reduce fear of fraud.
• Payment Incentives: Discounts or free shipping nudges for prepaid orders.
• Gradual Shift: Platforms can limit COD in high-risk zones while promoting digital wallets where adoption is higher.
• Designing Confidence: Tracking transparency, delivery guarantees, and responsive customer support — all make prepaid feel just as safe as COD.

Closing Thoughts

COD was the trust engine that fueled e-commerce growth in Indonesia. Without it, platforms like Shopee and TikTok might not have scaled as quickly as they did.

But trust is evolving. As digital payments become more accessible and reliable, businesses must ask: How long can we afford to carry the COD burden?

The real challenge isn’t simply phasing out COD — it’s designing a payment ecosystem where trust is baked in from the start.

👋 I’m Jennifer Handali, with 7+ yoe as Product Designer.
👏 Truly appreciate your claps and feedback! Save and share this article if you found this helpful.
🔔 Follow me for more insights around Product Design. You can find me on Medium , LinkedIn , Instagram

In the digital world, mascots aren’t just decoration. They’re a strategic design tool: helping products spark emotional bonds, stay relatable across cultures, and ultimately make technology feel more human.

In this post, I’ll break down why mascots matters in UX, with global and Southeast Asian examples that show the power of designing personality into products.

1. Mascots Build Emotional Connection

Everyone knows Duo the green owl. But Duolingo doesn’t stop there — it has a whole cast of characters, each with their own quirks.

Take Lily, the sarcastic, passive-aggressive one. Her “guilt-tripping” reminders to finish a lesson have become fan favorites. What could’ve been just another annoying push notification instead feels personal, playful, and effective.

2. Mascots: Global Appeal, Local Relevance

In East Asia, mascots aren’t just add-ons — they’ve grown into brands of their own.

Take LINE Friends, for example. What began as simple chat stickers has grown into a global franchise with merchandise, cafés, and even theme parks.

Characters like Sally the duck are loved worldwide — often seen as the cheeky third wheel to Cony and Brown — yet LINE still localizes her appeal with cultural touches, like entire mukbang video collections.

This flexibility allows mascots to build emotional connections across countries, while staying culturally relevant in each market.

3. Mascots Humanize Technology

Digital products can feel cold. Buttons, forms, endless screens. A mascot adds warmth and relatability.

CIMB’s OCTO Mobile uses a unique red octopus mascot to brand its mobile banking experience. Finance can feel intimidating, but Octo makes it friendly and approachable without losing credibility. The octopus metaphor reinforces ideas like many arms, many services.

Closing Thoughts

Mascots might look like simple characters, but in UX, they’re powerful design assets. They can make products feel approachable, travel across borders while adapting to local cultures, and ultimately humanize technology in ways pure interfaces can’t.

As digital products compete in crowded markets, mascots can be the bridge between functional reliability and emotional resonance. In Southeast Asia especially, users respond well to brands that feel human.

💡 Are you ready to transform your product from “just another app” into something memorable, human, and loved?

👋 I’m Jennifer Handali, with 7+ yoe as Product Designer.
👏 Truly appreciate your claps and feedback! Save and share this article if you found this helpful.
🔔 Follow me for more insights around Product Design. You can find me on Medium, LinkedIn, Instagram

As a Product Designer, I always try to see digital experiences from both a designer’s lens and a user’s perspective. I have always been a loyal user of Tiket.com, one of Indonesia’s leading travel apps, to book my plane tickets. However I encountered several patterns that felt… off.

They weren’t bugs. They weren’t mistakes. They were deliberate design choices that nudged users into actions that benefitted the business — at the expense of user trust.

This post is not meant to shame the team behind Tiket.com. I’m sure they have constraints, KPIs, and targets just like any of us. But I believe it’s our responsibility as designers to speak up when certain patterns cross into deceptive territory.

Let’s walk through three examples I experienced firsthand.

1. Bait and Switch: Misleading Ticket Prices

While searching for flights with flexible dates, I noticed a tempting price shown on an adjacent date. Curious, I tapped on that date — only to find that the price had suddenly increased.

This bait-and-switch tactic creates the illusion of a better deal to lure users into browsing further. But when the price changes the moment you engage, it creates disappointment and mistrust. As a user, I can’t compare starting prices accurately between the dates.

💡 Why it’s deceptive: It takes advantage of user attention and expectation. The lower price creates an artificial sense of urgency or curiosity — but doesn’t deliver.

2. Guilt-Tripping UI: Fear-Driven Upsells

After selecting my flight, a full-screen modal appeared, urging me to add flight insurance in case of flight delays, reschedules, or cancellation by the airlines.

What caught my eye was the emotional appeal:

“2 out of 5 flights are affected every day due to weather, technical issues, etc.”

This isn’t just upselling. It’s using fear and guilt to push a decision — playing on the anxiety of “What if something happens and I didn’t buy insurance?”

There is a regulation in Indonesia where airlines must give food and drinks in compensation for flight delays above 1 hour. My most frequent flight trip between Jakarta and Batam (cities in Indonesia) are always delayed, even if I choose the earliest morning flight. Funny thing is, the airlines have a “trick” to get away from this by: sending reschedules notification (additional 2 hours from the initial schedule), testing our patience at the airport (another 1 hour delay due to technical issues or aircraft late arrival from previous city), then having passengers onboard the aircraft but not taking off directly (could reach another 30 mins).

💡 Why it’s deceptive: It frames the user’s responsible choice as risky, and leverages fear to increase conversion.

3. Sneaky Pre-Selection: Hidden Costs

Even though I had opted out of flight insurance earlier, a new bundle called “Full Protection” was silently pre-checked after I filled out my passenger details.

Unless you’re paying close attention, you might not notice the extra charge until checkout — if at all. And by then, you are less likely to cancel your order. I understand that this insurance is recommended and bring good values to users, but the question would be: “Why not suggest this Full Protection Insurance on that previous full-page modal instead?”

