LemonWise
Reimagining Financial Literacy For New Grads
Lemonwise is an app designed to help new grads develop financial literacy and healthy money habits. It combines a learning hub, goal-setting tools, and actionable investment opportunities to create an engaging and seamless experience for managing finances.
Team
2 Designers
2 Researchers
Timeline
3 Months
Role
Led the project’s vision and developed the visual branding. I collaborated with the team to conduct usability testing.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Helping new grads invest early so they can build financial literacy and nurture healthy money habits for long term success.
“I just graduated and I’m making my own money for the first time. What do I do now?!” 🤔
That's great! When life gives you lemons… make lemonade 🍋
SOLUTION
A symbiotic relationship between learning, investing, and reaching financial goals.
The learning hub equips users with essential financial knowledge, which they can immediately apply through the app's investing features.
This integrated approach ensures that users not only gain financial literacy but also see the tangible impact of their knowledge in achieving their goals.
HOME PAGE
One-stop-shop for all your financial overviews
Gives users a general overview with customizable widget-based summaries
Each section can be clicked on in order to redirect them to a more extensive section.
SPENDING VISUALIZATION
No frills way to track spending
Spending patterns and analytics are designed to be non-threatening and easy to understand.
GOAL SETTING
Goal-setting made simple
Users are guided through a smooth and intuitive onboarding process that makes setting long-term or short-term goals effortless
INVESTING
Partnerships with external banking companies
Lemonwise is linked with external banking/investment apps so it pulls accurate live stats from their existing portfolios
INVESTING
Improving education and transparency on investment terms
Rather than assuming users understand investment terms and setup, consistent onboarding is provided for all users. Product tours and tooltips highlight unfamiliar terms and features.
LEARNING HUB
Quiz-based modules
Modules that adapt and grow in complexity as users enhance their financial literacy which ensures continuous learning
Despite students and young people investing at an all time high 📈 basic financial literacy remains globally low 📉
USER RESEARCH
Interviews were conducted with eight new graduates, aged 21 to 26, including both employed and unemployed individuals.
We wanted to understand how students, particularly those who are financially independent, manage their finances, and what resources or tools they currently use.
Interview Structure & Sample Questions:
01 Understanding Daily Financial Habits
"Can you tell me a little bit about your day-to-day spending habits?"
03 Evaluating Spending Awareness
"What would you do if you realized you were spending more than you had budgeted?"
04 Exploring Financial Goals
"Do you have any specific financial goals for the future? How are you planning to achieve them?"
Contextual Inquiry & Sample Questions:
01 Interface Walkthroughs
"Can you walk me through your thought process while navigating the current app you use?"
02 Reflections on Financial App Usage
"Which finance apps do you primarily use for managing your money, how effectively do they meet your needs?"
USER PAIN POINTS
6/8 reported challenges in tracking spending, which led them to abandon budgeting practices.
6/8 is interested in investing but have no idea how to
5/8 participants mentioned a desire for better data visualization.
USER PERSONA
HIGH-LEVEL GOALS
How do we want the flow to work?
Using the information architecture, I mapped out task flows to explore how a user would create a new goal, in this example, planning a budget for a holiday trip to Korea. I selected this task to identify the app’s MVP features and evaluate how seamlessly the process could incorporate the investing contributions aspect.
WIREFRAMES
Let's start designing!
To jumpstart the design, I used the information gathered from our task flows to guide my design decisions for the initials wireframes.
USABILITY TESTING
We got to test it out now!
We then conducted user flow testing with 6 participants to refine the design before moving into the final iteration.
Home page feedback + iteration
Dashboard feedback + iteration
Adding goal interaction feedback + iteration
Goals page feedback + iteration
Investment onboarding feedback + iteration
Investment onboarding feedback + iteration
How do I approach the branding to resonate with our audience?
We knew our target demographic were Gen-Z new grads therefore the design should use bright, vibrant colours with bold, modern typography and playful illustrations such as lemons and emojis.
How about lemons?
I chose lemons as our theme, tying into the phrase "when life gives you lemons…" aligning with the concept of making lemonade!
Key Takeaways
Simplicity over Gimmicks
At first, our team wanted to include every possible feature for LemonWise, from real-time financial advisors to a social media component.
Avoid assumptions, and prioritize understanding users
Initially, we didn’t give much thought to the investment aspect since we assumed there wouldn’t be much interest. Once we started diving into the research, it was clear we were wrong. The lesson in this was stepping back and letting user feedback guide the process.
What does the future of Lemonwise look like?
I would like to explore implementing a rewards system to encourage users to engage with the learning hub. This approach not only promotes consistent use of the learning hub but also reinforces the value of financial education in achieving their goals.