Case Study
Overview
Roles
User Interaction Designer, User Researcher
Timeline
3 Months (January 2023 - March 2023)
Tools
Figma
Team
Jennah Toles, Shaheer Saif, Camie Wong, Alicia Yi
What if your bank account didn’t just store your money, but actually gave you the confidence to grow it?
For many young adults, the world of finance feels like a club they aren't invited to. They are caught in a stress loop: they feel the crushing weight of needing to secure their future, yet the 'language' of investing feels so jargon-heavy and exclusionary that they never take the first step.
This project aims to address the challenge faced by young adults who feel overwhelmed by the pressure to save and invest due to their limited financial literacy. The goal is to create a comprehensive and accessible solution that empowers young people to make informed financial decisions and build a secure financial future.
Research
User Research
Peer Reviewed
75% of American teens lack confidence in their knowledge of personal finance.
While 73% express a need for more personal financial education, according to a survey done by Council for Economic Education in 2022.
In 2021, 86% of teens were interested in investing, but 45% said they didn’t invest because they didn’t feel confident.
User Interviews
To gain deeper insights into the challenges and priorities of our target audience, we conducted user interviews with five participants. These individuals represent our core demographic (male: age 16 to 20 and female: 19 to 22) students, balancing limited financial knowledge and time constraints. The goal of these interviews was to uncover pain points and opportunities for designing a solution tailored to their needs.
Interview Insights
Little understanding of investing/saving and don't have much time to learn
Identifying and categorize savings and specific expenses is important
Would like to know how to achieve longterm goals, mainly housing
Wants to avoid overspending on unnecessary things
Problem Statement
Young people are paralyzed by the gap between their financial goals and their financial confidence. Our mission is to dismantle the 'intimidation barrier' by replacing complex jargon with intuitive, actionable wealth-building tools.
Solution
Flint helps young people navigate their finances and allows them to become confident in their independence and savings. Our app aids those to learn and grow in the world through financial learning tutorials and motivates users in their path of saving.
Design Process
Personas
After the interviews, we organized essential takeaways from the responses. From there they were categorized into pain points, needs and goals in order to identify the problem space and prioritize task for the next steps.
Delegation
We as a group decided to delegate different flows to a pair, and I received the Collaborative/Shared Goal flow because I came up with the idea to integrate community by sharing goals with loved ones. This idea came forth from my own desire of what would motivate me to save money. Research shows that individuals are more motivated to save when they have a certain goal or reward at the end of their efforts.
Design
Final
Outcome
Aira was a very thought provoking and complex project where I integrated AI to better inform health choices and decision making.
Reflection
Teamwork and Communication
This is my first time working in a group in the design program and also in a group this large for a project. I was quite surprised at how fast we were able to get things accomplished within class time instead of working on it outside of class hours. I endeavour to carry the same strong teamwork into my other projects where its cross-team collaboration. I think the reason we were all able to work efficiently was because we were all of the same field.
The Value of Usability Testing
I was able to learn how certain design elements may not be clear to the user through conducting usability testing. I think it gave me an opportunity to realize how engrossed designers can be with our work and designs that we often forget or may not realize when our work requires changes. I hope that I can view my designs in a more objective manner so I can continue to make better improvements to my work.
What's Next
I look forward to working in more team based environments where I am able to hear ideas from others outside of my field. Mainly developers because designers work so closely with developers to create a product in digital design.