Quid

Developing a data-driven solution to help young adults build and maintain robust money habits for managing their personal finances

Role

UX/UI
Product Strategy
UX Research

Tools

Figma
Notion
InVision

Duration

10 weeks
View Prototype

Challenge

How might we help college students be more mindful of their money habits so that they can make consistent, well-informed financial decisions?

Overview

Quid was designed as part of my BrainStation capstone project, as a native iOS app that uses AI-based financial coaching and data-driven insights to help users learn about their money habits and make more confident financial decisions. With the ability to track budgets, save, and earn - Quid allows on-the-go users to learn about money, without stopping to take precious time for classes and such.

Discover

Problem Space

In 2021, financial illiteracy cost Americans over $325B. (NFEC) Studies show that financial literacy sets the foundation for making key life decisions, especially as an individual's financial responsibility increases. 
This is a topic I have firsthand experience with, having struggled with my finances in both college and after graduating, especially when I started working - I was juggling student loan repayments, savings, rent, bills, 401Ks, and investments and was terribly paralyzed with confusion.
When I looked at the research, undergraduate college students in the United States had some of the lowest levels of financial literacy, of any group.

Qualitative Research

Before I could dive into my interviews, I grounded my research in the key definition of financial literacy.
Financial literacy is " the ability to understand and effectively use various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing." (Investopedia)
To understand college students' knowledge of these various skills, I broke my research aim up into 3 categories to investigate:

Methodology

I initially conducted a 3-question survey to start to gather some initial insights that would best inform my interview guide. I then conducted a series of 5 guided, decontextualized, one-on-one virtual interviews that fit my participant criteria.

Research Insights

In my interviews, I found 3 key insights that would help advise the key issue I'd be working to solve.
I found that many college students, while aware of the importance of some key financial concepts, have trouble being mindful of their money behaviors, rooted in confusion on where to start learning and sticking to those habits.

The Discovery

College students have a hard time learning healthy money habits, and consistently sticking to them. I found that many college students, while aware of the importance of some key financial concepts, in general, have trouble being mindful of their money behaviors.
In order to help students truly learn about and manage their finances, I needed to address the disparity between learning and keeping healthy money habits.
My Focus
How might we help college students be more mindful of their money habits so that they can make consistent, well-informed financial decisions?

Define

Market Exploration

Before I could start using our gathered insights to create the persona I'd be designing for, it was important to conduct a competitive analysis.
How do other market players position themselves in the personal finance and money management problem space?

Meet Sabrine

Once I had chosen my key insight and explored the market landscape, I was able to use my user interviews to create the main persona I’d be designing for, taking into account their main goals to build more mindful habits and stick to them. Meet Sabrine...
In order to find opportunities for improvement, I put myself in her shoes. After a night out with her friends, Sabrine realizes she’s overspent and decides it's time to create a budget but – how?
She tries starting an excel sheet to build a budget but eventually abandons it when she sees how hard it is to start and maintain this – when she has no idea where to start.

Crafting the Solution

By putting myself in Sabrine’s shoes, I was able to pinpoint the opportunities for improvement in her experience, starting with helping her find a place to start learning, and allowing her to have continuous assistance and alerts for money management while providing incentives beyond “saving money.”

Task at Hand

I started to frame the problem through user stories and epics, which then informed the solution’s design requirements and the initial task flow.
Below is the primary task flow, where the use case is defined as that where a user utilizes the chat to help determine if they should buy an item, based on budget, need, and user trends.

Develop

Sketching it Out

I started to sketch out screens with multiple exploratory sketches before landing on my solution sketches below, using UI Inspiration. I wanted to make sure:
  • Data visualization made it easy for users to get integral information at a glance.
  • AI chat functions were easy to use and had just enough steps to help the user learn but still keep them engaged.
  • Rewards and points make learning fun and incentivize users to keep to their habits.

Pivoting My Approach

With my wireframes, I started conducting usability testing, where I found 3 key pain points came up that made me rethink the structure of my primary and secondary task flows.

Revised Task Flow

With this key notes, I changed the structure of the flow to best address Sabrine’s needs. Before, the flow left gave Sabrine more freedom in deciding if amending the budget was the best case for her.
After usability testing, I realized my users wanted an even more hands-on, guided approach to making these decisions, and there I also saw a need to utilize data visualization more strategically.

Deliver

Key Revisions

I started to amend my designs based on the revised task flow and usability testing nots, and came upon 3 key areas.

Brand Identity

With my revisions underway, I could commence building the brand. I envisioned this brand evoking a calm and cool feel, with a touch of vibrance.
"Quid" stood out as not only fun and different (making it easy to remember) but also gender and culturally ambiguous. After iterating and refining my brand, I was finally able to start injecting color, and bring Quid to life.

Final Prototype

Below are some of the key features of Sabrine's task flow in chatting with Quid to ask if she has the capability to make a purchase:
View Final PrototypeView Design System

Overall Budget Management

Once Sabrine logins into the app, she can see her overall budget and explore their budget categories.
  • Explore overall budget categories and statistics
  • Personalized and categorized budgets
  • Relevant immediate information and data

Key Initial Insights

After asking Quid her question and ranking her potential purchase as a "want," the AI gives Sabrine some insights about her spending, and she is advised to set a purchase timer instead of amending her budget.
  • Ranking purchases into wants vs. needs (sliding scale)
  • Building mindfulness about money prioritization
  • Data and insights reiterate need to think on purchases and reach money goals

Setting up a Purchase Timer

Sabrine decides to set a timer on the item that gives her time to think about if she truly should buy it. Quid asks for the item and store name, pulled up from her data.
  • Easy and simplicity of setting up a timer to keep potential purchases top of mind
  • Using financial data to pull relevant informtion
  • Building money and purchase mindfulness

Earning Rewards

Finally, she confirms all the information is correct for the timer to be started, and earns some points along the way!
  • Incentivize building better money habits
  • Redeem rewards for stock options or add towards budget
  • On-the-go guidance and coaching

Next Steps

As I neared the end of this project, I reflected on what's next for Quid.

Key Learnings

Last, but not least, I learned an immense amount about my users and myself, as a product designer.
Have a question, feedback, or idea?
Feel free to send it my way, let's connect!
Copyright (C) 2022 Rhea Shah