Context
Many freelancers in Japan lack formal financial training and are unfamiliar with local tax and invoicing laws. Existing solutions tend to be built for accountants and back-office staff, making them overpowered, jargon-heavy, and intimidating for solo freelancers.
Problem
Freelancers struggled to:
- Understand what legally needed to appear on an invoice.
- Navigate complex interfaces designed for finance professionals.
- Confidently create compliant invoices under new Japanese tax regulations.
This became more acute with the introduction of the Qualified Invoice System and existing requirements such as tax withholding rules for certain types of work. The team needed a tool that felt accessible to non-experts while still meeting legal standards in Japan.
Goals
The project focused on three primary goals:
- Make invoice creation approachable for freelancers with limited accounting knowledge.
- Ensure generated invoices comply with Japanese regulations (e.g. Qualified Invoice System, tax withholding).
- Reduce friction and errors compared with existing workflows (spreadsheets, manual templates, generic accounting tools).
These challenges demanded a solution that was both accessible and compliant with Japan’s legal standards.
The Solution
Taking an opinionated design approach
We chose to focus on the primary audience: freelancers in Japan with limited financial knowledge. Rather than attempting to cater to all market segments, we designed a streamlined and guided user experience.
Comparative Insights: Freee
We analyzed market leaders like freee, whose products cater to back-office professionals. While robust, their interfaces were overwhelming for first-time users, a point frequently mentioned during user interviews. Freelancers found it difficult to understand legal documentation requirements due to cluttered layouts and excessive menu options.
Our goal was the opposite: create a simple, guided, and intuitive experience.
Pre-Creation Flow for Japanese Users
To address the complexity of invoice requirements, we implemented a pre-creation flow. This guided users through key steps to collect essential information, such as:
- Scope of work.
- Registration status with the Qualified Invoice System.
- Client details and payment dates.
Leveraging existing user data from Sollective’s platform, we reduced cognitive load by pre-selecting options where possible, ensuring clarity without sacrificing functionality.
Streamlining Administrative Tasks
During interviews, freelancers shared that they often relied on spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets) for invoice creation. Their reasons included:
- Familiarity with spreadsheet interfaces.
- Confidence in established workflows.
- Lack of awareness of more advanced tools.
We aligned the tool’s design with these expectations while introducing improvements:
- Clear workflows to reduce errors.
- Pre-filled fields to minimize manual input.
- Guided steps to simplify complex tasks.
Designing the Interface
Balancing User and Recipient Needs
The tool had to serve two distinct audiences:
- Freelancers creating invoices.
- Accountants/back-office staff receiving them.
To achieve this, we implemented:
- Separate contexts for editing and viewing/exporting.
- Editing modes focused on intuitive input methods.
- Export views ensured compliance and professionalism.
- Familiar design elements aligned with tools freelancers already used.
Conclusion
Freelancers praised the tool for its simplicity and clarity, noting it was more approachable than traditional accounting software. The design struck a balance between educational value and functional ease, empowering users to spend less time on administrative tasks and more on meaningful work.
Through iterative testing and refinement, the invoice builder became a practical, legally compliant, and user-friendly solution tailored to the unique needs of freelancers in Japan.