Redesigning Payroll for Scale

Info

  • Fintech • Accounting • Product Design

End-to-end product design process of an online payroll experience.

Evolving complex payroll regulations into an intuitive experience.

Payroll overview: earnings, deductions, net pay, and receiptsOpen full size
Payroll overview: earnings, deductions, net pay, and receipts

Problem

Brazilian payroll was drowning teams in compliance friction.

Payroll processes in Brazil are notoriously complex, with layers of compliance, taxation, and operational friction. Conta Azul sought to offer a modern, simplified solution for small businesses, but needed to design an intuitive flow that met both legal requirements and user expectations.

Principles

Making payroll simple, reliable, and compliant.

The work had to honor legal and operational requirements without making accountants and SMB owners carry the complexity. Clarity, guidance, and risk prevention sat ahead of feature volume.

Process

Four phases. Each closes a step from discovery to launch.

Research & Discovery

Led research with accountants and small business owners to uncover pain points in Brazil’s payroll processes, surfacing critical usability and compliance challenges.

Strategy & Framing

Translated legal and operational requirements into clear user journeys, enabling the product team to prioritize automation, guidance, and risk prevention.

Prototyping & Iteration

Crafted interactive prototypes to evaluate usability with real users, continuously improving content, flows, and interface through short feedback loops.

Outcome & Impact

Launched an intuitive, compliant payroll solution that simplified workflows, boosted confidence, and improved user satisfaction across the platform.

Designs

Flows and journey maps

Full case study

Longer write-up lives on Medium.

Read the full payroll case study on Medium