User Experience - Toss

tossApr 9, 20263 min readCurated summary

It Almost Ended Up Ugly - The Making of Toss Front 2

Toss redesigned its Front 2 payment terminal by addressing real-world usability problems rather than settling for technically workable solutions. The redesign moved NFC to the front, made the card reader field-replaceable, and reworked the internal structure to simplify removal. The result was a smaller, cleaner device that improved both customer experience and repairability. ## Moving NFC to the Front - The first-generation terminal placed NFC on the right side because other components interfered with the signal. - This was inconvenient in narrow retail spaces, where users had little room to tap cards or phones. - Several alternatives were tested: - Moving the card reader upward made card insertion awkward and strained users’ wrists. - Enlarging the top made the vertically oriented terminal look excessively long and displaced the camera, complicating barcode and face-payment use. - Placing NFC around the camera caused interference, producing camera shake and reducing recognition accuracy. - The team reframed the problem by asking whether the display’s metal backing could be replaced. - A customized plastic backing allowed NFC signals to pass through while reinforced glass preserved the display’s rigidity. - Despite higher manufacturing complexity and cost, the design was successfully mass-produced, enabling reliable front-facing NFC without sacrificing appearance. ## Designing a Replaceable Card Reader - The first-generation card reader was integrated into the main body, so failures required repairing or replacing the entire terminal. - Repairs took more than a week on average, forcing stores to use backup devices and distributors to maintain extra inventory. - Front 2 introduced a docked, replaceable card reader designed for easy on-site replacement. - A USB-C connector was selected because users already understand how to connect and disconnect it. - The connector provided stable attachment without exposing additional brackets or mechanisms, preserving the product’s clean appearance. ## Making Removal Simple - Once the reader used USB-C, the team needed a way to remove it without adding buttons, levers, or protruding parts. - The simplest approach was to insert the reader from the front and push it out from behind, but existing power and network connections blocked the necessary space. - Instead of adding another mechanism, the team redesigned the internal layout from scratch. - The circuit board and connectors were tilted toward the top of the device, requiring redesigned and inverted cable components. - This created enough room to remove the reader without tools. - The revised layout also made the cables easier to see and connect. ## Results of Front 2 - Front-facing NFC made payments more natural on crowded counters. - The USB-C dock reduced the difficulty of replacing a failed card reader. - The terminal became smaller while retaining its visual simplicity and design quality. - Front 2 surpassed the first generation’s sales immediately after launch, while previous customer complaints shifted toward positive feedback. ## Building Quality Through Persistent Questions - The article argues that product quality comes from repeatedly challenging an acceptable technical solution. - The team focused on finding answers that were right for users and the overall product experience, not merely answers that functioned. - For similar design problems, the recommended questions are: - Can everyone use the design easily, including in edge cases? - What is the fundamental problem? - Is the current solution truly the best one? - If not, can the problem and solution direction be redefined? The practical lesson is to keep revisiting the problem until the solution is not only feasible, but genuinely appropriate for users.

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User Experience Prototyping Product Design Nfc+4

