Pictet Japan

Background

Pictet Japan was rebuilding its website to provide wealthy Japanese investors with more personalised content through registration and a new members area.

Phase one had already been completed before I joined. The problem was that the project was not really moving.

Challenge

UX remained at low-fidelity wireframe level, the UI had not been sufficiently adapted for Japanese investors, user testing had not been conducted, documentation was inconsistent, and development costs and time were continuing to climb.

There was also a very practical problem: an English-speaking consultancy and Japanese-speaking client were not always understanding one another.

What I did

I joined as Digital Strategist / UX Designer and reworked the registration, login and members-area experience.

I expanded the existing wireframes into high-fidelity flows and built two registration prototypes for comparison: a single-page approach and a multi-step alternative. I then designed a deliberately lean user test that could be conducted despite COVID restrictions.

I also directed the Japanese-market UI, created a more comprehensive style guide and component library, reused existing components where sensible, supported developers through Jira, and trained the client’s own designer in Figma.

There was a broader UX problem I wanted to solve too: the client was also a user. Improving their experience of working with the design and development process mattered just as much as improving the screens.

Outcome

Within three months of joining, the stalled development effort had been reorganised and restarted. Component reuse reduced development effort and cost, and the relationship expanded with the renewal of the annual creative-direction contract.