TLDR
I had the incredible opportunity to impact the lives of millions of farmers in Indonesia through my role at Jiva Agriservices.
The project focused on introducing and scaling new tax laws implications for farmers. It holds great significance and impact for the organisation, which boasts a global workforce of over 500 individuals.
In my capacity as Lead Product Designer, I frequently traveled to Singapore and Indonesia, collaborating with cross-functional teams such as Field Research, Product, Finance, Training & Operations to drive valuable outcomes for both the farmers and Jiva.
The real-world impact of this particular project was profound, as it directly improved the livelihoods of countless farmers.
282.97M
total tax liability
averted for farmers
187.4K
average tax saved
per liable farmer
58.7%
tax ID penetration
across farmers
*all figures in IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)
About Jiva
Jiva is on a mission to improve the livelihoods of 500 million smallholder farmers across the world through thoughtful digitisation.
Through their mobile application and partner network, they work directly with farmers to deliver four critical services: micro-financing, agri-commerce, harvest purchase, and personalised agronomy advisory.
Since the launch in Indonesia and India in 2020, Jiva has added billions back into local economies, provided advisory to over
5 million farmers, and purchased over 250,000 tonnes of harvest.
News
The Edge features Jiva as emerging agtech company using technology to help secure food supply.
Technology can help address the daunting threat of the global food crisis, DigitalEdge Section Editor Nurdianah Md Nur puts Jiva in the spotlight as an agtech company providing 360-degree services that support farmers navigate through digitalised agriculture processes.
News
Jiva’s CEO spoke at the UN Headquarters for #SDGdigital hosted by the ITU as a part of the UN General Assembly, New York
USA
Jiva was chosen to represent Indonesia and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) - as a digital solution that helps the global community accelerate our progress in achieving zero hunger by 2030.
Project Brief
The shift in responsibility of tax payments on transactions above IDR 20 million from Jiva to the farmers.
If we didn’t solve it then,
Farmers would face legal consequences for non-compliance with the updated government regulations.
Jiva would face a high tax burden, as the company grew, this tax load would’ve affected the profits.
Research and Explanation
Along with the research team, I investigated farmer’s awareness of taxpayer identification number and their perception regarding taxes.
We conducted interviews with 20 farmers across 3 different regions and different levels of transactions with Jiva.
Criteria
Participants
Farmers with total transactions of more than IDR 1 billion per month
8 farmers from East Java, 2 farmers from South Sulawesi
Farmers with total transactions of IDR 500 - 900 million per month
5 farmers from East Java, 3 farmers from South Sulawesi
Farmers with less than 20 million transactions per month
2 farmers from South Sumatra
Key Insights
Along with the research team, I investigated farmer’s awareness of taxpayer identification number and their perception regarding taxes.
Nomor Pokok Wajib Pjak (NPWP) is a unique ID assigned to individuals for tax purposes.
An individual's NPWP can have two statuses:
Active or Inactive.
An active status incurs a tax rate of 0.25% while an inactive status incurs a higher rate of 0.5%.
Farmers weren’t aware of the importance of having an active NPWP versus an inactive NPWP.
A farmer’s awareness of taxes varies on the basis of their experience and needs.
Experienced farmers had an understanding of their tax responsibilities tax deductions.
Problem Spaces
After synthesising the research insights, I identified the two important problem spaces that can be addressed.
Farmers need to understand the importance of an active NPWP for reducing taxes.
Transparency is needed for Jiva's tax offset requirements and their impact on upcoming ecosystem transactions.
The Solution
June, 2022
Educating farmers about taxes, NPWP, and it’s impact on their transactions via the mobile application.
September, 2022
Conducting usability testing sessions with farmers across different regions and different levels of transaction with Jiva.
November, 2022
Travelling to Indonesia to provide in-person training sessions. This was done to ensure that farmers receive comprehensive support and guidance.
December, 2023
Finally, implementing a system where taxes were imposed on the farmers.
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Design Phase
In this phase,
- We disseminated and maintained a knowledge base within the mobile application.
- Additionally, we implemented informational banners and nudges across essential transactional screens to assist farmers with tax deductions.
Design System
I integrated typography, colour, elevation, assets and UI components from Jiva’s design system, Akaar.
Colour
Here are some of the practices I kept in mind to ensure that information is effectively communicated to all users.
Accessibility First
Considered individuals with colour blindness by ensuring that the colour combinations were distinguishable.
Using Colour Sparingly
To ensure that an overabundance of colour doesn't obscure the message or become distracting.
Maintaining Consistency
The consistency in colour usage helps with clarity and avoids confusion.