tossApr 7, 20263 min readCurated summary

Layers of your time : Celebrating the time spent with Toss

The article argues that effective internal branding is not about making attractive company merchandise, but about designing meaningful experiences around employees’ time and contributions. Through an eight-month redesign of Toss’s work-anniversary gift, the designer created a layered light that visually represents accumulated years, protected quality despite production delays, and carefully designed the delivery experience. The project concludes that strong internal branding requires a clear reason, end-to-end experience design, and unwavering standards. ## From Merchandise to a Celebration of Time - Toss celebrates employees’ work anniversaries with annual gifts such as medals, wine, and cubes. - Over time, some employees began giving the gifts away, suggesting they had become clutter rather than meaningful keepsakes. - The redesign aimed to: - Sincerely celebrate each employee’s time at the company. - Show appreciation for the six-month gap while the gift was being redesigned. ## Three Criteria for the New Gift The new product had to: - Avoid being immediately stored away in a drawer. - Physically show the accumulation of time. - Remain beautiful whether celebrating one year or ten years. A layered lamp was chosen because employees could add one disk for each anniversary. As the disks accumulated, the layers of light became deeper, making the passage of time visible through the object’s structure. ## Hardware Development and Quality Control - The designer had no previous hardware or lighting-production experience. - The team repeatedly tested: - Disk thickness, including differences as small as 0.5 mm. - The spacing between the lamp body and disks. - Light intensity as more disks were added. - The product was divided into two versions: - White for years 1–10. - Black from year 11 onward, symbolizing the beginning of a new period. - Dozens of defects appeared during final factory inspection. - Rather than compromise quality to meet the schedule, distribution was delayed. - Approximately 5,000 lamps were individually inspected and improved. ## Giving the Product a Warm Voice - The lamp was named **Layered Lighting**. - The phrase **“Layers of your time at toss”** was engraved on the lamp and packaging. - The communication emphasized remembrance and celebration rather than corporate motivation. - Serif typography, carefully matched packaging, and handwritten name cards created a warmer, more personal experience. ## Designing the Moment of Delivery - Instead of asking employees to pick up their gifts, the team placed them directly at employees’ desks. - The redesigned process gave employees the correct number of disks for their accumulated tenure. - The intended experience was: - Discovering the gift on a Monday morning. - Opening the box and reacting with surprise. - Taking photos and sharing the moment with colleagues. - Over one weekend, the team placed gifts at 2,500 desks among approximately 3,900 employees. - The operation took 26 hours. - Employee photos and reactions spread across Slack and Instagram, including one memorable comment: “I now have a reason to stay another year.” ## Principles of Good Internal Branding - **Start with the reason:** Every object or graphic should clearly communicate why it exists. - **Design the experience, not just the object:** The interaction begins before the product is opened and includes how it is received and shared. - **Protect the standard until the end:** Internal projects are easy to compromise because their results may not be immediately visible, making a clear standard essential. Good internal branding helps employees feel that they belong to a good team. That sense of belonging can strengthen engagement and ultimately improve the quality of the work they create.

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User Experience Prototyping Product Development Design+3

tossMar 6, 20263 min readCurated summary

Foreign User Research: Why

Toss investigated why many foreign users struggle to use Korea’s financial services, even after signing up. Research showed that confusing identity verification, name formatting, and address entry often prevented users from completing registration, forcing them to visit bank branches for routine tasks. By redesigning the name-entry and authentication process, Toss increased the foreign-user verification completion rate by about 15% and eliminated the gap with Korean users. ## Investigating Foreign Users’ Financial Experiences - Foreigners often perceive Korea’s banking system as complex and difficult to navigate without assistance. - Toss wanted to make its “finance for everyone” vision include foreign residents. - The team suspected that several verification steps caused users to abandon registration: - Preparing a foreigner registration card - Mismatches in telecom-provider information - One-won account verification - Difficulties entering names and personal details ## Field Research with Blue-Collar Workers - The team focused especially on blue-collar foreign workers, whose financial habits were less understood than those of students or white-collar workers. - Initial attempts to arrange factory interviews failed, so researchers visited the Siheung Industrial Complex during lunch hours. - Street interviews were difficult because formal clothing, identification badges, and consent documents made passersby cautious. - A more casual approach helped the team conduct several interviews. - Researchers later visited a multicultural center in Pocheon, where they met foreign residents from different countries and with varying lengths of stay. ## Why Foreign Users Rely on Bank Branches - Mobile banking often felt like a complicated system that users could access only after repeated trial and error. - Many users abandoned the process before reaching any financial-service features. ### Name Entry and Identity Verification - Users were unsure how to format their names: - Where to place spaces - Whether to enter family names first - Whether to match their foreigner registration card, bank account, or telecom records - A name such as “BRAD PITT” might need to be entered in an unexpected format, such as “BR AD.” - Some users repeatedly failed verification because their name format differed across institutions. - One participant had never successfully completed online identity verification under their own name in eight years. - Error messages rarely explained the actual cause of failure. - After five or more failed attempts, users could no longer continue. ### Address Entry - Entering Korean addresses was another major barrier, especially for users unfamiliar with typing Korean. - Users tried postal codes, English addresses, and lot numbers, then searched through address lists. - Search results often displayed too many options, making the correct address difficult to locate. - Repeated unsuccessful searches led some users to abandon registration and visit an offline branch instead. ## Improving the Authentication Funnel - Research identified name entry and authentication as the primary causes of foreign-user drop-off. - Toss’s product team redesigned the name-input structure and authentication flow. - The changes increased the foreign-user authentication completion rate by approximately 15%. - The completion-rate gap between Korean and foreign users was ultimately eliminated. Toss’s research demonstrates that inclusive financial services require understanding users who are often overlooked. Removing small but fundamental barriers in registration and authentication can make digital banking accessible to a much broader population.