This particular sneaky behavior really frustrates me, as the UI difference is very subtle and cleverly hidden. The unselect button is secondary colored in positive way. The total fee is not reflected right away until you scroll to bottom, so price changes are not noticable. Even if the base flight fare changes, as a user I would not be surprised if I did not notice that.

💡 Why it’s deceptive: It assumes consent without asking. This undermines the user’s decision-making and adds friction to opting out.

So… What Can We Do Instead?

Deceptive patterns might bring short-term gains — higher insurance attach rates, better conversion, more revenue per user.

But they come at the cost of long-term user trust.

As designers, we have the power (and responsibility) to design ethically:

• Prioritize clarity over trickery
• Allow users to make informed decisions without manipulation
• Respect user choices and defaults

Instead of nudging users into what we want, we should be guiding them to what’s truly best for them.

Good design informs. Bad design manipulates.

Let’s design for trust, not just transactions.

👋 I’m Jennifer Handali, with 7+ yoe as Product Designer.
👏 Truly appreciate your claps and feedback! Save and share this article if you found this helpful.
🔔 Follow me for more insights around Product Design. You can find me on Medium , LinkedIn , Instagram

Hi, fellow learners! I’ve been loyal to this green owl for over 1.425+ days, completing my Chinese lessons — and now, I’m pursuing Korean and Japanese.

I wasn’t just learning — I was hooked. And that got me thinking: what makes certain products irresistible to return to?

As a designer, I’m fascinated by the intersection of behavioral psychology and user experience. In this post, I want to share what I’ve learned about habit-forming design — how it works, what makes it ethical, and how we as designers can create experiences that users want to come back to, not because they’re addicted, but because it adds real value to their lives.

Overview

What we’ll explore in this case study:

1. The Hook Model: Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment
2. How Duolingo applies the concept and stand out
3. How it contributes to business outcomes: Engagement, Retention, Monetization, Acquisition
4. Practical Habit-Forming Design Tips

Habit-Forming Design: Beyond “Gamification”

Habit-forming design is about building behavioral loops into a product or service. These thoughtfully crafted experiences encourage users to return not just once, but repeatedly.

And the best part? You can apply game-like elements in non-game contexts to drive engagement, motivation, and meaningful behavior.

You may have seen these patterns in apps across various industries:

• Learning: Language learners guard their streaks by completing at least one Duolingo lesson a day.
• Fitness/health: Strava lets users track their runs (or even create fun-shaped routes) and share them.
• Finance: Bibit sends personalized reminders to keep you on track with your investment goals.
• Productivity: Forest lets you plant virtual trees that grow as long as you stay focused — and eventually builds a dream garden.

What do these products have in common? A loop. And no one describes this loop better than Nir Eyal with his Hook Model.

The Hook Model in Action

According to Eyal, building a habit involves four elements:

1. Trigger — What prompts the user?

This trigger can come from external sources or internal motivation.

• External: a notification, email, friend invite.
• Internal: boredom, anxiety, self-growth.

2. Action — What task does the user take to anticipate a reward?

The easier the task, the fewer reasons not to do it. Examples: opening the app, logging a workout, tapping a daily spin.

3. Variable Reward — What does the user get?

Appreciate user’s effort no matter how small it is. It can be a direct benefit that comes naturally from the task nature or even something unpredictable. Examples: knowledge, recognition, XP points, a badge

4. Investment — What does the user put in?

Time, effort, progress — the more they invest, the more likely they are to return.

Now let’s look at how Duolingo brings this model to life.

Duolingo’s Delightful Habit Loop

1. Trigger: Duolingo doesn’t just send random push notifications — it times them based on when you usually learn. It’s polite, but persistent. Sometimes, Duo even guilt-trips you (adorably) for ignoring it.

I used to study Chinese before bed. But on busy days, I’d find myself rushing to finish a lesson just before midnight — just to avoid losing my streak. One day, I shifted my habit and started learning in the morning. Almost instantly, Duo adapted — sending gentle reminders in the morning instead. When I forgot, I still had time to catch up before the day ended!

2. Action: “Just one quick lesson!” The interface makes it ridiculously easy to jump in — no friction, no distractions.

Duolingo includes listening, speaking, and reading tasks — all adjustable. Since now I often learn Korean during lunch breaks in the office, I skip speaking lessons due to background noise. Duo respects that, letting me snooze certain lesson types for 10 minutes.

Bonus: Different languages offer different learning experiences. My niece, who somehow learns 5+ languages on Duolingo (yes, really), showed me a Spanish lesson where you play a café roleplay game! We became Zari, the mascot, taking customer orders in a mini game. You can move your character and select conversation bubbles. I wish they’d add this “Duolingo Adventures” feature to more languages soon!

3. Variable Reward: XP, leveling up, praise from Duo, or that satisfying “ding!” sound. The learning feels fun, not forced.

What I appreciate most is that Duo values commitment over perfection. Whether I’m fast or slow, Duo often praises my consistency. And they amplify this joy by letting users collaborate or compete with friends.

4. Investment: Daily streaks, custom avatars, Super Plans, league rankings — and before you know it, you’ve built a habit. You’ve invested, and you don’t want to lose it.

But here’s the real magic: users fear losing their progress more than they’re motivated by learning goals. It’s psychology at work. That fear becomes social too — when your friends or family share in your progress, it’s not just about you anymore.

Why Habit-Forming Design Matters for the Business

Designing for habit isn’t just good UX — it’s good business. When done right, it becomes a powerful engine for engagement, retention, monetization, and even acquisition.

• Engagement: Users return frequently, interact with more features, and integrate the app into daily routines.
• Retention: Progress and personal investment increase stickiness — making it harder to leave.
• Monetization: Committed users are more likely to upgrade (e.g., streak freeze, unlimited hearts, ad-free experience).
• Acquisition: Satisfied users naturally share their success, invite friends, or join group plans.

