Design A User Experience To Teach Teens Budgeting & Saving
UX Case Study
The goal of this UX Design project is to design a user experience that will teach teens budgeting & saving. This design process was done using the Progressive Enhancement method where we design for mobile-first. It was done by first designing an app.
After the app was fully designed and tested we designed it for responsive web apps, tablets, and desktop devices.
Problem Statement
Chad is a video game and gadget-loving high school student who needs to find an easy and convenient way to learn how to budget and save because he wants to be able to save money to buy more video games, gadgets, and a car.
Business Overview
HappyFinance is a local-based financial education organization that is focused on educating low and middle-income families about how to save, budget, and manage their finances. HappyFinance would like to improve its ability to connect with and educate teens about the importance of saving, money management, and financial independence. This will help their long-term goals of improving financial inequality for all families in Jamaica.
The Challenge
Most families that are classified as poor and middle income are making enough money to afford a good standard of living, own a home, and plan for retirement. The problem is that they were never taught to properly handle money leading to a substandard lifestyle. Lack of financial education is leading families into poverty and privation.
The Research Goal
The goal of HappyFinance in this project is to develop a platform that will teach low and middle-income teens proper financial and money-management education. This will play a massive role in increasing the financial health of the future generation.
The Research Approach
Primary & quantitative research was done with teens who are from low and middle-income families. We researched teens who needed to learn more about budgeting and saving to achieve personal and professional goals
My Role
The project was undertaken by me and I carried out all areas and duties of the UX Design process.
Project Duration
April 8, 2022 – April 20, 2022
My Responsibilities
- User research
- Wireframing – Paper and Digital
- Prototyping – Low- and High-Fidelity
- Information Architecture
- Visual Design
- Testing – Usability Studies & iterating on designs
- Writing
Understanding Our Users
User Research Findngs
Research Summary
I used HappyFinance’s user data to analyze their target audience and engagement across different age groups. Early in the analysis, it was discovered that teens lacked engagement in financial education. The assumption was made that this was because of a lack of programs and initiative to teach them in a way that they are best suited to learning.
The research found teens were never taught or catered to in financial education but were very interested in the topic. It was also determined that teens would prefer a simple way of learning, free of jargon and classrooms but more practical and applicable to their lives.
My UX Design Process
Empathize
Time spent learning about the users we need to provide a solution for such as their pain points, fears, and motivations.
Define
Learn about the market, competition, and other solutions to our users' problems that are currently available.
Ideate
During this phase a solution was proposed based on the information gathered in the previous two steps. The first usability study was done here.
Design
During this stage the information gathered from our first usability study was used to make incremental changes to the lo-fi prototype. It was then converted to a hi-fi prototype.
Implement
During this phase, we tested our hi-fi prototype in a second usability study to ensure that the app was ready for production and the market. Minor changes were made.
Evaluate
During this phase an evaluation of the entire UX Design process was done with feedback from users taken into consideration to evaluate the success of the project.
User Pain Points
Too Much Jargon
Current direct and indirect competitors use a lot of jargon that makes learning difficult for teens
Lack Of Availability
Current competitors don't provide a lot of information and free resources that are readily available for use
Lack Of Feedback
One major reasons many budgets fail is a lack of feedback on how to be successful with current plans
Lack Of Resources
Would-be budgeters and savers were often left frustrated by the lack of available resources such as formula sheets, templates, and spreadsheets that would be helpful in budgeting.
User Needs
- Users need an easy and entertaining way to learn how to budget and save
- Users would like to be able to track their daily spending and income
- Users need to be able to create budgets, goals, and savings plan geared to achieve goals
- Users need to be able to check their progress on achieving their budgeting goals
- Users need to be able to get tips and recommendations to improve their current budget plans and help them be successful
- Users would love to have access to free resources to use in budgeting like spreadsheets, templates, and formulas
User Personas
Age: 13
Education: Highschool Student
Hometown: Ligunea, St. Andrew
Family: Parents, siblings
Goals:
- Save enough money to buy a PS5
- Buy a car at 16 years old
- Get a new iPhone for Christmas
Frustrations:
- “I need to learn how to budget in a way that’s easy for me to understand”
- “There isn’t an easy way for a high school student to learn budgeting or saving”
- “I can’t find an easy way to learn how to save money without overspending.”
User Story
Chad is a video game and gadget-loving high school student who needs to find an easy and convenient way to learn how to budget and save because he wants to be able to save money to buy more video games, gadgets, and a car.
Chad is a 13-year-old high school student at Campion College in St. Andrew. He is currently in the 8th grade and loves gaming and making memes and viral videos for Tik Tok and Instagram.
To be able to do the things he loves his parents have decided that he should learn how to save and budget. By doing this he’ll learn the value of money early on, be able to buy all the games and tech that he wants, and become financially responsible as a teen. Chad is looking for a fun and easy way to learn how to budget and save.