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User Experience Database Design User Research Mobile App+4

tossJan 29, 2026Original article

6 Principles to Increase Marketing (opens in new tab)

Toss, a leader in the Korean fintech space, demonstrates that high marketing performance can be achieved without resorting to aggressive or deceptive copy. By analyzing hundreds of A/B tests within their app, they have identified specific UX writing patterns that prioritize user trust while significantly boosting engagement. The core conclusion is that clarity, psychological ease, and guaranteed rewards consistently outperform complex value propositions and exaggerated claims. ### The Power of One Core Message * Focusing on a single, immediate action is more effective than listing multiple service benefits. * In one test, replacing a complex benefit-driven headline with a simple "Take a 10-question test" resulted in a 10x increase in click-through rates (CTR). * Complexity creates friction; users are more likely to engage when they understand exactly what the next step entails without distractions. ### Prioritizing Guaranteed Rewards * Users show a stronger preference for "guaranteed small wins" over "potential big wins." * A campaign promising a "Minimum 100 won" reward saw 20x more exposure than one promising "Up to 1 million won," as large numbers can trigger skepticism or feel unattainable. * Phrases like "You will definitely get 1" outperform "Get as many as you want" because they provide a concrete promise rather than a vague possibility. ### Reducing Cognitive Load Through "Light" Language * The choice of verbs significantly impacts the perceived effort of a task. * Using "Prepare for travel insurance" instead of "Sign up for travel insurance" reduces the psychological burden, as "sign up" implies a long, bureaucratic process. * "Light" verbs make the service feel faster and easier to complete, encouraging immediate action. ### Strategic Information Framing * Clearly defining the nature of information—whether it is a "collection," a "list," or "new"—helps users categorize the value quickly. * Highlighting that a feature is "new" rather than explaining the specific benefits of the feature increased CTR by 6x. * Using terms like "View collection" for loan products provides a sense of organized efficiency that appeals to users looking for consolidated information. ### Specificity in Action and Conditions * Ambiguity leads to hesitation; providing exact numbers (e.g., "4 missions" or "8 blanks") increases conversion rates. * Specifying the number of tasks makes a goal feel attainable and removes the fear of an open-ended time commitment. * Quantifying the effort required (e.g., "takes 3 minutes") allows users to make an instant, friction-less decision to participate. ### Utilizing Intuitive, Everyday Experiences * Copy that mirrors real-life physical actions is more intuitive for users. * Changing a button from "View answer" to "Pick an answer" (accompanied by a stamp emoji) for an OX quiz significantly increased engagement by making the digital action feel more tactile and familiar. * Leveraging common vocabulary ensures that users do not have to "translate" marketing speak into practical reality. To maximize conversion, designers and writers should move away from broad marketing claims and toward radical specificity. By removing ambiguity and promising certain, low-effort outcomes, you can build a more effective and honest user experience.

