Money Mentor
Your go-to resource for financial learning, designed to be the trusted friend who answers your finance questions with clarity and without judgment.
View prototype
Industry
Finance
Mobile App
Timeline
03/2024-07/2024
~15-20 Hour per week
Role
UX Designer
UX Research
User Surveys
Empathy Mapping
Jobs To Be Done
How Might We
Site Map
User Flow
Wire Framing
Prototyping
Usability Testing
What is Money Mentor?
Finance can be daunting, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or self-conscious if you're not well-versed in it.
Money Mentor is designed to make financial matters more approachable and less intimidating, while also featuring a convenient budgeting tool to help you manage your finances with confidence and ease.
Identifying a Problem Worth Solving
My initial hypothesis was to design a tool to help young adults manage everyday responsibilities: scheduling doctor appointments, paying bills, and handling home maintenance. Navigating these tasks can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re just starting out.
But through research, I uncovered a crucial insight: with so many task management apps already on the market, this wasn’t the real pain point.
Instead, a more pressing need emerged, prompting a crucial pivot. The focus shifted to a deeper challenge…
Many young adults lack financial literacy.
The Problem
Young adults are expected to suddenly "know" how to budget, save, invest, and manage credit but no one teaches them how.
Business Goal
Empower users with financial confidence while reducing anxiety around money management.
Solution
Personalized goal setting
Visual progress tracking
Progressive disclosure
Research on the Pain Point: Why is Finance so Intimidating?
To craft a user-centered Money Mentor experience, I conducted research to deeply understand young adults' financial journeys: their perceptions, emotions, and relationships with money, to ensure a design that truly meets their needs.
Method of Research
Screener surveys
5 in person moderated testing
Target Audience
Young adults between 18-34
Who are seeking financial stability
Who have an interest in gaining financial knowledge
Who feels intimidated talking about money
Who wants to learn how their retirement account works
Who wants to gain knowledge on investing
41%
of surveyors learned about finances between the ages of 18-23
41%
of surveyors learned about finances between the ages of 24-29
40%
of surveyors do not tracking spending
Interview Questions
Before we begin, can you tell me a little about yourself and what you do for work?
What would you say your current state of financial knowledge is?
How important is financial literacy to you?
When and why did you start to realize it was important?
At what age do you recall first learning about finances?
Where did the source of your knowledge come from?
When was the first time you were presented with a big financial decision?
How many loans do you currently have, if you have any?
Do you understand the interest/tax on the loans?
Did you know what you would be signing for when you took out your student loans?
What do you think is the hardest part of managing your finances?
How often do you manage or review your finances?
What types of methods do you use for tracking finances or budget?
Do you think or know if you are spending within your means?
Do you have different accounts for emergency/savings?
How many credit cards do you have?
What does a credit score mean to you?
How are you planning for your future?
What types of investments do you do, if any?
How did you know to start a ROTH IRA/other investments?
Do you know how your 401K works?
Interview Insights
Limited Financial Education: Most participants had little formal education on managing finances, often learning basic concepts like saving but lacking knowledge of budgeting, interest, or loans.
Overwhelming Financial Decisions: Major decisions like student loans or mortgages were made without fully understanding the terms, leading to stress and long-term challenges.
Challenges in Debt Management: Participants often underestimated the impact of interest and found it hard to create realistic repayment plans.
Inconsistent Financial Tracking: While some used tools like budgeting apps or Excel, maintaining consistent habits was a challenge.
Fear of Financial Products: Tools like 401(k)s and ROTH IRAs felt intimidating, with many relying on friends or family for guidance but lacked personal understanding of how they worked.
Desire for Early Education: Nearly all participants wished they had been taught financial literacy earlier, either in school or at home, to better prepare them for adulthood.
“I was recently unemployed and didn’t have money to fall back on. I maxed out all my credit cards.”
“I don’t really think I fully comprehended what I was doing at that time (signing for student loans)”
“I learned the basic things like saving money but not what percentage to use or save or what goals I should have for myself.”
Building the Foundation for Financial Confidence: Understanding User Needs
After identifying key financial struggles, I developed two distinct personas to refine the target audience and highlight the app’s diverse user needs.
Spencer Lee, 22
Spencer, a full-time college student with a part-time job, is learning to manage her own finances. Her income covers school expenses and social activities, with some parental support. Having just opened her first bank account and credit card, she feels overwhelmed by budgeting and needs a simple, beginner-friendly tool to guide her.
Charlie Phillips, 30
Charlie is a career-driven professional focused on financial security and major life goals like buying a home and starting a family. Despite automating savings, she struggles to balance daily expenses with long-term plans. Managing student loans and multiple credit cards, she seeks tools to track spending, budget effectively, and learn about investing.
Who is Currently Solving the Problem? What Makes Money Mentor Different?
After identifying the problem, I analyzed existing market solutions to differentiate Money Mentor from competitors, with NerdWallet being the biggest player. I focused on key ways to make Money Mentor stand out.
Beginning -Friendly
NerdWallet can feel overwhelming with information. Money Mentor can stand out with a minimalist, intuitive design that breaks down concepts step by step.
Niche Focus
While NerdWallet provides expert-written articles, Money Mentor could offer bite-sized, easy-to-digest lessons that feel more approachable, like quick financial “life hacks” or interactive quizzes that simplify complex topics.
Personalization
Unlike NerdWallet’s mostly static advice, Money Mentor could integrate visual progress tracking to encourage financial growth.
