CASE STUDY PREVIEW
Visa Subscription Manager gives users control over their recurring payments, building trust and visibility.
Role
Product Design Lead
Year
2025
Duration
16 weeks
Scope
UI/UX
Prototyping
Product strategy
Research
Background
The subscription economy is projected to reach $406 billion by 2026. Despite this growth, 67% of consumers report frustration managing their recurring payments. Visa Subscription Manager (VSM) addresses this market gap by enabling cardholders to view, control, and manage all recurring payments directly within their banking applications.
I led the end-to-end design process from research synthesis through final implementation, working closely with a design manager, content designer, and cross-functional partners. Rather than accepting initial product requirements prescribing unfocused, dashboard-style interfaces, I advocated for evidence-based decision making through rapid prototyping and comparative user research.
Impact
This project established foundational patterns for trust, transparency, and user-centered design in Visa's financial product ecosystem, creating a framework applicable to future SDK development initiatives.
Key Outcomes
Transformed limited payment-blocking functionality into comprehensive subscription management.
Aligned product strategy with user needs through comparative prototyping and testing.
Established scalable design patterns for Visa's SDK ecosystem.
Original designs lacked robust functionality.
Explorations required discernment on what context actually mattered.
Approach
The central challenge was transforming technically constrained APIs into a trustworthy subscription management experience while navigating divergent stakeholder expectations and an initial product direction focused on feature abundance over user clarity.
A design-initiated research study was conducted to center the voice of the consumer amid debate on product vision.
My approach centered on designing to persuade: building parallel prototypes demonstrating focused versus feature-complete approaches, then validating through targeted usability studies that informed stakeholder alignment. I championed progressive disclosure principles to reduce cognitive load, strategic feature reduction when technical constraints prevented reliable data delivery, and contextual exposure patterns that balanced business KPIs with user behavior insights.
Fresh component patterns and contextual sections surface the most important information.
These refinements collectively demonstrate design rigor through constraint-conscious design that acknowledges technical limitations rather than designing aspirationally beyond capabilities, user-centered reduction that systematically eliminates features, data, and interface elements lacking clear user value or reliable technical foundation, and trust-building transparency that maintains credibility through honest communication about limitations and careful curation of displayed information.
Visa Subscription Manager is set to ship early FY2026, with new cancel and switch subscription support.
Retrospective
01
Earlier Strategic Design Involvement
Earlier strategic participation could have shaped constraints rather than exclusively navigating them, potentially reducing downstream iteration cycles.
02
Direct Engineering Collaboration
Establishing direct designer-engineer working relationships earlier in the process would have accelerated feasibility.
03
Scope Management & Prioritization
Earlier, more assertive advocacy for phased release planning and ruthless feature prioritization would have reduced design churn and focused team resources on highest-impact capabilities.
Success Metrics
The solution satisfied product visibility requirements while preserving user trust and establishing foundation for meaningful engagement measurement. The approach demonstrated that business objectives and user experience principles need not exist in opposition when mediated through evidence-based design reasoning and strategic interaction timing.
Key Performance Indicators
Higher top of wallet rate.
Higher MAU count, engagement and retention for enrolled customers.
Lower disputes & chargebacks on recurring payments.
Feedback
Josh’s creative vision and attention detail made all the difference. I truly appreciate his dedication and expertise throughout the entire process.
Anna Chwedczuk Sr. Manager • Product Management
Josh provided multiple iterations of cardholder UI/UX, taking feedback along the way and delivering an excellent visual that will be used in discussions with leadership up to the SVP level.
Aaryn Watson Director • Product Management
