A record of tracing why a name officially printed on an ID was rejected during identity verification back to the standards built into the system.

My Name Is Clearly on My ID

While opening a bank account in an app, I enter the Korean name printed on my Alien Registration Card. But identity verification fails. Starting April 11, 2019, Korean names could be printed alongside English names on Alien Registration Cards for certain foreign residents. The change was intended to reduce the inconvenience caused when the name used in everyday life differed from the name on an ID.

But changing the ID did not mean every system changed with it. Even when a Korean name was printed on the ID, the English name still had to be used for identity verification. My name was clearly on my ID, yet I could not use that name to verify who I was.

It Looked Like a Problem With the Input Field

The solution also seemed simple. Tell users which name to enter beforehand, or explain the reason more clearly when verification fails. If users know that they need to enter their English name, at least they will not repeat the same failure.

But something still felt off. The user had already entered their own name as printed on a government-issued ID. Yet to get through the system, they had to find another name on the same ID and enter it again.

Better instructions can reduce failed attempts. But the question of why users have to set aside their own name and enter another one remains. Good guidance can make exclusion less painful. But it does not remove the exclusion itself.

The Problem Was Between Two Systems, Not the Name

Microsoft describes exclusion in Inclusive Design as a mismatch between people and experiences. This case can be understood in exactly that way.

The user did not enter the wrong name. A name officially printed on the ID was not accepted by the identity verification system. The identity verification system assumed that one person had one official name, and people who lived with two names fell outside that assumption.

In fact, starting June 8, 2020, the relevant systems were updated so that Korean names printed alongside English names could also be used for identity verification. Instead of making users adapt to the system, the system began accepting a name that was already printed on their ID.

So How Far Should Design Look?

Deciding which names are recorded on an ID and which names can be used for identity verification is not something a single designer can decide. Administration, policy, and technical systems are all involved. But the consequences of those decisions ultimately appear on a single screen, where a user enters their name and gets rejected.

Even without the authority to change policy, there are things designers can do. They can collect data on who encounters these failures and how often, and turn it into evidence that the people making decisions about policy and systems can see. This is because exclusion first becomes visible on the screen, and designers are among the people closest to that screen.

At first, I wondered why someone could not verify their identity using their own name. Now the question has changed slightly. Who does the system treat as the default, and who does it treat as the exception?