Ideation
I facilitated a workshop with stakeholders to write down all of our existing assumptions on who our user is, their goals and needs, and the root of their problem. We then used that to define a clear and focused problem for the team to align on.
Problem statement
Young working professionals need a way to make informed financial decisions to feel less stressed about upcoming life events, but don’t know where to turn for personalized financial help.
Research
I conducted a survey and one-on-one user interviews with 5 users to validate our assumptions and deepen our understanding of the problem space.
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Target users nearing their goal
Our initial user recruitment missed the mark: we discovered that users needed to be within 12 months of their financial goal for it to become urgent and therefore actionable, rather than having distant aspirations.
Recommendation
Recommendation
The product should deliver information that users can trust, like advice that comes from their friend. It could also provide pathways for users to access mentors and industry experts.
Users seek real advice
Users avoid discussing finances due to stigma, especially with family, but trust friends and Reddit communities most for their honest, detailed advice from real people.
Financial advisors feel out of reach
Users had no experience with financial advisors, believing they lacked sufficient assets to justify professional consultation, and preferred free advice from friends or self-directed research.
Recommendation
Our users don’t view financial advisors as an accessible option. How might we shift their perception?
I created a persona based on what we know about our user, to help the team emphasize with them and to ensure that design decisions reflect their needs.
Affinity mapping
We brainstormed product features anchored to the following "How Might We" statements:
Features to prototype and test on our users were prioritized through dot voting.
Usability testing
I created low-fidelity prototypes to validate our hypotheses with real users, focusing on the home-buying financial planning journey to identify which features resonated most and where pivots were needed.
Users need a way to compare different scenario options and want to understand how various factors are going to affect the overall affordability of the house. They are also looking for advice that can guide them into making responsible decisions.
While users responded positively to the cost prediction calculator and the straightforward advice tooltips, these features likely exceed MVP scope and should be prioritized for subsequent releases.
Lo-fi sketch of a scenario builder
Lo-fi sketch of an activity feed
Seeing peers achieve similar financial goals motivates users and validates their own journey, driving continued engagement with the platform's social features.
The polarized user reactions (50% negative, 50% willing to engage with friends) highlighted gaps in our user research and core audience understanding, leading us to postpone social feed development in favor of deeper user discovery work.
Users prefer navigating financial decisions with help from their peers, drawing strength from shared goal achievement and crowd-sourced insights from others with similar experiences.
All users responded positively to peer groups, expecting forum-style communities with shared experiences and location-based connections. The altruistic and democratic nature of discussion boards builds trust and could create monetization opportunities through tiered membership levels.
Lo-fi sketches of a goal-based community
Lo-fi sketches of a progress tracker and achievements
Financial planning for home-buying can become an entertaining, game-driven experience that uses incentives and rewards to sustain user engagement and goal achievement.
Users appreciated the visual goal progression as a helpful progress tracker and structured to-do list, but found gamified elements like badges, streaks, and points confusing and deceptive, leading us to deprioritize this concept.
Key takeaways
The support community emerged as our strongest concept, with both research rounds consistently validating this solution having the highest value among all tested hypotheses.
Tone plays a crucial role; users don’t want to be treated like children that need games and rewards to feel motivated towards a very serious goal.
Key screens
I worked closely with the founders to design 3 key screens for the investor pitch, that told a compelling story and supported our strongest concept.
Onboarding
The onboarding flow prompts users to select their financial goal and input their information. Profile completion enables personalized recommendations and full platform access.
High fidelity screens of the onboarding steps
High fidelity screens of recommendations following onboarding
Personalized recommendations
Users get customized advice based on their financial profile, featuring educational insights on goal impact and suggested actions such as joining relevant communities or connecting with financial advisors.
Join a community
Users can join communities with others pursuing similar goals, receiving interaction guidance in the Welcome section and the ability to access active discussions, search functionality, or premium private groups featuring challenges and events.
High fidelity screens of the recommended group page
