Platform experience and interface redesign

Fiscozen is a digital platform, with real tax consultants, that helps freelancers and self-employed professionals managing their taxes, invoices and bureaucracy.

The platform was built on an interface that no longer reflected the maturity of the product or the company’s vision.

The UI was visually outdated, with design patterns that had not evolved over time, and the overall experience was heavily desktop-centric. Mobile usage, increasingly central to users’ daily interactions, was not adequately supported, resulting in a fragmented and often frustrating experience on smaller screens.

Moreover, the interface failed to communicate Fiscozen’s business values: we want to help and guide you through the Italian bureaucracy, not give you a tool where you can do everything. There’s plenty of them.

Guide, not tool

Together with the business team, we started assuming that users don’t want to deal with overly complex tools full of unnecessary features.

The Italian tax system can be overwhelming, so they need an experience that tells them what to do and when they have to do it.

So we explored how to create a sort of “guide” system where we could tell people only what they have to do, instead of creating a “tool” where users can do whatever they want.

The project had two clear constraints: the dashboard needed to become more mobile-first to improve usability on smartphones, and customer support had to be easier to access and more visible.

Rather than starting from a blank design process, the challenge was to translate these top-down requirements into a coherent product solution.

Given these requirements, I focused on identifying a layout structure that could solve both problems simultaneously instead of treating them as separate features. After exploring different interface approaches, I proposed a three-column layout that could adapt effectively across screen sizes while keeping support always accessible.

This structure made it possible to design a single coherent system for both desktop and mobile with minimal adjustments, reducing design and development complexity and making it easier for the tech team to scale new features over time.

The new tax declaration

The new tax declaration process created with the new layout and the new design system. It guides the user through each step where we ask them only what we need.

The redesign significantly improved the overall structure and usability of the dashboard, and introduced a more scalable foundation for future features. From a product and technical perspective, the new layout simplified development and created a more consistent experience across devices.

However, the rollout highlighted some important gaps in how the change was introduced to users. While the new experience was clearer for new users, a portion of long-time users struggled with the sudden change, as they were already familiar with the previous interface and workflows.

Looking back, one of the main challenges was not the design itself, but how the transition was managed. The new experience was released without a gradual rollout or prior communication, which increased friction for existing users.

Another key learning was the importance of validating major changes before full release. Introducing a testing phase with a subset of users would have helped identify potential issues earlier and reduce resistance to change.

Today, I would approach a similar redesign with a phased rollout, early user validation and clearer communication to ensure a smoother transition for existing users.

While a gradual rollout and testing phase were considered, the project was ultimately released all at once due to timing and business priorities. This highlighted the importance of planning not only the solution, but also how it is introduced and validated with users.