Pet Wallet App

Summary

My Roles :

This is an individual project that allowed me to plan and direct each step of the design thinking process to design an app for social good.

Responsibilities:

Conduct user research
Define the problem and provide insights to inform the ideation phase
Define personas, user journeys, empathy maps, and user flows
Visual design of low-fi and high-fi wireframes, prototypes, and user testing

Problem statement

Despite the increasing availability of financial literacy resources, many teenagers continue to struggle with saving and budgeting effectively, leading to potential long-term financial instability. “54% of teens say they are worried about financing their futures” — Junior Achievement USA and Citizens Bank. This lack of financial literacy among teenagers poses significant challenges, including increased debt burdens, limited opportunities for wealth accumulation, and heightened vulnerability to economic downturns. Addressing this issue is crucial to empower the next generation with the necessary skills and knowledge to achieve financial security and independence.

Solution

I wanted to develop an engaging and interactive mobile application designed to empower teenagers with the knowledge and skills to save money effectively and manage their finances responsibly. Leveraging gamification and personalised features, the app will offer a fun and intuitive way for teenagers to set savings goals, track their spending, and learn key financial concepts.

Research

Design thinking process

Research Questions

What are the most effective strategies for delivering financial education content within the app to enhance teenagers' understanding of key financial concepts and improve their financial literacy?
How does the incorporation of gamification elements, such as challenges and rewards, impact teenagers' engagement with the financial app and their adherence to saving goals?

Research Method

Interview

8 Participants with age between 13 to 19 years old.

Ask a set of interview questions, observe and record behaviors and attitudes.

Secondary Research

Reviewing pre-existing research and literature to inform new conclusions, strategies, or initiatives based on accumulated knowledge and findings.

Conducting a competitor audit to examining rivals' strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and market positioning for strategic insight and competitive advantage assessment.

Personas

Herewith the one of the example of the personas in this project.

Key Insights

Throughout the research, I discovered some key takeaways for saving money in a fun way.

Set Clear Goals

Define what you're saving for, whether it's a vacation, a new gadget, or an emergency fund. Having specific goals can make saving more rewarding and motivating.

Use Visual Aids

Create a visual representation of your savings progress, such as a chart or a savings jar. Seeing your savings grow can make the process more enjoyable and encourage you to keep going.

Make it a Game

Turn saving into a fun challenge by setting milestones and rewarding yourself when you reach them. For example, treat yourself to a small reward for every $100 saved.

Track Your Progress

Keep track of your spending and savings to see how far you've come. Use budgeting apps or tools to make tracking easier and more interactive.

Ideation

looking for inspiration

While I were doing the research, I also collected a bunch of inspirations from:

Game design
Finance management apps
Competitive Audit

I found out that there are a lot of finance management apps. However, they lack interaction and a fun approach in building these apps to draw the attention of the user. This inspired me to think about gaming as a mechanism for helping teenagers in saving and budgeting.

Brainstorming and sketches

As I started to brainstorm solutions for these apps, I sketched my idea and took down these ideas on paper using the “Crazy 8” methods. The reason I used this method is because it can generate as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time and I think this can train me to think out of the box overtime.

Prototype

Sitemap (Information Architect)

Wireframe and low-fidelity prototype

After I created the sitemap, I sketch some paper wireframe and selected the most suitable design. Then, I finalized the design on a paper and turn it into a digital wireframe. After that, I turn it into a low-fidelity prototype by adding interactions and and links. Then, I test it out with 5 participants including 3 teenagers and 2 adults. The reasons for including adults in this usability test is to gathers different perspective in terms of technical and professional knowledge on finance management features while the teenagers focus on overall experience.

After the usability study, users gave their opinion on the day selection on the tracking summary page where they find it hard to identify what day is today and the date of today in the track features. Furthermore, user suggest that a recent transaction details on the home page with more lines to show more transaction may be better.

The following are the low-fidelity prototype:

mockup and Hi-fidelity prototype

Based on the usability study, I made some changes and modification to improve the user satisfaction and user experience.

The following are the mockup:

What I learned

I have gained valuable insights and knowledge on the design principles through the design process. The design changes will impact the user experience. Some of the key things are :

Understanding user needs
Importance of simplicity
Accessibility considerations
Understanding and implementing user feedback
Manage information to not overwhelm the user

Next steps

1

Obtain UX/UI feedback from designers with more experience in the field to improve design.

2

Identify any additional features or area of needs to improve the user experience.

3

Conduct another usability study and usability test on the app for further improvement.