What Designers Can Learn from This

Designing for habit isn’t about tricking users — it’s about aligning product value with natural behavior loops and motivation. When done ethically, it makes the experience sticky and satisfying — not manipulative.

To make it even more powerful, I like to blend Nir Eyal’s model with insights from James Clear’s “Atomic Habits”, which breaks down habit formation into:

• Cue (Trigger)
• Craving
• Response (Action)
• Reward
• Reinforcement (Investment)

Both models focus on the same core loop — moving from motivation, to action, to emotional reinforcement.

But James Clear also reminds us: building good habits often means breaking bad ones. This image below summarizes his easy-to-remember framework for doing both.

Key Takeaways

• Design for Craving, Not Just Use: Great products create emotional hooks — a reason to come back that feels natural and rewarding.
• Small Wins Build Big Habits: Simple actions + visible progress = long-term consistency.
• Let Users Invest: The more effort, time, and personalization users put in, the more committed they become.
• Gamification is a Start — Growth is the Goal: Points and badges grab attention, but long-term engagement comes from helping users grow.
• Habits Drive Business Impact: Engaged users return, stay longer, pay more, and tell others.

In the end, the best products don’t just retain users — they respect them, helping them become better versions of themselves.

Want to Dive Deeper?

Here are a few resources that inspired this post:

• Hooked by Nir Eyal
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Flow Theory by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

And of course, Duo the Owl 🦉

👋 I’m Jennifer Handali, with 7+ yoe as Product Designer.
👏 Truly appreciate your claps and feedback! Save and share this article if you found this helpful.
🔔 Follow me for more insights around Product Design. You can find me on Medium , LinkedIn , Instagram

Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying my case study writings. This time I challenged myself to craft an interface of a Banking app that has a feature to save and convert our money to other foreign currencies.

Bank Ajib Indonesia is not a real bank (at least for now), but it is a name I will use to refer to the app. Without further ado, let’s follow through my design process below!

Background

Bank Ajib Indonesia is one of the emerging digital banks with a mission to provide seamless financial solutions. One of its features allows users to save and transact with multiple foreign currencies with a single account.

This feature is great for travelers like Budi to convert their money from IDR to another foreign currency according to their travel destination.

User Story: As a Bank Customer, I want to view the current Thailand Baht buy rate so I can buy Thailand Baht with a considered amount.

Overview

Problem Statement: How might we help Bank Ajib Indonesia customers purchase another foreign currency in the app?

Proposed Solution: A Foreign Currency Converter that connects with the Bank Ajib Indonesia e-wallet so users can buy or sell the desired foreign balance in a single app.

Step 1: Understand

When opening an account in a local digital bank, users usually have their local currency (in this case Indonesian Rupiah) as the main savings & transaction currency. However, the money saved in local currency cannot be used in other countries when they are traveling.

Before digital solutions were available, users had to spend their time and energy going to money changers stores physically to trade their money to other foreign currencies. However, the process is not always pleasant as different money changers can charge different amounts for the purchase.

After their holiday, users also worry about what they have to do with the leftover foreign money. Of course, opening another foreign bank account was not a solution for their short-term use.

To understand more about the users, I list down their needs, pain points wishes towards this Foreign Currency Converter.

Step 2: Define

Using previously collected information, I define the user goals and plan the design to help the users achieve those goal while eliminating other worries they have.

User Goal: As a Bank Customer, I want to view the current Thailand Baht buy rate so I can buy Thailand Baht with a considered amount.

Design Goal: How might we help Bank Ajib customers purchase another foreign currency in the app?

Keywords: Easy, Safe, Transparent, Affordable, Flexible

Step 3: Ideate

I mapped out each steps the user will have to do when exchanging their money to foreign currency (i.e, exchanging Indonesian Rupiah to Thailand Baht).

For inspiration, I collected some references from the regulators and other digital banks.

Reference 1: Bank Indonesia Foreign Currency

I checked Bank Indonesia’s published list of foreign currency buy and sell rates to understand how the system works and the current numbers.

The sell price will usually be higher than the buy price and placed first in order.

Reference 2: Wise & Jenius Foreign Wallets

I also checked other digital banks that already support similar problems. Usually, they would have individual wallets so users can keep track of each foreign money easily.

The wallet display would have helpful visual cues (like names, flags, or landmarks) to differentiate the wallet easily.

Step 4: Design

In the design process, I started by sketching some key screens of the foreign currency purchase flow in my notebook to translate my ideas into wireframes.

As always, let’s take a look at the digital version so you have a better view of the design.

I imagined that the Homepage would be a quick view of our account balances, quick action menus, latest updates, and other helpful, dynamic information.

The other key screens that I sketched would be the flow to convert the money from Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) to Thailand Baht (THB) and review the balance again in the wallet.

With its unique name, I imagine Bank Ajib Indonesia’s brand as something that is youthful and magical. So I picked bright and fun colors to match its personality.

I also keep the UI clean & minimal so user don’t get overwhelmed seeing different numbers everywhere.

Let’s dig into more details on the design!

On the Homepage, users will have access to their main IDR wallet and other different foreign wallets. I also provide multiple entry points for users to access the Foreign Currency Feature.

Clicking on the Add another Foreign Wallet or Convert menu below their active wallet will bring users to the Convert page. Users still can adjust the foreign currency and the desired amount they want to purchase. Before placing the order, they will be asked to review the order and verify their identity first.

I use the word “Convert” because it isn’t always about buying, but can also be about selling the intended foreign currency.

It is also important to address that orders are not always successful. So I also added some negative states for example. Users have to meet the minimum deposit amount for a convert transaction and the action can only be completed during the operational hours as regulated.

Finally, I topped it off with the design for the completed state. The converted money will be added to the destination wallet balance.

Let’s have the final look of all the screens!

Iterations?

There are still a lot of features connected to this foreign currency converter, such as sending and selling foreign balances. However this case study only focused on one user story around purchasing, so it is not covered here.

