Designing for Trust in BFSI and Healthcare
Trust is often treated as a communication problem – something to be solved with better messaging, sleek branding or AI chatbots. But in BFSI and Healthcare, that approach doesn’t hold. Trust isn’t claimed; it’s experienced. In these sectors, interactions aren’t casual. A claim, a diagnosis, or a payment carries heavy emotional weight. Users aren’t “exploring options” – they are trying to be certain. THE EROSION CYCLE Most systems are designed to complete a process, not to reduce doubt. When flows prioritize data capture over clarity, we trigger a dangerous chain reaction: Gaps in understanding → Users filling gaps themselves → Guessing → Trust eroding. Think about a typical insurance journey. Technically, nothing is broken. The forms work. The “Submit” button triggers a response. Yet, the user feels uneasy because: The coverage is purchased, but not understood. The claim is initiated, but the path ahead is a black box. Documents are uploaded, but adequacy remains a question mark. The system works, but the experience fails to reassure. THE ANATOMY OF ASSURANCE In high-stakes environments, users aren’t looking for “delight” – they are looking for assurance. Real trust is built on three pillars:1. Clarity: What is happening right now?2. Control: What can I actually do about it?3. Predictability: What exactly happens next? We often see organizations try to “signal” trust through badges and copy. But a clear claims timeline builds more trust than a “We Care” banner. A guided medical report builds more trust than a beautiful UI. Our role as designers isn’t to remove the complexity required by compliance, but to translate it into something actionable. In BFSI and healthcare, users are not looking for delight. They are looking for assurance. In insurance, they buy the hope of support when things go wrong.In healthcare, they trust the system to help them recover.Design cannot change the policy or the diagnosis. But it shapes how both are understood. THE BOTTOM LINE Trust is tested most when things go wrong-a delayed claim or an unexpected medical outcome. These are the moments where transparency and clear reasoning can actually strengthen a relationship rather than shatter it. Trust isn’t a layer you add at the end of a project. It is built (or lost) in the quiet, functional moments of a journey. How is your team designing for certainty in high-stress user journeys? This post has been taken from the Linkedin post by Nazim Iqbal.
Rise of the Human-Centered Design
Over the last few years, we have made huge progress in adoption of design by businesses, brands, and in the civic space. But even now when I head into meeting with key stakeholders in evolved corporate organisations or government departments looking to bring ease of use to their technology stacks, I encounter prejudices and hand-me-down assumptions. One of which is the random use and ambidextrous clubbing of UX & UI. Whether it is UX & UI or UI & UX, the pairing has caught everybody’s imagination who is looking walk the digital path. So, whether it is the CTO, CPO or CDO looking to bring an ounce of user friendliness to their products or wanting to improve accessibility of their technology stack for humans – they somehow evolve a notion that all of it is a UX & UI ride. UI is a small sub-set of the UX. UX is the experience layer of the product which combines, in varying degrees, copy writing, interaction design, visual design, iconography, motion design, and in many cases, voice and audio design. The world of experience is much wider and deeper both at the organisation, product or service level. It requires not just digital and design acumen, but a collective human perspective of emotions, ethics, human behaviour and a large dose of measured maturity. Such holistic thinking and approach build design experiences that are inclusive and accommodate diversity of human inanities, fallacies, and cultural dichotomy. We are now at an inflection in the digital evolution, and for design to be really impactful, it has to step out from the realm of designers and get into the hands of developers, engineers, project managers, marketers, technologists, civil administrators, government service providers and possibly also the users of the product or services. Which brings up the question: what would designer do, if everybody is a designer. Designers need to step up and be mentors, coaches, assimilators and the tribe that can help connect the dots. It is collectively that we can build experiences that carry diversity of perspective, yet are inclusive in their embrace and need fulfilment. We at HUDE Studio call it Human Experience (HX).
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Watch Nazim Iqbal in conversation with host Ashutosh Garg of A Brand Called You. Nazim shares his journey as entrepreneur and designer, his motivations, and his evolution into a ‘humanist-designer’. And of course, the birth of HUDE Studio. He talks at length about his passionate quest for human-centred design and how Digital today is not just expected to fulfil the consumer’s functional needs but also some emotional and social needs and desires; how brands can improve their omni-channel experience in a digital-first business environment. Get to know us better: read at length about HUDE Studio and our philosophy. Do watch and be sure to share with your friends! Drop us a comment or get in touch. We love conversations!