User Journey Map
| Action | Get A Pen & Notebook | Write Down All Spending | Write Down All Income | Calculate Profitability | Prepare A Manual Budget Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Task List |
A. Find a dedicated notebook for budgeting and saving B. Prepare it for entering data C. Carry it with you everywhere |
A. Manually write down all spending B. Manually calculate percentages and totals C. Manually track spending |
A. Manually write down all earnings B. Manually calculate percentages and totals C. Manually track spending |
A. Grab a calculator to do the calculations B. Manually calculate totals and percentages C. Manually try to display data |
A. Try to forecast a reasonable budget for the coming month B. Manually try to analyze data from the past month C. Manually try to identify trends and areas of improvement |
|
Feeling Adjective |
●Tired ●Frustrated when she forgets to carry the notebook |
●Tired by all the work involved ●Frustrated when she makes a mistake |
●Sometimes forget to do the work
●Tired by the tedious process |
●Annoyed that there isn’t an easier way to do this ●Frustrated ●Tired |
●Frustrated ●Overworked ●Fatigued |
|
Improvement Opportunities |
Create an easy to use digital format for budgeting and saving |
Create a feature where you can take a picture of receipts to add data to budget sheet |
Make it easy to enter data into your budget by filling out a few fields |
Manually calculate and display results and key metric |
Provide a tool that automatically generates spending & Saving scenarios for a budget, analyze data, and display forecasts |
Low-fidelity Prototype
Usability Study
Usability Study Parameters
Study Type
Unmoderated usability study
Location
Jamaica, remote
Participants
5 users
Length
15 minutes
User Research Summary
I used HappyFinance’s user data to analyze their target audience and engagement across different age groups. Early in the analysis, it was discovered that teens lacked engagement in financial education. The assumption was made that this was because of a lack of programs and initiative to teach them in a way that they are best suited to learning.
The research found teens were never taught or catered to in financial education but were very interested in the topic. It was also determined that teens would prefer a simple way of learning, free of jargon and classrooms but more practical and applicable to their lives.
Digital Wireframes
Before Usability Study
Summary of Design Process
After ideating and drafting paper wireframes my focus switched to creating a digital wireframe that focused on providing several interactive and engaging learning methods, as well as goal tracking to help keep budget targets top of mind.
Guide for Design
Large and colorful chart of current progress towards achieving the most urgent goal. This keeps users engaged.
Choose from a list of interesting and informative tutorials to learn about budgeting and saving.
Option to view top 3 upcoming budget targets and view basic info about them. Increases engagement and chance of success.
Large and captivating image of a game to teach budgeting & saving.
Findings Of Usability Study
1. Update Budget
We found that users wanted a more intuitive display to identify the ability to update a budget by taking pictures.
2. Games
We found that users loved playing games that taught budgeting and saving versus watching videos and tutorials.
3. Confirmation Messages
Users wanted a clear indication of confirmation that an action like creating an account or budget was successful.
Hi-Fi Prototype & Final Mockups
App, responsive web appm tablet, and desktop versions shown below.
Second Usability Study
Usability Study Summary Of Responsive Web Platform Done After App Development
Before Usability Study
After Usability Study
Summary of Changes
Before the usability study, there wasn’t a confirmation screen after an account was created, a budget created, or a budget updated. Most users were frustrated by this lack of confirmation message.
Summary of Changes
Before the usability study, the camera icon to be used to take pictures of receipts when updating a budget was not very clear and easily identified in the usability study. This was fixed in the mockup.
Before Usability Study
After Usability Study
High-Fidelity Design Decision Analysis
Design Decision Analysis
The mockup shows a screen where users play games that will teach teens about budgeting and saving.
The second mockup shows a screen where users can track their progress towards their goals, make changes, and get tips to improve their budgets.
Design Decision Analysis
The mockup shows a screen where users can use the cameras of their mobile devices to take a picture of their receipts and automatically input the data into their budget. This helps with tracking income and expenses.
The second mockup shows a screen where users can use voice commands, search, and input from anywhere in the app.
Accessibility Considerations
Voice Command
Voice command and voice search has been added to make navigation, task completion, and content reading easier for people with disabilities.
Interactivity
Clear labels for interactive elements that can be read by screen readers.
People With Disabilities
The website is added with alt text added to all images to allow screen readers and other assistive technology to help people with disabilities.
What I've Learned
What I learned:
I learned that there is a real opportunity to create and deliver a product that is helpful for improving the standard of living of poor and middle-income families. By designing for the user and iterating after careful user testing the design and product has the highest chance of solving real, day-to-day social problems that are in our communities.
Impact Of Design:
The design of the platform went very well and was well-received by teens. More teens are becoming financially savvy and better at budgeting, saving, and handling their money. Popular among users are the games and the ability to take a picture of receipts to add an income or expense to their budget.
Next Steps
More Diverse Product Testing
Improve the accessibility of the product by testing the high-fidelity prototype with more people with disabilities.
Further Research
Conduct research on how well users transition from using the app to using the responsive web app and desktop application
Increase Users
Make HappyFinance a popular part of local schools in their Business, Economics, and Family Life classes to make financial education easier to access for low and middle-income families.
More Resources
Add more games, videos, and free resources to the platform to be available for users.
Let's Connect!
I am open to more projects in the field of UX Design with an added interest in Product Design, UX Generalist, UX Research, UX Visual & Interaction Design, and UX Writing.
Let us talk more about your next project and how I may bring value to your company and team. I can be contacted at www.jabezroberts.com/contact or info@jabezroberts.com.