I believe the design itself can be enriched with more improvement in the future, like:

1. Foreign currency rate chart: users can view better details on the price fluctuation over time

2. Price Alerts: users can be notified when the buy or sell rate hits desired price, so they can transact at a better value

3. Promotions: when banks have a special campaign or voucher enabled to give users discounts on the conversion fee.

4. Micro-interactions: animations and illustrations to make the entire journey more attractive.

Thanks for reading!

All my case studies are my practice towards Design Thinking and Product Design skills. I hope you enjoy reading this and find the proposed solution can provide a seamless experience for saving and converting foreign currency in single app.

👋 I’m Jennifer Handali, with 5+ yoe as Product Designer.
👏 Truly appreciate your claps and feedback! Save and share this article if you found this helpful.
🔔 Follow me for more insights around Product Design. You can find me on Medium , LinkedIn , Instagram

In case you missed it, read Part 1 where I shared insights of the panels and keynotes from Day 1 of Tech in Asia Conference 2023 here.

Day 2: Battles and Collaborations to Success

Thank you for showing your interest on my experience in Tech in Asia Conference 2023. Day 2 was a lit! Since I have explored most of the venue on Day 1, I maximized my time with more networking and building 1on1 connections with like minded professionals.

TL;DR, here is the list what I will cover in this article:

1. Competitive vs. Collaborative: Realize what you are good at, hire someone else who is good at what you are not to complement your skillset.
2. Growth-hacking: Play for alpha, master your game, aim for high results.
3. Let people come to you: Be presentable, define what you can help or need help with, genuinely care and stay humble.
4. Battle of the startups: Investors looking for innovation with impact, scalability and sustainability. Great storytelling delivers

Preparing Company to be IPO-ready

Teddy Oetomo, President of Bukalapak, revealed the story when he joined Bukalapak. He focused on getting the company to be IPO-ready so when the time comes, the team will only need to execute it. At that time, Bukalapak had a lot to catch on the game to compete with the other marketplaces. Teddy mentioned their way to select a business focus and be really good at what they have selected, which are Mitra and Gaming. With more than 500 Mitra kiosk having customers physically come to the store, paying cash to shop and do topups, Bukalapak’s transactions feel alive.

What is also interesting is that Teddy reminds us to use and balance multiple metrics when measuring the business success. He put more attention on profitability, instead of high numbers of GMV. He mentioned, the role of CFO in a company is expected to be really good at internal accounting whereas the fundraising can be handed to someone else.

Playing the A Game

This following speaker has undoubtly made into my favorites list. Khailee Ng, Managing Partner of 500 Global, brought the energy to the room and defined what matters the most.

Khailee shared 5 tips for founders on how to survive the next 5 years:

1. Alpha vs. beta: Why would a startup play it safe if they want to succeed? Startups need to level up their game and always aim to be the best fish in the pond.

2. Find your inner voice, and master your inner game: Don’t get lost in the noise of conventional ideas. As the captain, founders should have their own compass and stick to it.

3. Bring back the hack: Don’t rely on investors money, but aim for the customer’s. When companies lately spends big money for massive marketing, we should focus on growth-hacking instead. Grow the companies with low cost but getting high results.

4. Look beyond Southeast Asia: The grass may be greener in other field. Don’t limit yourself to one regional border.

5. Cheer them on: Find or build a community where you can exchange encouragement. Keep you motivated and collaborate towards a better world.

Connect with Like-minded People

Aside from the insights keynotes and panels, it is worth mentioning that Tech in Asia Conference provides a better social environment to meet people with similar interests. As a Designer, I would use this section to evaluate 3 ways on how the event have evolved since last time I visited that enhance this networking opportunity:

1. Lanyard Design: Back then in 2016, people are still exchanging name cards. Now, the lanyard used by every single visitors are helpful to learn on their names, role and company quickly. There’s also a barcode for people to scan and get our profile on the app.
2. The Tech in Asia Conference app: Bookmarking the agenda in the calendar view might already be in your expectation, but the app also allows you to find other attendees profile and set a quick meeting with them. When signing up, we filled our interests (industries, networking goals) which translated to the recommendation on people who met our conditions.
3. Networking Tables: TIA provided 3 zones filled with empty tables and unlimited supply of water. Meeting with the person we agreed to connect is easy as each zone are labeled (A, B, and C). Even when I on standby while waiting for my partner to come, other attendees had their initiatives to reach out and have a conversation.

So, whom did I meet in the event? Day 1 I got out of the elevator and haven’t even entered the venue, but I had the chance to connect with Eva, a trade management lecturer in Solo, Indonesia. Despite the long distance, her effort coming to Jakarta to learn on the latest industry trends and share it with her students later on is admirable. We quickly became pair buddies, seating on the front rows, have lunch, and help each others out on our travel plans. Shout out to you, Eva!

Through the quick meetings, I had the opportunity to connect with Dennis Zhuang, the founder of Investoria. Our mutual interests in investment products made him found me. He is building an education platform for newbie investors learning the Fundamentals and Technical analysis when investing in stocks.

On the other side, I also got inspired by Dr Mehdi Ravanbakhsh from CryptoCripsy. Their team is improving the crypto trades through AI where people do not need to learn much details and let the smart technology invests for them.

Founders, marketers, recruiters.. you name it. Honestly, there are still a lot of new and old connections I met, but let’s keep the article still resonates with you.

Witnessing the Startups Pitch Battle

6 promising startups were bringing their innovative ideas to the investors table. With prizes worth over US$250,000, the finalists battled for the glory!