User Experience Ab Testing Ux Writing Conversion Rate Optimization+3

tossNov 30, 2025Original article

In Search of the Toss Brand Symbol (opens in new tab)

Toss, a leading Korean fintech platform, embarked on a UX research journey to define its visual identity as it expanded from digital services into offline environments like Toss Pay payment stations. The study revealed that while users strongly associate the brand with seamless "usability," they lacked a single, clear mental image of a visual symbol. By analyzing user perceptions of fonts, colors, and shapes, Toss identified a specific visual formula—combining the app icon shape with a white, blue, and black palette—to ensure the brand remains instantly recognizable in the physical world. ## The Challenge of Offline Brand Recognition * The project began with the need to design "danglers" (small signage at payment counters) to signal that Toss Pay is accepted at offline merchants. * While Toss had successfully used various logo iterations online, the team realized that "Toss-ness" learned within the app might not automatically translate to unfamiliar offline environments. * Initial internal debates focused on superficial visual tweaks, such as background colors or language choices, rather than understanding the core assets that trigger brand recognition. ## Identifying Usability as the Core Brand Image * In-depth interviews were conducted with participants selected for their ability to articulate abstract brand impressions. * Research showed that users primarily associate Toss with keywords like "clean," "practical," and "convenient," rather than specific aesthetic elements. * One participant described Toss as a "program made by a genius engineer in Excel," highlighting that the brand’s value was rooted in its utility rather than a distinct visual symbol. * This presented a challenge: since the "app experience" cannot be felt through a static offline sign, the team had to find a visual surrogate for that functional reliability. ## Deconstructing the Toss Symbol: Font, Color, and Shape * **Font:** Testing revealed that the most recognizable font was the black English "toss" wordmark, primarily because users see it most often in external media and news rather than inside the app. * **Color:** Surprisingly, users did not associate Toss with a single shade of blue. Instead, they recognized the specific combination of a "blue logo on a white background." * **Logo:** When asked to draw the logo from memory, users consistently included a square border. This indicated that users perceive the brand’s "face" specifically as the smartphone app icon (the blue logo inside a rounded square) rather than the standalone logo mark. ## Implementing the "Toss Formula" in Design * The research led to a refined brand identity formula: **White background + Black bold English font + Blue app-icon-shaped logo.** * In the "10 to 100" 10th-anniversary campaign, the company shifted away from all-blue backgrounds in favor of this white-based combination to maximize recognition. * Toss Pay payment screens were updated to remove blue backgrounds, adopting the white-and-black layout to align with how users intuitively identify the service. For UX researchers and designers, this case demonstrates that brand identity is often a composite of environmental cues rather than a single graphic. When moving a digital-first brand into the physical world, it is essential to look beyond the logo and identify the specific "visual formula" that triggers the user's memory of the product experience.

User Experience User Research Fintech Brand Identity+2

tossNov 26, 2025Original article

The era when everyone does research (opens in new tab)

