Helping Users Get It Right the First Time
Crafting production-ready microcopy for Allobank’s face verification flow.
About the Project
During my internship as a UI/UX Designer & Writer at Allobank, I was responsible for crafting the microcopy for the face verification step within Know Your Customer (KYC) flow.
Face verification plays a critical role in verifiying users’ identities before they can access the banking services, requiring users to follow specific instructions to verify their identity successfully. Since this process involves regulatory requirements and mobile interface constraints, the challenge wasn’t simply writing a short copy. It was communicating essential instructions clearly so users could complete verification correctly on their first attempt.
The finalized microcopy was implemented in the production app and remains in use today.
Project at Glance
Role: UI/UX Designer & Writer Intern
Deliverables: UX Microcopy, Competitive Analysis, Content Iteration
Platform: Mobile Banking App
Responsibilities:
- Reviewed KYC regulations to identify mandatory content requirements.
- Conducted competitive analysis of digital banking apps to evaluate content patterns and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Drafted and refined UX microcopy for the face verification screen through multiple iterations.
- Collaborated with PM to align content about user needs, compliance requirements, and product goals.
- Delivered production-ready microcopy that was implemented in the live application.
Note: This project reflects the implemented solution during my internship at Allo Bank and is shared solely to showcase my UX writing contribution.
The Core Challenge
Face verification requires users to follow several conditions to successfully verify their identity. Because they must read the instructions while preparing for verification, lengthy or unclear content could make the process harder to follow and increase the likelihood of failed attempts.
The challenge was to communicate these requirements in a way that was clear, concise, and actionable, all while ensuring the content remained compliant with banking regulations and fitting within the limited space of a mobile interface.
Challenge at a Glance
To conclude, how might I help users successfully complete face verification on their first attempt while ensuring the content remains clear, concise, and easy to follow?🤔
Research
Constraints
Before drafting any copy, I reviewed the KYC requirements. Because it is a regulated process, simplifying the content wasn’t just a matter of shortening the text. I first needed to understand which information was mandatory before exploring how it could be communicated more clearly.
Competitive Analysis
While regulations defined what information needed to be communicated, not how it should be communicated, I explore different approaches. I conducted a research of the face verification flows from a several digital banking apps, focusing on how each product approached communication during this sensitive step. Specifically, I wanted to understand:
- How do they organize instructions?
- What guidance do they provide before users begin?
- How do they communicate common mistakes?
- What patterns make instructions easier to follow?
Objective
To understand how other digital banking and financial apps communicate face verification, I conducted a research on Jago, Jenius, and DANA. Rather than evaluating their interface design, I focused on the communication strategies they used to help users complete the verification successfully.
Research Focus
Instead of comparing app-by-app, I would compare by the communication aspect.
Key Findings
From the analysis, I pointed out four communication patterns that informed my writing decisions.
- Help users prepare before they begin
Every product provided guidance before starting the verification process, although the format varied. Preparing users in advance helps reduce avoidable mistakes during verification. - Highlight common failures
Common mistakes about visibility appeared consistently across the products. Rather than only explaining how to succeed, it’s equally important to communicate what users should avoid. - Keep instructions easy to scan
While Jago provided detailed explanations, Jenius relied on illustrations with minimal text, and DANA used concise instructional copy. This showed that users should be able to quickly grasp the guidance while preparing for verification. - Balance completeness with conciseness
Each product approached the balances differently. My goal was to retain all essential information while making the content concise enough for a mobile interfaces.
The three products demonstrated different communication strategies, from detailed explanations, to visual guidance, to concise task-oriented instructions. This highlighted the importance of finding the right balance between thoroughness, scannability, and actionable guidance for Allobank’s face verification experience.
So based on these findings, I decided to:
- Organize guidance in the order users complete the task.
- Prioritize concise, action-oriented instructions.
- Clearly communicate common verification failures before users begin.
- Preserve mandatory information while improving readability.
