This month, we explore how thoughtful design can bridge gaps, from enabling smartphone access in Sri Lanka to celebrating ConnectHear’s AI-powered alert system for Deaf communities in Pakistan. Across projects, talks, and collaborations, the focus remained the same: designing with empathy, building for trust, and creating technology that connects people. Let’s dive in! 🚀

🔎 Project Spotlight 

Revolutionizing Device Financing & Mobile Money in Sri Lanka

As smartphone prices in Sri Lanka surged amid an economic crisis, Dialog Axiata, one of the country’s leading telecommunications companies, faced a critical challenge: how to make devices more accessible while driving adoption of eZ Cash, its mobile money service. In partnership with GSMA, our goal was to create a solution that responded to this crisis and fostered long-term engagement with mobile financial services.

Through a comprehensive benchmarking study of device financing models across the Global South, we identified best practices and adapted them to Sri Lanka’s unique context. Our on-ground user research with Dialog customers revealed key barriers in the device financing journey, informing a redesign that made the process simpler, more transparent, and rewarding. Together with Dialog and GSMA, we facilitated strategic workshops to align business goals with user needs and developed interactive prototypes and recommendations that integrated mobile money incentives and clearly communicated value at every step.

We’re now thrilled to see Dialog Finance bring this vision to life with the rollout of three major Lesi Pay features: Doorstep Delivery, Smartphone Upgrade, and a Device Protection Scheme to increase smartphone access for low-income users. Read the full update here.

Looking to design for digital inclusion that lasts? Let’s talk! Reach out to [email protected]. Check out similar case-studies on our website.

🍪 Bite-sized Insights

• In our benchmarking study for Dialog, we found that smaller, frequent incentives like free data or cashbacks are far more effective in driving user engagement than larger, less frequent rewards. Since users in emerging markets prefer more immediate financial relief, device financing models can use the model to build sustained engagement over time.

• A fully digital end-to-end user journey by offering home delivery for Lesi Pay devices and maintaining the option to pay at the point of delivery was key to upholding customer trust. Our user research showed that allowing users to engage with digital payments more comfortably, particularly those hesitant to commit before receiving their devices.

🗓️ This Month at Ideate

• Where Design Meets Play: This month, Ideate kicked off an exciting collaboration with a US-based gaming platform, designing products that reimagine how studios build and manage their online communities. The work explores the intersection of product design, AI, and player engagement, and creating systems that make community-building feel as seamless and intuitive as gameplay itself.

• Designing Beyond Silos: At the Friends of Figma event in Lahore, Umair Abbasi, Ideate's Brand & Visual Design Lead, took the stage to talk about “The Human Loop”. Umair’s talk explored how design, development, and research continuously learn from one another, and how collaboration, empathy, and shared curiosity are key to driving real innovation. He emphasized that innovation does not thrive in silos, it flourishes through cross-disciplinary collaboration and an understanding of the human needs at the heart of every product.

• Using AI With Intention: Our Service Design Lead, Faizan Raza, recently joined an AMA session with Creative Loop by Frontmatter, diving into how AI can be used meaningfully within the South Asian creative context. The conversation explored generating surrealist imagery rooted in local settings, developing a distinct visual style instead of mimicking existing ones, and how AI outputs shift when used for personal exploration versus client work.

  

🍿 This Month’s Top Picks

📖 Reading: Several People Are Typing 

📺 Watching: Helvetica (2007)

📻 Listening to: Breast Cancer Awareness with Babar Sheikh - The Pakistan Experience

📣 Community Shoutouts

Redefining Inclusive Communication

Designing for inclusion means rethinking who technology serves. This month, we’re spotlighting ConnectHear, who, in collaboration with Ufone 4G and supported by the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation Fund, have launched SUNO, the world’s first AI-powered disaster alert system built for Pakistan’s Deaf community.

SUNO delivers real-time, life-saving alerts in Pakistani Sign Language (PSL) through short video messages sent via WhatsApp to ensure that Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals stay informed during emergencies like floods and earthquakes. By combining ConnectHear’s AI innovation with Ufone’s national network, this system bridges a critical communication gap and proves that accessibility can, and should, be built into how we design for safety.

It’s a milestone for inclusive technology in Pakistan and a reminder that true progress happens when no one is left behind.

Read the full update here

📮 Let’s Work Together

At Ideate, collaboration isn’t just a value, it’s at the heart of everything we do. Whether you’re looking to collaborate or want to explore how human-centered design can help your work, we’re all ears. Let’s brainstorm together:

Ali Murtaza, Partner & Chief Design Officer - [email protected]

Or reach out to us on Instagram or LinkedIn! We're excited to see how we can work together.