In an era where AI moderators and non-researchers handle the bulk of data collection, the role of the UX researcher has shifted from a technical specialist to a strategic guide. The core value of the researcher now lies in "UX Leadership"—the ability to frame problems, align team perspectives, and define the fundamental identity of a product. By bridging the gap between business goals and user needs, researchers ensure that products solve real problems rather than just chasing metrics or technical feasibility. ### Setting the Framework in the Idea Phase When starting a new project, a researcher’s primary task is to establish the "boundaries of the puzzle" by shifting the team’s focus from business impact to user value. * **Case - AI Signal:** For a service that interprets stock market events using AI, the team initially focused on business metrics like retention and news consumption. * **Avoiding "Metric Traps":** A researcher intervenes to prevent fatigue-inducing UX (e.g., excessive notifications to boost CTR) by defining the "North Star" as the specific problem the user is trying to solve. * **The Checklist:** Once the user problem and value are defined, they serve as a persistent checklist for every design iteration and action item. ### Aligning Team Direction for Product Improvements When a product already exists but needs improvement, different team members often have scattered, subjective opinions on what to fix. The researcher structures these thoughts into a cohesive direction. * **Case - Stock Market Calendar:** While the team suggested UI changes like "it doesn't look like a calendar," the researcher refocused the effort on the user's ultimate goal: making better investment decisions. * **Defining Success Criteria:** The team agreed on a "Good Usage" standard based on three stages: Awareness (recognizing issues) → Understanding (why it matters) → Preparation (adjusting investment plans). * **Identifying Obstacles:** By identifying specific friction points—such as the lack of information hierarchy or the difficulty of interpreting complex indicators—the researcher moves the project from "simple UI cleanup" to "essential tool development." ### Redefining Product Identity During Stagnation When a product's growth stalls, the issue often isn't a specific UI bug but a fundamental mismatch between the product's identity and its environment. * **Case - Toss Securities PC:** Despite being functional, the PC version struggled because it initially tried to copy the "mobile simplicity" of the app. * **Contextual Analysis:** Research revealed that while mobile users value speed and portability, PC users require an environment for deep analysis, multi-window comparisons, and deliberate decision-making. * **Consensus through Synthesis:** The researcher integrates data, user interviews, and market trends into workshops to help the team decide where the product should "live" in the market. This process creates team-wide alignment on a new strategic direction rather than just fixing features. The modern UX researcher must move beyond "crafting the tool" (interviewing and data gathering) and toward "UX Leadership." True expertise involves maintaining a broad view of the industry and product ecosystem, structuring team discussions to reach a consensus, and ensuring that every product decision is rooted in a clear understanding of the user's context and goals.

User Experience AI Data Analysis Usability Testing+3

tossNov 6, 2025Original article

Creating the worst experience at Toss (opens in new tab)

Toss designer Lee Hyeon-jeong argues that business goals and user experience are not mutually exclusive, even when integrating controversial elements like advertising. By identifying the intersection between monetization and usability, her team transformed intrusive ads into value-driven features that maintain user trust while driving significant revenue. The ultimate conclusion is that transparency and appropriate rewards can mitigate negative feedback and even increase user engagement. ### Reducing Friction through Predictability and Placement * Addressed "surprise" ads by introducing clear labeling, such as "Watch Ad" buttons or specifying ad durations (e.g., "30-second ad"), which reduced negative sentiment without decreasing revenue. * Discovered that when users are given a choice and clear expectations, their anxiety decreases and their willingness to engage with the content increases. * Eliminated "flow-breaking" ads that mimicked functional UI elements, such as banners placed inside transaction histories that users frequently mistook for personal bank records. * Established a design principle to place advertisements only in areas that do not interfere with information discovery or core user navigation tasks. ### Transforming Advertisements into User Benefits * Developed a dedicated B2B ad platform to scale the variety of available advertisements, ensuring that users receive ads relevant to their specific life stages, such as car insurance or new credit cards. * Shifted the internal perception of ads from "noise" to "benefits" by focusing on the right timing and high-quality matching between the advertiser and the user's needs. * Institutionalized regular "creative ideation sessions" to explore interactive formats, including advertisements that respond to phone movement (gyroscope), quizzes, and mini-games. * Leveraged long-term internal experiments to ensure that even if an idea cannot be implemented immediately, it remains in the team's "creative bank" for future product opportunities. ### Optimizing Value Exchange through Rewards * Conducted over a year of A/B testing on reward thresholds, comparing small cash amounts (1 KRW to 200 KRW), non-monetary items (gifticons), and high-stakes lottery-style prizes. * Analyzed the "labor intensity" of ads by adjusting lengths (10 to 30 seconds) to find the psychological tipping point where users felt the reward was worth their time. * Implemented a high-value lottery system within the Toss Pedometer service, which successfully transitioned a loss-making feature into a profitable revenue stream. * Maintained user activity and satisfaction levels despite the increased presence of ads by ensuring the "worst-case experience"—viewing ads for no gain—was entirely avoided. Product teams should stop viewing business requirements and UX as a zero-sum game. By focusing on user psychology—specifically transparency, non-disruption, and fair value exchange—it is possible to achieve aggressive business targets while maintaining a sustainable and trusted user environment.

User Experience Product Design A B Testing Gamification+3