DECISION 01
Break the task into smaller decisions
- Why it mattered
- Long forms make scope and effort difficult to judge.
- Design response
- Group related information and show progress across meaningful stages.
ALL WORK
LVL 02 — INCOME TAX
Making a high-stakes government task feel manageable.
Reducing cognitive load in a complex filing workflow through clearer language, progressive disclosure and error prevention.
- ROLE
- UX / Product Design
- TIMELINE
- Historical project · timeline not listed
- PLATFORM
- Mobile
- TEAM
- Cross-functional team · details not listed
- DOMAIN
- Government
01 / CONTEXT
The problem
Tax filing involves unfamiliar terminology, financial information and multiple decisions. Users have little tolerance for ambiguity or mistakes.
02 / TENSION
The challenge
Reduce cognitive load and uncertainty without hiding important information or weakening the seriousness of the task.
The goal wasn't to make taxes fun. That would be ambitious. The goal was to make them feel doable.
03 / PROCESS
The approach
DESIGN FOCUS — THE WORKFLOW BELOW SHOWS THE INTENDED PATH THROUGH THE PRODUCT.
- 01Start filing
- 02Enter information
- 03Review
- 04Submit
- Progressive disclosure
- Plain language
- Error prevention
- Progress visibility
- Smaller decisions
04 / RATIONALE
Key decisions
DECISION 02
Translate before adding detail
- Why it mattered
- Tax language is precise but often unfamiliar.
- Design response
- Use plain-language prompts while retaining access to the formal terminology.
DECISION 03
Prevent errors early
- Why it mattered
- Late-stage corrections are stressful in high-stakes flows.
- Design response
- Place validation and guidance close to the field and moment of action.
05 / EXPERIENCE
The experience
KEY CONSIDERATION — VISUALS ARE CONCEPTUAL PLACEHOLDERS, NOT ORIGINAL PROJECT SCREENS.
06 / OUTCOME
Opportunity
OUTCOME DATA WAS NOT PROVIDED FOR THIS PROJECT.
This case study documents the design focus and intended experience without making claims about measured results, stakeholder feedback or usability findings.
07 / REFLECTION
What I would revisit today
Validate the experience across different levels of financial and digital literacy and further test terminology, eligibility and form-completion friction.