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IDK WEALTH

STARTUP CONTRACT

IDK WEALTH

Empowering young adults to take control of their finances through focused expense tracking and savings management.

ROLE

Design Lead

DURATION

2 Months [2024]

TEAM

Lance Chen [CEO]
Jayson Hao [CTO]

SKILLS

Product Design
UI / Motion Design

OVERVIEW

As the sole designer, I created the founding design for IDK Wealth, a startup finance app that stands out in the market by addressing the true needs and financial anxieties of young adults. I developed a clear visual identity and turned complex product ideas into an intuitive experience, delivering a prototype that resonated with potential users.

INTRODUCTION

Canadian young adults with irregular income—whether students or job seekers—struggle to connect their spending habits to long term financial goals.

Existing budgeting tools designed for steady paychecks don't address their needs, and the lack of financial oversight can create stress around spending decisions.

My Design Challenge

How can I help young adults in Canada make better spending choices that align with their goals, and feel confident in taking control of their finances?

SOLUTION

Simplifying budgeting with a beginner-friendly savings app.

Personalized Goal Setting

Using the SMART goal framework, the user can not only define their goal but also identify specific spending areas to reduce, as well as the difficulty level of each one.

Daily Saving Progress

Saving is defined as "money not spent," creating opportunities for daily progress toward goals. This approach helps users feel more in control of their finances, and creates opportunities for clear daily steps to success.

Automated Expense Tracking

Through AI-powered categorization, the IDK Wealth app accurately classifies expenses despite the privacy limitations of Canada's banking system. Any occasional errors are flagged and are easily correctable by users.

RESEARCH

Understanding the problem

Through iterative research, we started with broad interviews to understand financial challenges faced by young adults. We then tested various product features to validate their potential value. This process helped us identify our core target users: individuals with irregular income who wanted to improve their spending habits, but lacked effective tools to do so.

Key insights emerged from our research and interviews, which I framed as questions to guide my design.

How can we make budgeting useful to those who think they don't need it?

Many young adults avoid budgeting apps, seeing them as unnecessary until they have stable income, yet still feel anxious about their finances.

Focusing on specific spending categories the user can control would make the app more relevant to their current situation.

How can we reduce the friction of expense tracking in Canada’s closed banking system?

Canadian banks' closed banking system makes automated expense categorization less effective than in the USA, making it difficult to track spending.

Implementing AI-powered categorization to automatically classify transactions based on merchant names.

How can we motivate users to actively work towards financial goals?

Traditional budgeting methods don't effectively engage young adults in goal-setting and tracking.

Integrating SMART goal creation to help users set meaningful, trackable targets they feel accountable for.

From this, I concluded that young adults need a simplified savings app that reduces friction in expense tracking while making financial goals feel immediately achievable through specific, controllable spending categories.

DESIGN

Designing a Simple and Manageable Experience

I focused on defining core features by designing the main user flow after account setup and bank connection. Overall the flow was very simple, serving both user needs and startup constraints.

Creating an Energetic Visual Identity

Building upon the existing brand, which featured electric magenta as the primary colour, I developed a broader colour palette with complementary hues and selected a modern, friendly typeface. These design choices resulted in a youthful and progressive visual identity.

Animated Assets

A friendly mascot reacts to user progress.

The mascot visualizes saving progress while creating a friendly, approachable experience. I designed and animated it using Lottielab.

Notable Explorations in Design

Displaying savings progress clearly was essential to the user experience. However, we used a unique method that calculated savings by comparing spending to usual patterns, allowing for negative savings when spending exceeded typical amounts. Therefore, I needed to design a visualization that could effectively show both positive and negative progress.

Iteration 1: Vertical ‘temperature-control’ progress bar

Drawing inspiration from temperature control dials, which typically feature semi-circular designs with positive and negative ends, I oriented the visualization vertically so users would instinctively want to "climb" toward the top of the bar.

When testing with users though, it was not as intuitive as I thought it would be - it was hard to tell at a glance what the goal was. Furthermore, it was difficult to make it use the screen space effectively.

Iteration 2: Familiar progress bar with dynamic scaling

User testing revealed that a more conventional progress bar design would be more effective. To handle negative values, I implemented a dynamic scale that adjusts and changes color when savings dip below zero. Users found this to be much more intuitive.

We also needed a clear line graph to compare user progress against recommended progress, but the graph's visual complexity posed a challenge on our already busy home screen.

Iteration 1:

The first iteration was simple, but the axis labels were not too clean.

Iteration 2:

In an attempt to reduce visual clutter, we displayed current axis values directly above the chart. We also incorporated a goal line to help users quickly gauge their progress.

Iteration 3:

The final iteration simplified the interface by using a touch-and-hold gesture to reveal previous values, while incorporating the goal line into a separate "remaining time" view through progressive disclosure.

REFLECTION

I learned that communicating design decisions well takes focused and strategic effort.

Throughout this project, my biggest challenge was misalignment with my team regarding the rationale behind design and product strategy changes, which led to delays and unfocused user research. I learned the importance of putting myself in others' shoes to understand their perspectives, leading to better communication.

If I had more time, I would test the product with real users.

In a startup, rapid iteration and testing are often crucial for success. While we conducted user testing on a previous version of the app, we haven't yet tested the current version presented in this case study. Testing with real users would reveal which elements are effective and which need revision, helping to shape the design's future direction.