Crafting the Microcopy
Writing Goals
Based on the regulatory review and competitor analysis, I set up several writing goals before drafting the content.
✔️ Help users complete verification
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✔️ Clearly communicate common causes of verification failure.
✔️ Keep the content concise and easy to scan.
From Draft to Final: An Iterative Process
Rather than writing directly for the interface, I started by drafting all the required content before considering layout or visual hierarchy. My priority at this stage was ensuring that every essential instruction was captured before refining it for a mobile screen. I drafted the initial instructions in both Bahasa Indonesia and English before discussing the content with the Product Designer. This served as the foundation for our content review and upcoming iterations. This approach allowed me to validate the overall messaging with PM before deciding what could be simplified or removed.
Initial Draft
Title: Face Detection
Supporting Copy: Get ready in front of your camera
Instructions:
- Pastikan wajah Anda terlihat dengan jelas (tidak blur).
Make sure your face is clearly visible (not blurry). - Pastikan wajah Anda berada di dalam lingkaran yang tersedia.
Position your face within the frame/circle. - Lepaskan seluruh aksesoris wajah yang sedang Anda gunakan.
Remove any face accessories before you begin. - Gunakan pencahayaan yang cukup.
Ensure you are in a sufficient light area.
Integrating Content with Visual Design
After crafting the initial copy, I worked with Product Designer to pair the instructions with supporting illustrations. This helped communicate the guidance visually while reducing users’ reliance on text alone.
- Iteration #1: Refining the Instructions
Once the visual direction was established, we reviewed the instructional copy. Because the illustrations already communicated part of the message, several sentences could be shortened while preserving their meaning.
For example,
Before: “Make sure your face is clearly visible (not blurry).” and “Position your face within the frame.”
After: “Make sure your face is clearly visible in the frame/circle.”
Supporting Illustration:
Reason: Combined two related instructions into a single sentence by leveraging the supporting illustration to communicate face positioning. This reduced redundancy and made the guidance easier to scan while preserving the key action.
- Iteration #2: Improving the Information Hierarchy (PM Review)
During the PM review, we explored whether the information could be structured more intuitively. Rather than presenting all guidance in a single list, we agreed to reorganize the guidance into two distinct categories: How to Succeed and Common Failures. This separated recommended actions from common mistakes, making the content easier to scan and helping users quickly understand both what to do and what to avoid.
Final Copy Refinement
During the content review with PM, we also noticed that one instruction combined two related actions: “Make sure your face is clearly visible in the frame/circle.” where the sentence resulted from merging:
“Make sure your face is clearly visible (not blurry).”
“Position your face within the frame.”
Since the phrase of “not blurry” describes a common verification issue rather than a recommended action, we decided to relocated it to a dedicated Common Failures section, where users could more easily recognize potential mistakes.
Before:
- Make sure your face is clearly visible in the frame/circle.
- Remove all facial accessories.
- Ensure there’s enough light.
After:
✅ How to succeed
- Make sure your face is visible in the circle.
❌ Common Failures
- Blurry face
- Insufficient lighting
- Using accessories
Final Solution
The final solution combined concise microcopy with supporting visuals to help users prepare for face verification before launching the camera. Every element was designed to guide users toward a successful verification while minimizing common failures.
Design Outcomes
- Introduced an actionable first step to guide face positioning.
- Used illustrations to complement.
- Separated guidance and common failures to improve scannability.
- Kept the content concise while preserving all required verification guidance.
Reflection
If I revisited this project today…
Looking back, I would explore adding a short piece of contextual guidance before the face verification instructions. While the original solution prioritized helping users complete the task successfully, a brief explanation of why biometric verification is required could strengthen users’ confidence and set clearer expectations before asking them to capture their face in our app. This is an opportunity I would validate through user testing to ensure the added context improves understanding without increasing cognitive load.
This project taught me that effective content design goes beyond choosing the right words. It’s about choosing the right moment for them.
“Every word has a purpose, but where and when it appears matters just as much as it says.”
