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Case study 01

PayapFrom overview to action

Helping managers see what needs attention — and take the next step with confidence.

Role
UX Designer
Team
Case group 6 · shared research and testing
Year
2026
My Payap employee view for the employee Anna Lind

Payap is a payroll system. Managers use it to report absence, approve events and check employee information — usually in between other work.

Contents

01My contribution

My contribution

What I did

  • Designed three desktop views: Employee view, Report new event and History.
  • Iterated them from lo-fi to hi-fi based on test results.
  • Explored a calendar-based way to report events on my own initiative.

With the team

  • Collaborated with my project team to plan and conduct user research and usability testing.
  • Participated in regular check-ins with Payap to discuss design directions and gather feedback.

02The problem

Managers could see the situation, not the next step

Information was spread out, priorities were unclear, and after reporting something it was hard to tell what had happened. A manager wants to finish a task — not stay in the payroll system.

Design question

How might we help managers recognise what needs attention and confidently take the next step?

03Key insights

What testing showed

  1. Information was fragmented

    One participant couldn’t find any consolidated absence information.

  2. Priorities were hard to see

    Participants wanted to see quickly what needed handling.

  3. Status isn’t enough

    In mid-fi, status was clear — but some participants needed help finding how to act on an older item.

Together, our group ran 4 baseline tests, 1 lo-fi, 3 mid-fi and 1 exploratory hi-fi test, with regular check-ins with Payap.

04Design solution

Actions first, right where they belong

My employee view: a prominent “Report new event” button next to the profile, “Requires your action” with a Complete button on each item, balance cards, and a shared history with tabs
Employee view · each item says what’s missing — e.g. “Kvitto saknas” (receipt missing) — with a “Komplettera” (Complete) button right beside it. The report button sits in the header, and history is shared in one place.

Action items at the top

  • Overdue or rejected items are the first thing a manager sees.

The next step next to the item

  • “Complete” sits right beside the item that needs it.

One shared history

  • Events and payments in one list, with visible status.

05Iteration

Making the reporting action easier to find

Lo-fiLo-fi: “New event” button next to the employee’s name

Next to the profile

Mid-fiMid-fi: “Report new event” button at the bottom of the page

Moved to the bottom — some participants didn’t find it

Hi-fiHi-fi: prominent green “Report new event” button in the header

Prominent in the header — not yet re-tested with users

I moved the “Report new event” button to the bottom of the page in my mid-fi design. During testing, some participants struggled to find it. I moved it back to a prominent position in the header for the hi-fi prototype. This new placement still needs to be tested.

06What I learned

What I learned

“A design that seems logical does not automatically make the next action obvious.”

Check-ins with Payap gave direction, but user tests showed when I needed to rethink. Next, I’d test the new reporting button and my calendar-based reporting idea with more managers.