The rising sectors are around health tech, environment tech, and AI technologies lately:

1. Nuxcle: An Indonesian company that develops Electric Vehicles for daily commutes and embracing circular economy through recycling electric car’s batteries and dynamos.
2. Handprint Tech: This startup enables companies to contribute to regenerative economy by turning their business activities into planet restoration. They manage to curate the most critical environment issue, cut costs, and keep the company in track with the impacts.
3. Tenang AI: Using AI technologies, the startup aims to provide accessible and affordable mental health support for those in need. Their content moderation can detect whether the patient’s condition is clinical or suicidal and direct them to the hotline with psychologists.
4. Blitz: This logistics enabler uses the combination of electric vehicle fleets, machine learning, predictive modeling, and AI to optimize deliveries in Indonesia. They can help to match-make the drivers with the right delivery job and maximize their potentials.
5. Nexmedis: Seeing how misdiagnoses and mistreatments happen a lot in Indonesia, Nexmedis is an AI-powered Electronic Medical Record (EMR) that assists doctors on creating diagnosis.
6. Spacely AI: Like Canva for interior designers, this SaaS tool cuts down the production effort on creating realistic 3D mockups for residential and commercial design spaces.

Very interesting, right? Each companies demonstrated their vision and mission to bringing impact to the world using the power of technology. However, investors look way more beyond that. Most followup questions tried to cover the companies’ plan for profitability and sustainability. They are expected to know the competition in the industry and next innovations post funding.

This article may not do justice since it doesn’t include the pitch desk and delivery from the speakers. I would suggest that you should visit each companies website to learn more about each startups. But without further ado, the top 3 winners are… Handprint Tech, Nexmedis, and Spacely AI! Congratulations!

Thanks for Reading

I am not a journalist, so writing articles like this has it’s own pressure on me. However I am glad that these insights don’t stop in my mind, but passed to you!

I am going to write again on future events I attend to. Other times, I share my thoughts around Product Design skills and the industry. If you love reading this, please let me know by leaving claps or comments on the article. Much appreciate it! Well, see you next time!

This marks my 3rd time attending Tech in Asia Conference in Indonesia! Back then in 2016, I was still in my college years, being young and energetic enough to absorb all the insights I could get! It feels so nostalgic to re-experience this excitement again during Tech in Asia Conference on 18–19th October 2023.

Note by Author: I’m excited to share a lot of inspiration I got from this event but it would be a long, long.. article. Let’s not exhaust your eyes and brain. Follow me to not miss the 2nd part of this article!

About Tech in Asia Conference

In case you just heard about this, Tech in Asia Conference is an annual flagship event providing learning and networking opportunities to Asia’s tech and startup community.

Overall, what you can expect from the event:

1. Gather industry insights from hundreds of top global panelists (including from Google, Microsoft.. you name it)
2. Connect with investors, innovators, and like-minded professionals.
3. Witness emerging startups sharing their visions and missions on stage.

You can check the full agenda and other full benefits on their site. This event might be best for you who are into investing or creating/promoting startups. As for professionals like me, I was looking forward into the industry insights, latest trends, and networks in the tech world.

In this following article, I would tell you more about the keynotes and panels I attended on Day 1 of the Tech in Asia Conference 2023.

Day 1: Learn from the Experts

I wish I had clones of myself to attend all 4 different stages at the same time. I found most of the conference topics are interesting & brought up by speakers and panelists with awesome portfolio, but I had to prioritize. My goal is to get a good balance of insights about the overall industry and vertically around E-Commerce, Fintech, AI, and impact-driven companies.

Seeing the Job Market Trends — Pre-pandemic vs Now

The opening ceremony started with SEEK sharing Asia Job Market Trends from pre-pandemic vs. now. It would be a tough market since companies are limiting their hiring budget. With limited opportunities and employees impacted by waves of layoffs, there is a surge of competition between other hires. I’ve been seeking for a new opportunity for a month now. I can confirm that it is not as “easy” and “fast” as it used to be. I wanted to comment on the graph’s X axis, but well, we can still understand the message here.

Digital Banking: Redefined

Next, I would like to dive into the rise of digital banking, specifically in Indonesia. Dima Djani, Founder & CEO of HijraBank, provided an excellent standpoint on how HijraBank is trying to understand what the customers need. Their customer segments are majorly young muslims in big cities who usually have multiple apps in their phone to do banking and perform their prayers. This opened up an opportunity to incorporate their day to day needs into a single app, yet providing them a trusted, transparent, and Islamic law-obeying financial solutions.

Sukiwan, Chief Business Officer of Superbank, also shared how he kept reminding the team to be laser-focused. We cannot solve everything, that is why we need to pick the sector where we have the resources and excell there.

Living the Era of Hyper Personalization

One of my favorites keynote is actually this topic about Hyper Personalization brought by Marc-Antoine Hager, Regional Head in Southeast Asia of CleverTap. Customers engaged with personalized messaging or context will have a better chance of acquisition, retention, referrals, and brand loyalty. Marc shared 4 steps of the personalisation ladder using McDonalds as example:

1. Demographic Segmentations: How McDonalds have localized menu in different countries/states, like pita bread McArabia in Arab countries and McBaguette in France.
2. Behavioral Segmentations: Using the customer’s past history to understand or predict what will be suitable for the next purchase. More data points would increase the accuracy. For example, you have just bought 25 burgers for a party last week, but that doesn’t mean you would want to repuchase another 25 burgers in the following week. It would be better if you can look on a 1-year-old data (instead of 1 week or 1 month).
3. Behavior Triggered Delivery: Brands should engage while the users are still in the app. By delivering the right personalized content at the right time, the result would be enhanced. For example, when the user is buying soda, we can recommend other finger foods that pair best with it.
4. Message Content Personalization: This is another level where we remember who the customer is and can recommend what the best user experience is for them. For example, there are apps with personalized quick menus based on what the users oftenly use.

Brands should put more focus on building 1-on-1 Relationship with the users.

Building a Multimarket Business

Still around fintechs, I am delighted to listen on the beginning eras of Modalku and Xendit. Kelvin Tan, Group CEO and Co-Founder of Modalku, shared his story of making sure the product launch first and they can see how the market responds later on. Because, it usually takes a long time in order to satisfy the regulators and collect the users data. In a high volume but low margin business, Modalku pushed to go into multiple markets. Kelvin shared some tips on how they grow through building credibility (through licenses), invest in powerful PR where people can find informations easily about them, and through channels. The multimarket services also gives advantages in cross-learning the market and sharing of cost when one is struggling.

