Investigation

UX Research

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Design Thinking

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As the main focus for the execution of our project, we adopt the Design Thinking approach. This choice is based on their widespread recognition in our team, as well as their inherent ability to provide substantial flexibility in identifying user needs. This flexibility contrasts favorably with other design methods that tend to have stricter time constraints and follow a more linear development.

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Empathize

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Define

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Ideate

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Prototyping

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Test

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Empathize

Survey

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With the main objective of screening potential participants in various activities of the research phase and of collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, we approach a non-segmented group of individuals in order to obtain relevant information about usage habits, challenges faced and preferences regarding the current solutions that participants use to manage their personal finances.

During this phase, some significant insights were gained:

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69.3%

Of those surveyed, I admitted not using any method or solution to organize their finances.

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0%

of the users surveyed currently pay for the service they use to manage their finances.

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Empathize

Interviews

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After obtaining a significant sample of respondents that would allow us to identify at least 5 candidates for interviews, we proceeded to carry out in-depth interviews with the objective of exploring in more detail aspects related to habits of use, challenges faced, contexts of use and the reasons behind the preferences of one option over another.

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The selection of participants was carried out through the analysis of the survey responses, prioritizing the identification of extreme users, those who, for example, did not use any solution at all to organize their finances, as well as those who repeatedly and intensively used a solution to organize their finances.

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As a team, questions were formulated based on the survey, and key precepts were applied to obtain high-quality answers, such as avoiding biasing the questions, practicing active listening and using maeutics to investigate the underlying motivations of the users.

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Some of the insights gained during this phase included:

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Pain Points:

The current method of budgeting is not effective.

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It's difficult to track expenses and manage finances without a mobile app.

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The manual process of tracking expenses and income can be slow and error-prone.

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Saving money is crucial for future investments and personal development.

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Synchronizing between banking and financial management applications can be a challenge.

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Some users encounter difficulties with constant data entry.

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Bliss Points:

A mobile application that is simple and easy to use.

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An application that can track income, expenses and savings.

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An application that manages expenses in various categories.

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Flexibility to accommodate unexpected expenses and adjustments to budgets.

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Provide information and recommendations for better financial management.

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Integration with other financial tools or services.

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Define

Job to be done

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In our development strategy, we use the “Job to be Done” approach as an essential framework to define the problem we are addressing through the software. Inspired by the “Strategyn JTBD Playbook” methodology, our first objective is to define the market, identifying the executor of the work and understanding the client's “job to be done”.


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Click here to see the “Market Definition Canvas” in detail.

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Then, once we have collected relevant information about the market, we outline our “core functional job to be done”. Following the method proposed by Strategyn, we proceed to build a work map that consists of 8 different phases. This map provides a clear framework that allows us to optimize the execution of the “core functional job to be done”, which in turn enables us to design a digital experience that responds more effectively to the needs of users.

This approach gives us the ability to deeply understand the underlying motivations of users, allowing us not only to address their immediate needs, but also to anticipate and adapt to their constantly evolving expectations.

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Click here to see the “Job Map Worksheet” in detail.

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Ideate

Building a Digital Solution for Organizing Personal Finance

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Based on the valuable insights collected during survey methods and interviews, together with the definition of our “core functional job to be done” and its respective work map, we embark on the ideation phase to determine the fundamental functionalities of our Minimum Viable Product (MVP). In this process, we prioritize the organization's key values, such as speed of development and cost savings, while at the same time we commit to offering users the greatest amount of value possible, adjusting to their needs.

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The design of the functionalities was carried out in collaboration with the team, using the job map as the main guide. We work together to design the most effective solutions that would optimize each phase of the job, ensuring that each added functionality was aligned with the expectations and requirements of the users.

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This approach allows us not only to address the problem areas identified during the empathy phase, but also to create a digital solution that is intuitive, efficient and capable of providing substantial value to users in their journey of managing their personal finances.

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See the solution ideation board here

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Prototyping

Style Guide

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To build our application interface, we utilized the Atomic Design methodology because most of the design team was already familiar with it, as it's an industry standard. This approach promised to provide significant consistency and granularity in designing various components of the system.

As part of establishing the foundations for our design system, we created a typographic scale with a ratio of 1.309, based on a 16px baseline. We employed the "Urbanist" typeface in regular and bold weights throughout, maintaining a line spacing of 120%. Other parameters were left at their default settings.

Here is the typographic scale applied to the sole typeface used in the application design:

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For the creation of our color system, we employed white as the primary color, used in most semantic cases throughout our application. Green was chosen as the secondary color due to its association with money. We implemented a grayscale scale to provide various semantic uses within the application, offering accents and structure.

Additionally, we incorporated variables in green, yellow, and red for user feedback messages: green for successful action confirmations, yellow for alerts that require attention, and red to indicate failed actions.

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Prototyping

Money Center App

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With the clearly defined scope and functionality of the MVP, we have advanced to the prototyping phase of the Money Center application. This stage focuses on prototyping the key functionalities of the application, specifically on the monitoring of expenses and revenues, as well as on the ability to set financial objectives.

Currently, our design team is immersed in this phase of the process, dedicated to bringing to life the conceptual vision of the application. The design of the application is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. This period allows us not only to visualize the user interface and user experience, but also to perform internal tests to ensure that the application meets usability and user satisfaction standards before moving on to the development and release stages. Meticulous attention in this phase will ensure that the Money Center App meets the expectations of both the organization and end users.

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Conclusions/Learning

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The Money Center design process has been an enriching experience, highlighted by the characteristics of our work team that fostered creativity and the freedom to experiment with different methods. This flexibility allowed us to explore in particular the “Job to be Done” method, which proved to be one of the most relevant research approaches today. This method has proven to be a valuable tool for accurately investigating the desirability of a digital product.

Money Center, as a result of this process, has established a solid foundation to effectively meet the needs of users. The application has not only been designed with key functionalities based on collected insights, but it has also been shaped by a deep understanding of the fundamental work that users want to do in the context of managing their personal finances. This project not only represents the creation of an application, but also significant learning about how to apply innovative and user-centered design methods. The combination of creative freedom and solid methodological approaches has paved the way for creating a digital solution that not only meets expectations, but also effectively anticipates and responds to the changing needs of users.

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