De’Bach

 END-TO-END MOBILE APP · FINANCE

Budgeting Just Got Easier: Budget with Friends for Rewards

OVERVIEW

Budgeting is Hard.

Do you find it hard to stick to a budget? Do you find budgeting stressful? If so, you're not alone. No matter how much time I spent allocating each dollar to a category, I can’t seem to keep to my budget. I get frustrated, blame myself and decide to give up.

What if the problem isn’t you, but the tools you’re using?

Although budgeting apps & spreadsheets do a great job tracking your money, they don’t focus on creating behavior change or providing accountability. You need more than an app or pure discipline to successfully stay within budget.

De'bach focuses on cultivating change in financial behavior through accountability

 

Role

UX Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer

Client

Concept Project for DesignLab UX Academy

Scope

Mobile Application, Design, Branding

Tools

Figma, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, Canva

The Challenge

Find an engaging solution to help educate Young Adults (Gen Z) on the basics of personal finance, before becoming financially independent.

 

The Solution

Debach is a mobile app that engages Gen Z to keep to their budget through accountability with friends and earning rewards.

Research: Empathize

How might we prepare Generation Z to increase their financial literacy before they become financially independent?

Research Goals

01. Financial Habits

Identify Gen Z's degree of financial confidence and their financial spending/saving habits.

02. Learning Style

Identify how Gen Z currently uses and learns from educational platforms (digitally).

03. Existing Apps

Analyze direct competitors & indirect competitors that have similar concepts.

My Assumptions

Gen Z is interested in learning to become more financially literate AND is interested in an educational finance app.

 MARKET RESEARCH

Finance Workshop

In order to figure out what to teach about finance, I needed to understand the subject myself. I attempted to learn from articles and videos but got overwhelmed trying to discern which ones were reliable.

That’s why I attended a personal finance workshop, which gave me a better framework of what to research and include in my app.

My notes from the finance workshop

 MARKET RESEARCH

Target Population: Zoomers (Generation Z)

Most research and effort have been invested in helping improve Millennials’ financial literacy. However, not much has been dedicated to Gen Z (1996-2012). I wanted my focus to be on this upcoming generation.

 

Gen Z & Technology

  • The first generation to grow up with computers, smartphones, and the Internet

  • 98% currently have a smartphone

  • 50% spend 10 hours/day on a device

  • 71% spend 3 hours/day watching videos

Gen Z & Finance

  • 72% mainly consider cost when making a purchase

  • 81% of Gen Z adults stress about money

  • 69% don’t know how much to spend now vs. save

  • Want to improve financial skills but unsure how

USER INTERVIEWS

User Testing & Observations

I interviewed a sample of six participants from Gen Z (1996-2001).

I asked about their current financial habits, confidence in different topics, and how they like to learn digitally.

 

Research Insight:

There is a need to help improve Gen Z’s financial literacy, but not through an educational app. They do not use or enjoy education apps. “Something about educational apps makes you not want to go back.”

Pivot! From Educational ➡️ Budgeting

I had to rethink the approach of an education app. Instead of focusing on finance as a broad category, I decided to concentrate on a subcategory, budgeting. This led me to research existing apps that are more engaging for users to use and develop habits.

RESEARCH

Competitor Research

I looked at current budgeting apps & apps that focus on developing habits, rewards, and accountability.

Competitors that were researched

Designing Priorities

DESIGN

Creating Personas

Based on my research, I created the fictional user, Olivia, who needs a budgeting app that will help her be proactive, rather than reactive.

Information Architecture

How does de’Bach work?

App Map

Initial Sketches

Exploring different ways to present data in a clear & engaging way. Inspired by the Forest Focus App (conceptually) and Duolingo (design’s look & feel).

Mid-Fidelity Wireframes

Created mid-fidelity wireframes based on the initial sketches.

High-Fidelity Wireframes

 Testing the Design

I tested a sample of five participants. I had them complete the challenges and share their initial thoughts.

 USABILITY TESTING

Challenge #1

Check on your current challenge progress, In It To Win It.

Task #1:

What information can you gather from these screens?

Task #2:

You see that Maddie is close to spending over her budget.

Send some encouragement to Maddie

Challenge #2

Your friend Sarah wants to partner with you in a new budget challenge.

Task #3:

Create a new budget challenge for you and Sarah.

You want to focus on spending less on Eating Out.

Challenge #3

Task #4:

Find out how many points you have.

Task #5:

If you have enough, redeem your points for an Amazon gift card.

USABILITY TESTING

Analysis & Findings

Feedback & Pain Points

  • All participants understood the purpose of the app

  • All participants successfully completed tasks

  • All participants initially thought they were competing against Maddie, not partnering with her

  • Need to clarify that it is a team effort, not a competition

Users’ Response

  • All participants found the rewards most appealing

  • Most participants would use the app if their friends used it

Iterations

Home Screen

Based on testing, users kept clicking the 'challenge progress header', thinking it was a button.

I changed it into a drop-down button where you can select from all current challenges.

Challenge Progress

Based on feedback, users thought that they were competing against Maddie, not partnering with her.

To clarify that this is a team effort, not competition, I tried changing the copy to make it more clear.

I also tried using a visual of a bar graph or one circle graph instead of two separate ones.

 Branding & Visual Design

NEXT STEP: THINGS TO THINK THROUGH

Can you cheat the system?

One user was honest in how he could see himself lying in order to get points.

  • Can you fake this? What if their info is using a credit card they don’t use.

  • “I could budget an amount that I know I won’t spend”

  • “Does the number of points earned change? If the longer your challenge period, do you get more points? Or just as long as I pass, I get points?”

My Learnings

Finding an incentivized way to help Gen Z tackle budgeting personally gave me hope for budgeting in my own life. All users who tested this product loved the concept and expressed wanting to use this now.

I love this project because it has taught me about being flexible and focusing on users’ needs, even at the cost of changing your original ideas.

This project increased my love for using UX/UI as a tool for problem-solving everyday issues we don’t think about. It was a rewarding challenge to build an app from the ground up, and be able to create something I am proud of & want to use myself.