How can a designer respond to climate change
In the Indian subcontinent, it is monsoon time, and a time of the year when all conversations revolve around rainfall. Too much! Too little! Too late! Rising water level of this or that river! What’s more heat waves, no longer a regional phenomenon, are lashing large swathes of Europe, Africa and Asia. It is a time when climate change is experienced not as an abstract idea or a topic for an animated debate, but as a grim everyday reality that refuses to adhere to any solutions or patterns or predictions. And then arises the inevitable thought: how can a designer – product designer or web or UI/UX designer or any other kind of designer – become part of the solution for climate change? What can a designer do to influence or impact climate change, even if in a small way? Climate change – that juggernaut with all its uncertainty, its irreversibility. Here are some fairly simple ways in which a designer can make a difference. Think holistically, think big. When working on a project or system, ask the larger questions about the entire system: who will use it and how, what is being reused and renewed (as against creating from scratch), who all will not be able to use it, and its expected outcomes. Remember to ask the bold questions that people may not be readily willing to discuss – due to budget or time constraints, or lack of awareness, or just plain lazy to think wide and deep. Having the larger picture will inform your design in more relevant ways. Graphics and visuals, user journeys, navigation labels, simple elements in a design can actually create awareness and sensitivity towards climate change or sustainability or environment (as appropriate in the given context). Having it as a core concern will, in any case, enable you to think of and design visuals that ‘speak’ climate-change awareness, and in turn, influence users and stakeholders. Have ethics for your work and collaborators. As a smart designer you remain aware of the bottom line and the need to balance ‘good’ and ‘worthwhile’ projects that inspire and give you a sense of a larger purpose along with ‘mundane’ corporate work that keeps your boat afloat. Global studio leaders, however, underline the importance of getting picky today, with clients as well as collaborators within the fraternity. Given the urgency of response required by the climate emergency we collectively face, this seems like a sensible, life-affirming way to go. Then there are designers who believe that their creativity should be employed in ways that serves society rather than to come up with ‘cool’ things that end up ‘persuading customers’ and driving consumption. For instance, a global design agency used its authority to promote an environmental group, through creating its Christmas campaign ‘Ungifted’, that used powerful visuals to discourage mass consumption. We could think of it as a moral arc that every designer (actually, every human) designs for themselves, and then tries to remain as true to it as they can, while juggling life’s multifarious challenges. Keep learning and pass it forward. Take responsibility. Climate change is a juggernaut, yes! It is also complex and has various interconnections, nuances related to geography, economics, seasons and species. Everything’s linked, and everything’s changing – very quickly We need to learn, keep learning, and at the same time, help clients and teams unpack its layers. Keep reading, keep up with the research, get connected with groups that resonate with you, and be aware that there is as much propaganda on this topic as there are authentic resources. Taking responsibility is a big step. In small ways – those invisible actions nobody will see and judge. Recycling tins, minimizing use of plastic and packing material, planting a tree. Starting small is a big point of departure from our present ‘hyper life style’. The monsoons will give way to sunny days in a couple of weeks in India. And while that might keep our water worries at bay, climate change will not fade away as a universal fact of our current existence. A wholesale redesign of our world might be the way forward, one design practice or visual at a time. And if you have reached here, then do take a couple of minutes to also read this post. Photo by Akil Mazumder: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-a-green-plant-1072824/
At the Pitchfest Finals, 28 June 2022
When CX Network put out their announcement for the CX Live Start-up Pitchfest, we responded with open-minded curiosity and enthusiasm. It felt exciting to be part of the larger community of CX and related organizations and professionals. It ended with participation in the final, as one of the six shortlisted finalists. Not only was it an invigorating challenge, but also an educative and wonderful experience. An eclectic mix of people, product and services – all bonded by the common quest to improve customer experience for organisation and brands. Presenting the HUDE Studio proposition of ‘putting a human face to the digital presence of organisation and brand’ was a solution narrative that rhymed with products trying to reach out to CX professionals. In the end, the event was a great opportunity to have connected with global professionals in the larger CX fraternity. Nazim Iqbal, founder and director, elaborated on the HUDE philosophy of integrating human connectivity into digital channels. Customer experience, forever evolving, and growing more subtle and embedding deeper within products, now calls for deeper collaborations amongst specialists, thinkers, analysts and creative dreamers. Such initiatives seem like excellent places to hang out with one’s own tribe, and get acquainted with others.