Moses Lo, Founder and CEO of Xendit, shared similar stories about the multimarket business. With localisation and humility to really understand the market, the team built connections slowly and stayed true to the locals. By finding the right culture fit and investing in the people, Moses is building the massive business that excells both in single country (specialied in the demographic) and multinationals.

Utilizing AI in Companies

Artificial Intelligence (or AI) is more accessible now. Suthen Thomas Paradatheth, Group CTO of Grab, shared how Grab utilized AI for calculating things (like giving ETA when the driver will arrive) and make relevant recommendations so people can discover new things they like.

AI is making task easy to be done, saving time and costs, giving instant responses with better customer services. In a discussion with all panelists, including Michael Smith Jr., Microsoft ASEAN Startup Leader, and Abby Zhang, Principal Venture Architect of BCG X, there are 4 things to consider whether a company should build or buy an AI:

1. The Value: what we would love to achieve through this AI
2. The Regulations: can it comply with the local/global rules?
3. Cost & Capacity: we will also need to consider the maintenance cost. Keeping it competitive in the market would require time & resources
4. Reversability: whether it is a one way or two way door, can we target different models?

Impact vs Profitability

The last panel of the day is truly eye-opening for me. With two panelists focusing on niche problem about air quality and housing prices, they successfully planted awareness on the audiences mind that these are common problems we face in Jabodetabek, Indonesia.

Piotr Jakubowski, Co-Founder of Nafas Indonesia, helped us realize that the outdoor air quality is really unhealthy. On top of it, the indoor air quality (he even showed the current air quality in the stage room) is also worse. It is interesting that we pay attention to what we eat and drink, but not on the microscale level — the air we breathe every second. Aiming to solve what is still in our control, Piotr and the team focus on how we can have a better indoor air quality and live a healthier life in the city where most likely would be polluted.

Where the impact is the underline of the business, Sabrina Soewatdy, CEO of Rukita, also shared the similar view. Tackling a big problem, Sabrina and the team stressed on the data that 81 million millenials in Indonesia does not own a home. The housing price has gone really high while people cannot afford it. That is when Rukita team discovered that Kos-kosan (co-living) in Indonesia as the local, natural answers to it. Rukita tried to balance the profitability by revenue sharing models (instead of fixed rate), adjusting pricing based on the demand per location, matchmaking the right tenant persona, and many more initiatives. Sabrina mentioned that when we are addressing what the market really needs, we actually don’t have to get them to pay for it.

End of Part 1 — My Overall Comments

Whoa, I hope this give you a lot of inspiration and motivation, especially if you are professionals and startup enthusiasts in the tech industry.

From my experiences, you got to manage your expectations when going to conferences. You won’t really get much insights on technical expertise but you can dig deeper on the founders & decision makers mind!

If I can summarize Day 1, there are 3 keywords I found these leading professionals from rising companies posesses:

1. Preserverance: How strong you believe in your ideas and vision, then you constantly prove it with actions!
2. Humility: Realizing what is our strength and what is not. Find people who care on similar issue, great at solving it, and collaborate with them!
3. Sustainability: Solve things people really need, keep up with the trends, utilize the latest tech, evolve with the industry!

Of course I actually joined more sessions, but I can only cover the highlights of this experience. If you love events like this, perhaps we can meet on upcoming opportunities! Or read my thoughts post-events I joined, HAHA!

Continue to Part 2?

Anyways, I still want to cover a lot on Day 2 of the event. See you on Part 2!

Sneakpeeks: more panels & keynotes, networks I made during the event, and of course.. the Startups Pitch Battle!

Hi everyone, I have written a few case studies in between my daily work but haven’t got a chance to publish them. I made my mind to share it with you and we can watch myself grow overtime. Constantly improving!

Disclaimer: I do not work for Segari. This is my self exploration as a loyal Segari user on features I wish they will add to maximize my online grocery shopping experience.

Background

In today’s fast-paced world, online grocery shopping has become a game-changer for those who juggle multiple responsibilities, including studying and working while preparing healthy daily meals.

Some key factors why it gives significant advantages are:
1. Time Efficiency: Eliminating trips to physical stores, delivered to their doorstep.
2. Freshness Guarantee: Ensures high-quality, fresh ingredients delivered to their doorstep.
3. Easy Meal Planning: Simplifies shopping lists and recipe access.
4. Waste Reduction: Ordering precise quantities, minimizes food waste.
5. Savings: Buy only what we need, with additional discounts and special deals

Segari is one of my go-to App for grocery shopping. As a loyal user, I have noticed areas of improvement that I can suggest to improve the overall user experience.

Overview

As users expect convenience, speed, and personalization in grocery shopping, Segari needs to cater this evolving customers expectations and increased competition from the market. There are similar pain points and hopes from Segari users that lies on Timely Order Creation (adding items to cart) and Getting Best Deals (saving more on their online shopping experience).

Problem Statement: Customers need to spend a lot of time and effort both inside and outside the Segari App in order to have an effective & cost-efficient grocery shopping checkouts.

Proposed Solution: Provide a faster in-app customer journey from shopping carts management to checkout process through easy cart summary view, personalized recipe inspiration, and auto-applied promotions.

Step 1: Understand

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is one of the goals user seek in creating a happy and sustainable family life. This achieved through a well balanced of diet, workouts, and rest in between their daily activities.

Families who cook at home has proven that they can manage what they consume better, as they have more control of the menu variation and health nutritions. However, self cooking also requires meal planning activities and grocery shopping schedules that requires user’s attention, time, and effort.

Nowadays, customer relies on online grocery shopping industry where they still can shop for grocery items they need/want and have it delivered right on their doorsteps. These online services can help on easier meal planning, guarantee ingredients freshness, free and fast shipping, and also great deals for more savings.