Ideating the Path: Designing Money Mentor's Map
By asking, “What does the user want to achieve?” and “How can we help them get there?”, user stories were crafted to uncover key routes, shaping the foundation for Money Mentor’s site map and user flows.
Defining the Key Routes to Design User Flow
User Insight
Users doesn't know how to budget or track spending
User doesn't know how to manage debt
User is concerned about retirement
User is scared to invest
User is concerned about being able to afford a home or pay for a wedding
User finds learning about financial literacy overwhelming
How Might We?
HWM help build a habit of budget and spending tracking to reduce spending?
HWM support users with motivation to learn about financial literacy?
HWM help users understand the importance of a savings account?
HWM make our users save money to manage their spending more efficiently?
HWM help users feel confident when it's time to start paying off their student loans, buy a house or plan for a wedding?
HWM we help users with education on investments and retirement accounts?
Key Routes
Creating a budget
Tracking spendings
Learning about finances
User Flow
Crafting the Visual Identity: Addressing User Needs Through Design Elements
I began visualizing how Money Mentor could seamlessly guide users through budgeting, saving, and financial planning. This stage focused on creating intuitive layouts and features that align with users’ needs, setting the foundation for a user-friendly interface.
Key Features of Product
Beginner-Friendly
Guided Budget Set Up – Breaks budgeting into small, digestible steps.
Tips and Explanations – Provides explanations while guiding users along the process.
Niche Focus
Personalized Learning Hub – Financial education is tailored to different learning styles with articles, interactive lessons, and videos.
Featured Education Posts – Curated content tailored to the user’s financial journey.
Personalization
Goal Tracking Dashboard – Users can easily monitor their financial progress with a clear, visual breakdown of their goals.
Bill Calendar – A calendar view highlights upcoming bills, helping users stay on top of due dates and avoid late fees.
Savings Milestones – Progress bars and achievement badges celebrate small financial wins, keeping users motivated.
Low Fidelity Wire Frames
After developing the key features, I focused on selecting the visual elements: colors, icons, illustrations, and typography to enhance the overall user experience. These design choices were made to not only align with the app’s goals of simplicity but also to foster a sense of trust and engagement. By carefully crafting these elements, the app becomes more approachable, helping users feel confident and empowered in their financial journey.
Colors
Typography
Font Style: San Francisco Pro
Font Weight: Regular, Bold
Font Sizes: 16, 18, 20, 36
Button Font Weight: Regular, Bold
Buttons
Accessibility
Icons
Illustrations
Testing the Prototype: Defining Metrics of Evaluation
During the testing stage, I conducted usability testing where participants completed three key tasks to assess the app's functionality and user-friendliness. These tasks were designed to ensure Money Mentor effectively supports users in managing their finances with ease and clarity.
Task Completion Rate
confirms that users can successfully complete the financial tasks without friction or confusion -> Indicates that the platform is easy to navigate.
Time on Task
helps ensure that tasks like budget creation, expense tracking, or setting savings goals take a reasonable amount of time -> Users feel motivated and empowered to take the next step.
Pre/Post Survey
Measures users' confidence in their financial knowledge before and after using Money Mentor -> Confirms whether the platform effectively boosts users' financial confidence.
Usability Testing Script
Task 1
“To begin, we will assume you have already signed up and need to create your budget. After you create your budget, add a new item under transportation.”
Task 2
"You just made a purchase at Sephora and you are looking to add that to the budget you have just created. How would you do that?”
Task 3
"You're looking to decide between 2 credit cards, the Citi Diamond & Wells Fargo Platinum, and apply for it on the app - How would you go about that?”
Round 1 of Testing
Completion Rate
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
80%
100%
20%
Time on Task
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
54 sec
16 sec
3 min 29 sec
User Satisfaction
"I really like the savings portion where I can see how much I've saved and what's left."
"The credit card comparision screen is very easy to read."
"I love the education page. I'm wedding planning right now and would definitely use an app like to to keep myself organized."
Improvement Feedback
“I don’t think I would have known to scroll sideways”
“A little confusing how the credit card portion shows credit cards but then it also says view all, what are the credit cards shown on the page then?”
Implementing Feedback
Before
After
Updated UI to condense information and reduce screen space
Updated category verbiage for users to know how many options to expect
Added quick access to credit score check
Round 2
Task Completion
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
100%
100%
80%
↑
↑
Time on Task
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
47 sec
15 sec
2 min 9 sec
↓
↓
↓
Task 1: Increased by 25%
Task 2: No changes
Task 3: Increased by 300%
Task 1: Reduced by 12.96%
Task 2: Reduced by 6.67%
Task 3: Reduced by 33.49%
By increasing the task completion rates and reducing the time on task rates, this proves that users can complete financial tasks more efficiently, making the process less overwhelming and helping alleviate anxiety around managing finances.
"Has your confidence in managing finances improved after using Money Mentor? (1-5)"
80% of testers reported feeling more confident with managing their finances after using Money Mentor.
"What features helped make finances feel less overwhelming?"
100% of testers appreciated the progress meters to measure their financial goals.
"How likely are you to continue using Money Mentor? (1-5)"
100% of testers indicated they are likely to continue using Money Mentor. (Rated 4/5 on a 5 point scale)
The Ongoing Journey of Enhancing a Product
After testing, I saw an opportunity to improve the UX of the expense page by consolidating the "Recurring" options, reducing button clutter and preventing user overwhelm.