Why ethical design is a business imperative
As design gains a greater role on the business stage, as brighter spotlight is shone on it, design as a practice is fast growing into a mature and responsible adult. Not only is the design industry aware of its great significance, it is also taking responsibility for aspects that are more fundamental and intrinsic to products, both digital and physical. Ethical design is, therefore, no more an afterthought starting with diversity in people imagery and ending with testing accessibility for the differently abled. It is now more nuanced and flows deeper within the muscle of the product. Indeed, ethical design strengthens a product (or service) and it is a business imperative. Today more than ever before. Some key aspects of ‘Ethical Design’ that should be taken into consideration by every UX practitioner. Design for inclusiveness All genders, demographics, races and ethnicities; minimization of unconscious biases and unintended exclusions.A range of nationalities and regional identities, urban and rural.For voice-enabled products, relevant accents and manner of speech including colloquialisms, abbreviations and typical phraseologies.No stereotypes and what is typically understood as ‘expected’ behavior of user segments (e.g., LGBTQ, older women, indigenous populations, and others). A product in the digital is available to all, and is accessed by people with varying abilities, interests and cultures. The more inclusive a product, the wider spread its usage, across users and geographies. Does this not make perfect business sense? More importantly, it aids in building a better society and world. Think sustainable design It’s widely accepted that 80 percent of the ecological impacts of a product are focused (and handled) in the design phase of a product. Decisions taken during the design phase are crucial to the entire life cycle with regard to the product’s relationship and effects on people, planet and business profits. Research and white-boarding, gathering insights, prototyping, user feedback and finally production of a digital or physical product should factor this in. Factors that influence – prominently – and need insightful exploration are: impact on environment (negative and otherwise), on society (values, social norms and specific demographic targeting) and business value (in the immediate time frame and in the long term). Context of design ‘Who is the target user’ – this line of design thinking is old-hat. Look for the deeper unseen connections with users’ lives and their decisions. Think of the long-term impact of your design and its intersection with social and environmental factors. Consider the mental map and the psychological conditioning of potential users. Post pandemic, these below-the-surface systemic aspects have greatly magnified in their bearing upon products and services design. We were once designing a solution for nutrition among rural mothers and infants. Among the many things to be taken into consideration were also the most personalized details like: language dialects in a region, a mother’s usual daily routine, average distance to the closest health center, divorced and abandoned mothers, extreme weather topographies (snow or extreme cold and extreme heat) and so on.The design model overlaid on the social model – and that is the only way the solution can have real meaning for the end user. Ethics in design enlivens the promise of being well-integrated (and sustainable) in its physical world replete with its social realities, imperfections, even quirks. Based on the powerful concept of product stewardship, it helps to ‘regulate’ the field of design in much the same way as medicine or law is regulated to provide lasting value and meaning to people and societies. Whereas earlier generations of designers often considered ethics to be outside their pale, not any more. In fact, this is the key to making design more accountable, and respond in a wholesome way to present-day human and business demands. Photo by Anderson Guerra: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-portrait-wall-art-1154198/
Get started with ethical design
Featured image by Lisett Kruusimäe from Pexels Published on 6 May 2022.
Why brand storytelling is good for business
Every time I go to my hometown, a small dusty place in Uttar Pradesh, I always visit a particular watch shop to buy a new wristwatch. It’s not a one-dimensional buy-and-sell transaction. Each time I go there, I experience a special warmth, renew an old bond, and come away with a unique piece, immensely satisfied, even happy. My passion for collecting watches apart, there’s a reason I take the trouble of visiting this modest showroom, as opposed to buying well-known brands from opulent showrooms or from an online marketplace: my connection with the business. The owner is an old friend and I know his story from the earliest days. Making a purchase from his shop adds yet another bead to our shared story. It’s a deeper connection that defies argument and reasoning. When a customer buys something from a brand, not only are they fulfilling their immediate need, they are, at a deeper level, connecting with the brand and saying, “Yes, I identify with you and what you stand for.” It’s not just about a superficial feeling – it’s a close identification with the business, its ethos and values, its principles of engagement with the world, its commitment to issues that are close to the customer’s heart. Storytelling to highlight the human aspect Businesses need their stories to differentiate them in a forest of same faces. Facts are impressive: jaw-dropping profits and revenues and all the ‘new business in the last year’ coupled with the imposing range of products and outlets in the country or world. Facts tell the growth story of a business with absolute certainty. Excellent! But then, the brand’s real achievement shines through that one story of how a disadvantaged person was supported and put on the road to happiness, or how an initiative by the business brought a smile to a widow’s face, or gave a family a new home. These are the human stories that actually move the customer and help to forge an