To understand deeper how is the user’s behavior, wants and needs, and also their pain points, I conducted in-depth interviews with 3 users who have experienced online grocery shopping.

Then I synthesized all the valuable data I have collected into an Affinity Diagram using Figjam. Through the research, I gathered more insights around:
1. The users: are they the Cook or just the Shopper?
2. Consideration and behavior when grocery shopping: Get things done, Deals, Convenience.
3. Their pain points: Unavailable items and promotions, incomplete products
4. Their hopes on how to improve their Online Grocery Shopping Experience: More complete items, more deals, cooking inspiration

How the Existing Design Looks Like

To understand more, here I mapped out the Segari’s in-app User Flow & Customer Journey to tie the overall experience. Please note that these screens are taken on September 2023, so it may has been updated by the time you read this.

Then, I put these flows and touchpoints into a Customer Journey to learn the end to end process and challenged myself to improve the ups and downs on their journey.

Problems to Opportunities

I have discovered 2 main problem areas that users encounter in the online grocery shopping experience:

1. Deciding what to Buy for a One Time Checkout: The items would be mixture of ingredients that are out of user’s possession, on attractive sale, or even haven’t crossed on users’ mind. This would take a lot of user’s attention & time if they don’t have their shopping list ready with risks of forgetful items and ingredients freshness longevity.
2. Getting the Best Deal: Segari frequently offers seasonal ingredients discounts and various payment method cashbacks. However user have to check the promotions outside the app (browser articles and social media) and apply the code manually during their checkout. Those who are not aware or forgetful are at disadvantage due to missed opportunities of getting cheaper prices and saves up.

The repetitive needs of meal planning & groceries shopping have pushed users to become more creative and demanding in the process. Giving them a boost of inspirations and automation help would be a great aid.
1. Same orders, same input speed: What if we can automate what customers need to buy based on their customs & behaviors? (i.e. Buy Eggs & Milk every 2 weeks)
2. Same menus, boring appetites: What if we can spark ideas for interesting ingredients or recipes to try for the next meal?
3. Back and forth task: What if we can let users find deals at the right time, or even auto-apply them?

Competitive Benchmarks

Benchmarks to other apps help me a lot in these process. I remember using other apps with similar feature that may answer these problems and achieve the goals.

1. GoFood Shopping Cart Behavior: Use of floating carts where user can see the Cart Quantity and Subtotal without having to move to different page yet.
2. GoFood, GrabFood, and Cookpad: Spark Ideas through recipes that are easy to find and personalized. Additional Food categorization in Segari would be a aid to filter down the search process in finding a recipe that suits their taste, cooking proficiency, or even available cooking utensils.
3. Grab Auto Apply Vouchers: Users may not need to check on the payment method promotions until they are on the checkout page. So to avoid getting back to previous page to check what are the promo codes, auto apply & easily access these vouchers TnC like Grab does.

Let’s Design!

I started sketching on my notebook to translate my ideas into some wireframes. I have also made the digital version so you can look at them clearly.

Let’s discuss them part by part.

First, I need to update the Homepage to include less scattered promotion banners, so Product Cards can show up above the fold in mobile size.

Also I would add a Cart Summary containing quantity & subtotal amount of the items in Cart. This floating cart shows up whenever user adds item to their cart. will be hidden when user is browsing (i.e. scrolling the page) to avoid distraction and maximize the viewport.

Second, I like that Segari already have the Recipe page. It has the opportunity to spark dishes ideas to the users, which leads them to buying the ingredients needed to create the dish.

For the improvements on this Recipe menu, I added more advanced Recipe Categorization, Search, Filter, and Save Recipes function. On the Recipe Details page, I also put options for watching video tutorials as it can be more engaging & easy to follow by users.

Last but not least, I also plan to improve the Voucher applying system. Previously users need view available voucher codes on the last banner on the Homepage, and apply them manually on the Cart page.

I want the users to browse and apply voucher codes easily without having to leave the Cart page. So, I decided that the system should help to automatically apply the best deals (saves the most) that the users are eligible for.

Introducing the Updated Interface of Segari!

Started with creating the atoms, I picked the Primary & Secondary colors based on Segari’s Brand Color. I also plan to make the icons style more consistent in the app, so I modified from my own set of icons.

Before vs. After the Redesign

Let’s cut the chase and see what are improved!

If you would love to see the prototype in Figma, you can also visit these links:

1. New Homepage Preview
2. New Recipe Flow Preview
3. New Voucher Code Application Preview

Iterations?

Well, as this project is only my exploration and not developed for real in Segari, I haven’t been able to go that far. However I have prepared some plans to track the metrics and what we can improve later on.

To rate how successful these feature would impact to the user journey, we can measure from:
1. Number of Cart Visits until user initiates checkout in 1 session.
2. Time Spent from discovery until checkout.
3. Time Spent on Recipe pages.
4. Number of Recipe Views and Saved.
5. Recipe Ingredients added to Cart Conversion Rate.
6. Voucher Codes Application Rate.

For next iteration, there are still a lot of room for improvements that can be done to further maximize the user experience. Saving these ideas for another day.
1. Maximize the Buy Again feature for repeat customers on Cart
2. Calendars and meal planning schedules in-app
3. Group selection (i.e. ignore Rice and Spices on Recipe Checkouts)

Thanks for reading!

This case study is intended for me to practice my design thinking and Product Design skills. I hope you enjoy reading this and find the proposed solution can answers evolving users need for convenience, speed, and personalization when doing online grocery shopping in Segari.

What do you think of the design? If stories like this are helpful for you, please let me know by leaving feedback on the comments. I also plan to post regularly so follow me for more updates!

At the time this post is published, I am open for Full Time Job or Freelance projects in Product Design!

With 5+ of experience in Product Design, I’ve had the privilege of working for leading companies in the education tech, e-commerce, SaaS, and financial sectors. I am also actively sharing my knowledge as Product Design Mentor.