Default
primary
source.neutral.100
secondary
source.neutral.95
tertiary
source.neutral.90
Interactive
interactive/selected
source.primary.40
interactive/selected-inverse
source.primary.99
interactive/default
source.neutral.0(5%)
interactive/default-inverse
source.neutral.100
Highlight
highlight/positive
source.primary.40
highlight/positive-inverse
source.primary.99
highlight/warning
source.warning.80
highlight/warning-inverse
source.warning.99
highlight/negative
source.negative.40
highlight/negative-inverse
source.negative.99
Action
action/primary
source.primary.40
action/primary-hover
source.primary.30
action/primary-pressed
source.primary.20
action/primary-disabled
source.neutral.80
action/primary-negative
source.negative.40
action/primary-negative-hover
source.negative.30
action/primary-negative-pressed
source.negative.20
action/primary-negative-disabled
source.neutral.80
action/primary-oncolor
source.neutral.100
action/primary-oncolor-hover
source.neutral.99
action/primary-oncolor-pressed
source.neutral.95
action/secondary-hover
source.primary.99
action/secondary-pressed
source.primary.95
action/secondary-negative-hover
source.primary.99
action/secondary-negative-pressed
source.primary.95
action/secondary-oncolor-hover
source.neutral.100(12%)
action/secondary-oncolor-pressed
source.neutral.100(20%)
Typography
The design system utilises the Roboto font for the interface design.
Title/Large
22px
500
30px / -0.1px
Title/Medium
16px
500
20px
Title/Small
14px
500
20px
Label/Large
14px
500
20px/0.1
Label/Medium
12px
500
16px / 0.5px
Label/Small
11px
500
20px / 0.5 px
16px
700
20px / 0.3 px
Label2/Large
14px
700
20px / 0.3 px
Label2/Medium
12px
700
16px / 0.5 px
Label2/Small
11px
700
16px / 0.3 px
Body/Large
16px
400
24px / 0.25px
Body/Medium
14px
400
20px / 0.25 px
Body/Small
12px
400
16px / 0.4px
Visual Designs
After a series of low-fidelity wireframes, multiple milestone meetings with the product team, and numerous iterations, we arrived at the final wireframes.
🌐
The screens are translated from Indonesian Bahasa to English for better comprehension.
informational banner on the Home Screen
I designed a banner to inform farmers about the forthcoming changes in their transactions.
Clicking the 'Learn more' button will direct them to the knowledge base, which contains all the vital information about the upcoming alterations.
Exhaustive knowledge base
It was designed to house all the essential information.
Furthermore, we recorded videos featuring farmers explaining these changes. This decision was informed by years of research, which showed that farmers prefer watching videos of their peers explaining various aspects of the application.
nudges across essential transactional flows
I identified all the critical screens from which taxes will eventually be deducted and introduced a banner as a reminder.
This step was taken to facilitate a seamless transition when the tax deductions begin.
Usability Testing
We conducted usability testing sessions with about 20 farmers across different regions and different levels of transaction with Jiva.
The insights that stood out the most were,
Farmers required an explanation of Jiva's tax calculation method.
They ignored the legal terminologies, and needed an in-dept explanation for how Jiva calculate the taxes as they missed several important points within the knowledge base.
They missed UI components holding tax-related information.
This banner was positioned below a button present on a lengthy screen, making it easy to miss.
They were meticulous while analysing tax calculations.
During the first iteration, we used a dummy number of IDR 525k, and they had a strong reaction because it didn't seem logical for the tax to be that high for a transaction worth IDR 20 million.
In-person Training sessions
I travelled to Indonesia along with the training team to provide training sessions to educate farmers about the importance of taxes and tax ID for their transactions.
Our main aim was to help farmers understand and feel confident about using the upcoming changes.
We made sure to hold these sessions in all regions, giving farmers the support and guidance.
Impact
The real-world impact of this particular project was profound, as it directly improved the livelihoods of countless farmers.
282.97M
total tax liability
averted for farmers
187.4K
average tax saved
per liable farmer
58.7%
tax ID penetration
across farmers
*all figures in IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)
Learnings
This project posed several challenges, primarily due to the sensitive nature of a farmer's income.
Farmers often have reservations about trusting mobile applications, and introducing tax-related information could potentially exacerbate these concerns.
Hence, it was crucial to approach the project with utmost care and sensitivity.
In this project I learned,
The significance of realistic prototypes in usability testing.
During usability testing, I created a prototype that included high transactions with high taxes. This caused a range of emotions in farmers and made me realise the significance of having a prototype that closely resembles real-life situations. Otherwise, it can quickly derail interviews and insights. After iterating on the prototype and aligning it closely with real-life situations, I observed several significant benefits, including improved feedback accuracy, enhanced contextual understanding, and increased cost and time efficiency.
The impact of UXW iterations.
I had the opportunity to explore multiple iterations of UX copies, and it was truly fascinating to witness the impact even the simplest changes had on the minds of farmers.
The power of collaboration and interdisciplinary approach
I gained a valuable lesson in the power of collaboration. As I encountered the challenge of not speaking the same language as the users, I realised the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, planning and trust, particularly with the research team.