emotional link. The customer now sees the business as a complete entity, that works not only for its shareholders but also for people and society. It is how the customer puts a face to the business they can connect with in a meaningful way. After all, our brains are wired to respond to stories – a story always sticks in our memory, long after those shiny figures and facts have faded away. Being human and profitable are not mutually exclusive In our age of ‘positive-deficit’, in a time when people all over the world are surrounded by bad news in different shades, building a ‘tribe’ around your brand makes total sense, right?! After all is said and done, becoming a part of and changing people’s lives is no small goal to aspire to. Increasingly, as customers demand that businesses support real people and causes, they also desire to know the impact of such corporate-level engagements. When customers know that a business is greater than its revenues and profits, it’s a powerful incentive for deeper engagement, recommendation to their friends, and thus, the circle expands. We must also not forget that trust in a business is greatly cemented with the help of real customer stories and especially in sectors that engage with human emotions or require the human touch like hospitality, healthcare financial service and insurance companies. When organisations use brand storytelling, they are cementing customer trust for the long term Employees need more than salaries In this age of the Great Reset, when employees are seeking greater motivations than salaries and perks, brand storytelling could actually help give employees the pride of association with their organization. It gives meaning to their daily jobs, and the sense of being part of a greater purpose. As the pandemic wanes and people return to their jobs, they now desire more than a job – and this is where the brand story is reassuring evidence of the larger purpose and impact of the business. As more and more businesses reinvent their digital selves in the glittering age of Web3 and metaverse, a human soul, and a real human voice comes to gain more significance than ever before. Published on 22 April 2022. Body image by Kanchanara on Unsplash Featured image by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash
Human Design and more: Interview of HUDE founder with Great Companies
Nazim Iqbal, Founder of HUDE Studio, and a thought leader in the realm of Human Design, was recently interviewed by the publication, Great Companies. Following is an excerpt… Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Nazim Iqbal : During my journey of 20 years in the digital industry – I have seen the digital evolve from the days digital footprint used to be just a bundle of scrambled HTML pages to a time when digital now powers every process of the organisation functioning and every touch point of its customers. Along the journey I have, for long, felt a silent human disconnect that has crept in with increasing digitisation of processes and business functions. Increasing automation has ensured standardisation, availability of data points, and an improved revenue for businesses. But for the users and for the organizations as well increasing automation has meant less and less human interaction. For most organisations, digitisation and digital transformation has meant more and more adoption of technology. But for technology to be successful, design is central to make it usable and to add an experience layer to it. Without these two, technology with increasing digitisation will continue to deliver greater cognitive load to the users. I call it the “Digital Debt” and the organisations will be forced to pay it back sometime in near future. Digital till now has ridden on the technology crest without putting mindscape to the ‘digital debt’ that it is creating by delivering technology that demands more and more from users to remain relevant. But if you look at it, digital is no longer limited to the fulfilment of functional needs of users. The users subconsciously expect, during their interaction that apart from fulfilment of their functional needs, the digital interface and interaction should respond to their emotional needs as well. This is a latent need, but as digitisation increases further, the emotional needs will evolve to become a key set of needs that digital will be asked to fulfil. I am increasingly noticing this among the users and citizens who constantly interact with digital. More so with the generation z, for whom digital services are an integral part of their lives. The good development is that some of the meta brands and organisations have started to realise this. And they have started to give design a key chair in their digitalisation roadmap and digital transformation journey. We are already witnessing the big shift from semantic text and visuals to more emotionally rich content like voice and catch-my-mood videos in user generated content. In fact, across the age categories use of voice command is rising and in some age categories it now owns upto 51% of the share Second most important thing I have noticed, especially in digital communication & social space, is mis-contextualising. Not understanding the users, business objectives and framing the communication approach with vague understanding of users categories and behaviour. Or on the other end becoming too obsessed with data science. Data without emotions consideration will continue to build functional relationships. All this has meant that users vis-a-vis brands continue to have mis-matched expectations between what they expect and what they get from the digital presence and their outreach programs. From the digital service providers perspective, this is a matter of ethics and it is binding on them to invest in understanding the ever-evolving digital landscape, the expectation of the organisation, aligning with their goals, the emotional landscape of the users before setting expectations. Bundled with this is the rising awareness and concern about mis-information, fake news, misuse of personal data and sustainability – so you now have a very different dimension of digital which is emerging. From being the poster boy in the organisations’ growth and strategy – it now pulls in corporate governance, business ethics and even CSR with circular economy coming into play. HUDE Studio (HUDE is an acronym of Human Design) was conceptualised against this background – to be a design studio that will use design to make technology usable, services more user-friendly and humanise the digital presence of organisations and brands. In short, prepare organisations for the future. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by HUDE Studio? Nazim Iqbal : HUDE Studio is a pure play experience design studio and we offer design and experience technology services that respond to the brand and human experience needs across the digital ecosystem. The team carries an experience of building digital platforms starting from a single line brief to doing ground work that involves carrying out field research, developing new digital playbooks, and conducting fusion workshops with business stakeholders. Our services range across from UX audit, conversation design for bots, product design, mobile applications, web presence, digital branding, communication design, UX-led SEO and interaction design for digital IOT interfaces. Importantly beyond the digital presence and digital transformation is the ongoing narrative which will continue to be owned and driven by content. For us, content design is a big engagement space and we are excited about the emerging opportunities. Businesses are realising that tons of semantic content is not taking them anywhere as far as active user engagement over the life cycle of the product or service is concerned. It is here that the emotionally rich content has filled in – but designing emotionally rich content requires an evolved design acumen. But above all these, we offer to bring a human touch to the digital transformation journey that an organisation or brand is undertaking. We are human design specialists and we ensure digital continues to retain human relevance contextual to the organisation and transformation. Read the complete interview. Published on 8 April 2022.
Why financial & banking sectors need human touch more than others: Part 2
In Part 1 of this article series which you can read here, I mentioned how an organisation or brand makes the customer feel is central to their long-term relationship. In that sense, each interaction should be seen and designed as a conversation. Financial institutions should invest to ensure that digital touch points are designed as conversations – real and human. Which means banking digital transformation needs not just technology, but a design which can infuse human feeling in clicks and bring conversational warmth to every interaction. Designing the organisational voice and role of the AI In the branch and people led banking, every bank had a voice and a unique human touch. This enabled a customer to distinguish, and bond with the bank. In the same way, central to humanising digital interactions is a ‘voice’, both in the literal and figurative sense. A voice that customers can relate with, and one that can be used to weave conversations across digital interfaces, social messages, automated teller machines and live agents. This goes a long way to establish the feeling that there is a real human behind every interface and social message. To the customer, it communicates warmth, builds trust and makes the institution approachable. Soon Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a key role in bridging this gap between the digital and human, and can be trusted to bring human tonality to each organisation’s digital ‘voice’. In that sense, chat bots will need to be much more than new-age emails. Chatbot conversations should be designed to respond to human fallacy and feelings. Today most chat bots are deployed as functional forms and do not really provision for human conversation. The focus needs to now evolve and expand to include emotions, feelings and building conversation layers that engage in some depth. Chat bots, as the name itself indicates, are less about drag and drop features and more about designing human engagements and responding to human curiosity and interests. The way communication unfolds shapes the understanding and confidence of people, while also influencing their feelings and future actions. Putting people at the centre and humanism in the system In a country like India, a good number of customers are still uncomfortable with the process of opening a new account with a chat bot or online form. A voice-led journey, video-based chat or the ability to call an agent from live chat brings a personal reassurance. These are not elements to be plugged in and plugged out. On the other hand, these should be bricks with which financial organisations fundamentally design their content and user engagements. Or like in the branch-led banking relationship, a broad conversation base approach should be adopted. This can be enabled by AI and should be leveraged to map the customer’s current financial state, future financial plans and desires. This will enable banks and financial organisations to design personalized financial solutions that align with customers’ life-goals and aspirations. The future demands that business-as-usual cannot continue, and organisations have to look beyond just serving customers and maximizing profit. To build a sustainable business, organisations need to scope for giving back to people and society. For a start, designing transactions as humanized interactions and additionally, provisioning for conversations, privacy, safety, integrity and occasional emotional ennui is a way to give back to society. This will earn businesses trust, spread the feel-good with word-of-month and also inspire pride in their employees. Financial institutions that are looking to bloom in future, should evolve from designing financial products to offering solutions that fit customer life goals. As the pandemic rages on, customers are increasingly becoming demanding and getting primed for remote and AI-enabled experiences – reassurance of human warmth, trust and a warm human voice. Also read Part 1 of this article. Published on 30 March 2022.