If you know of any opportunities that align with my background and interests, I’d greatly appreciate your support and connections. Feel free to message me for further discussion. Your help in spreading the word would be invaluable.

Hi, everyone! It is another UI Challenge from my community, DesigNerd. This time, we are designing for a laundry service. Read through for more details!

Product Background & Design Challenge

When I first moved into the town for college, my cousins and I relied a lot on laundry service. We didn’t have a washing machine yet, so we piled up our day-to-day clothes and went to the laundry on a weekly basis. Can you imagine the smell and dirt that stayed in the clothes waiting for the washing schedule?

I also know some people around me who experience the same. Aside from college and work, we just don’t have enough time to wash on our own or keep up with the laundry store closing time. There are also cases where you brought up too many dirty clothes so they exceed the washing quota (usually per 1 kg). Then you would need to bring back the extra and mix them with the next batch.

Customer Goals & Pain Points

As to my story elaboration in the above section, here are the goals and expectation from a laundry customer:

• Have clean clothes for work every day
• Have extra time & energy to do other things than laundry
• Can get time estimation when the laundry is ready for pickup/delivery
• Easy payment and regular scheduling
• Personalization, i.e. perfume/scent

And these are the compilation of their pain points and concerns:

• Doesn’t own a washing machine
• Not having time to do laundry on their own
• Cannot calculate whether the laundry weight reach maximum washing quota, need to bring home leftover dirty clothes
• Missing or switched clothes with other customers
• Damaged clothes due to laundry service lack of professionality or special care
• Pickup and delivery cost & schedule

Behind the Design

With some observation from the offline laundry store experience, I decided that having the Pickup and Delivery Service at the customer's doorstep is the key to simpler laundry life. Of course, the customer should be able to mix several services together in a single order.

Here is where the Digital Laundry Basket comes to play. The app will help to calculate how much your laundry weight (base on your item quantity) so you can plan accordingly. Having yourself identify each item and leave special notes also reduces the chance of getting your clothes missing or switched with other customers.

Once your laundry is picked up, what’s next? The Order Details will help customer to check their laundry status, whether it is still being washed or ready to be delivered. If you happen to finish your work/study early and can drop by to the store, just hit the Contact Store button to tell them.

Who says laundry cannot be fun?

With splash of vibrant & quirky colors, I want this design to hit the Urban Millenials market. The icons and illustrations are still modified from free sources like FreePik and Leni Kauffman (on Blush), so shoutout to them as well.

Thanks for reading!

Though this design is intended only for a quick hand & mind practice, I can imagine there would be a useful feature for selling Packages/Membership where customers can make regular orders with faster checkout and better discounts. For example, they can pay in advance a 30kg Wash & Iron service and just reduce their weight quota on every order.

What do you think of the design? If stories like this are helpful for you, please let me know by leaving feedback on the comments. The UrbanLaundry designs are posted on my other platforms too:

Instagram Carousel: instagram.com/p/CMZpgk0nxoL/

Dribbble: dribbble.com/jenniferhandali

One night, my friend Alver invited me to a WhatsApp group called DesigNerd filled with UI/UX enthusiasts. We are practicing some weekly design challenges, which started last week with the theme: Wedding App or Website.

Challenging myself more, I wanted this opportunity to craft better design by going through my usual workflow — research, get inspired, and start designing!

First, Putting in Context

Fortunately, I am in that quarter-life age — 25 this year, where marriage often crosses my mind. There is a saying that described ‘wedding’ is not the end goal of a relationship, whereas it is the start of a new adventure in life together with your spouse.

As if the pressure is not enough on making sure he or she is the right one, planning the wedding itself can be much of work. Starting with conversations to match our budget, how private the reception will be, who to invite, what style to choose, etc. It is no doubt that all the details can make one get stress and headache.

So in contrast, I tried to collect all the pain points and wishes from these true stories and make them the goal of the design challenge.

Next, Getting some Inspiration

Of course, wedding-themed apps and websites are not new. So I placed myself as one of those couples who is going to marry and I looked up things we should prepare. I googled, visited local sites like BrideStory and international ones, peeked at my Pinterest & Instagram saved posts, and many more.

Then I realized that there are so many things to do in different places, whereas I need them to be in one place for easiness. For me, these items will be the main focus of my Dream Wedding App:

1. To-do lists: Maybe I don’t know what to do next, which one first, have I done this or that... So this page will cover it up for thoughtful & organized people alike.
2. Budget: We can dream of anything, but we must stay realistically within the budget. This page will be helpful to track down what I have or have not paid, how much I have left in the budget, can I get an estimation of how much a wedding cake would cost, etc.
3. Vendors: Either you already know what you want or not, it would be much simpler to get inspired, save, and hire the vendors directly when you want them.

With those in mind, I feel more prepared to create wireframes and adjust the layout of my dream wedding app — DreamWed.

Finally, the Design Reveal

With Salmon Pink #FF9896 as the brand primary color, I intended this Wedding Planner app to catch our dear bride-to-be's eyes. I want the app to feel serious and trusted when giving out detailed To-Do lists, but at the same time feel playful and dreamy when giving out inspiration and recommendation.

So with the combination of Enriqueta and Jura fonts, elegant thin line borders, rounded card corners, and many more details.. here I present you the design of DreamWed.

Thanks for reading!

Since this is my first timed design challenge, I agree that there will be some areas I’m lacking. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave it in the comments section. I would appreciate it very much!

Disclaimer: this is not a real built app. For the sake of personal learning purposes, I used and modified assets from some free source. Shoutout to DinosoftLabs, Nikita Golubev, Freepik, Pexels, and Freepik Storyset!

The DreamWed designs are posted on my other platforms too. If you love seeing this, please take a moment to peek at my:

Instagram Post: instagram.com/p/CLj1Wvjn6o_/

Dribbble: dribbble.com/jenniferhandali