Simplifying Trust — Redesigning the Qualified Electronic Signature Experience
Yousign was transitioning from an e-signature tool to a broader trust verification platform. I led the redesign of the Qualified Electronic Signature experience — including a complex KYC identity flow — reducing friction while meeting strict EU regulatory requirements.
Overview
Yousign is a French SaaS company offering electronic signature solutions to businesses. As the company expanded its product vision — from "e-signature tool" to "trust verification platform" — it needed its Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) experience to reflect that shift.
QES is the highest legal tier of electronic signature in the EU, requiring full identity verification (KYC). It's powerful, but it comes with significant complexity. Users need to upload identity documents, complete video or in-person verification, and navigate a flow that sits at the intersection of legal compliance, security, and UX.
The challenge wasn't just to make it easier. It was to make it trustworthy.
The Challenge
The existing QES flow had grown organically as legal requirements evolved. By the time I joined the project, it was:
- A 7-step process with unclear progress indicators
- Technically compliant but confusing — users didn't understand why each step was needed
- Not designed as a system — each screen had been built independently, creating visual and conceptual inconsistency
- Generating significant drop-off at the identity verification stage
More fundamentally: the experience didn't feel secure. For a product where trust is the entire value proposition, that was a critical problem.
"I had no idea what was happening or why they needed my passport. I almost gave up." — User interview, early discovery
Step 1 — Research
Discovery interviews
I ran eight structured interviews with users who had been through the existing QES flow — both those who completed it and those who dropped off. I was looking for two things: where the friction was, and why it felt wrong.
Key findings:
- Users didn't understand the distinction between standard e-signature and QES. The product asked them to go through an intensive verification process without first explaining what made it different — or why it was worth it.
- The term "KYC" (Know Your Customer) was shown to users verbatim. Nobody outside of finance knew what it meant.
- The progress indicator showed steps but not context. Users felt they were filling out a form with no end in sight.
- The identity document upload flow was technically functional but anxiety-inducing — poor feedback states, unclear error messages, no reassurance about data handling.
Heuristic analysis
Running the existing flow against Nielsen's 10 heuristics revealed consistent gaps in:
- Visibility of system status — the flow didn't communicate what was happening at transition points, especially during asynchronous verification
- Error prevention — document uploads could silently fail; users only found out at the end
- Help and documentation — no contextual guidance at high-friction moments (e.g., "why do you need my selfie?")
User journey mapping
I mapped the full emotional journey of the existing flow — from receiving a QES signature request to completing identity verification. The map revealed a consistent pattern: a steep drop in confidence right at the point where users were asked to hand over identity documents.
That moment of handing over a passport to an unknown platform is inherently uncomfortable. The design had done nothing to soften it.
Step 2 — Design Process
Reframing the problem
The research made clear that the core problem wasn't the number of steps — it was the relationship the flow built (or failed to build) with users. People can tolerate friction when they understand why it exists and trust who they're giving information to.
The design challenge became: how do you design for trust, not just compliance?
Information architecture
I restructured the flow around three mental models:
- Why — a clear upfront explanation of what QES is and why this level of verification is required
- What — a transparent, step-by-step preview of exactly what the user will provide
- How — a step-by-step process with clear feedback, warm error states, and human language throughout
This reduced the perceived complexity without reducing the actual number of steps required by EU regulation.
Wireframing and iteration
Working with the PM and legal team, I wireframed three structural approaches:
- Linear flow — standard step-by-step, low cognitive load but no sense of the whole
- Hub model — a central dashboard showing all required steps, user completes in any order
- Progressive reveal — each step reveals the next, building momentum
Testing showed the hub model created anxiety (users wanted to be guided, not given a checklist). The progressive reveal with a persistent progress indicator tested best — it gave a sense of forward motion while surfacing the full journey upfront.
Visual design
I built on Yousign's existing design system while introducing a new set of trust-specific patterns:
- A verification card component that clearly communicated status (pending, in review, verified) with consistent iconography
- Document upload states — idle, uploading, processing, success, error — each with appropriate copy and visual feedback
- Reassurance micro-copy — contextual phrases that appear at high-anxiety moments: "Your documents are encrypted and never stored after verification."
- Warm, human language throughout — replacing legal jargon with plain French
Before → After
The original flow opened with a generic "Identity Verification" header and immediately asked for documents. The redesigned flow opened with a clear explanation of why QES exists and what the user should expect — reducing the emotional shock of the verification ask.
Document upload states changed from a single generic error message ("Upload failed") to context-specific guidance ("This document appears blurry — please try again in better lighting").
The progress indicator was redesigned from a numbered step counter to a named stage tracker: Prepare → Verify → Sign — giving users a semantic sense of where they were in the journey.
Outcome
- Significant reduction in drop-off at the identity verification step (measured via Hotjar session recordings and funnel analytics)
- The verification card and progress components were adopted into Yousign's broader design system as reusable trust primitives
- The project directly informed Yousign's platform-wide "trust layer" — a shared language for verification, compliance, and identity across all products
- Recognised internally as one of the highest-impact design projects of the year