Project Overview
Penny is a cutting-edge mobile application designed to revolutionize personal finance management. With a mission to empower users in achieving financial wellness, Penny seamlessly integrates payments, budgeting, goal tracking, and financial planning into a single, user-friendly platform.
With the use of AI companion, Penny simplifies the complexities of managing money & redefines how individuals interact with their finances.
Age of Digital Payments
According to the Reserve Bank of India, digital payments through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have increased in the past 5 years. Due to its convenience people have resorted to the easiest way to pay via UPI.
The Inspiration
Being a regular user of the UPI gateway, the ease of making payments anytime and anywhere brought along the challenge of struggling to recall specific transactions. Moreover, the quick and effortless payment process also led to the inconvenience of unintentional overspending, as it was so convenient to make payments instantly.
Challenge with budgeting
The essence of effective budgeting lies in maintaining a record of all transactions. However, the introduction of UPI can occasionally pose challenges in this regard.
The convenience may pose a challenge of overspending, as the quick and hassle-free process can encourage impulsive purchases and users may struggle to track their expenditures.
Users might forget certain purchases, complicating accurate expense tracking. This forgetfulness can impede effective budgeting and financial planning.
Design Process
Adhering to the 'Discover, Define, Ideate, & Design' approach, I navigated the UX solution process. Given the uniqueness of each UX project, I incorporated necessary changes and maintained agility throughout the process.
The Problem Statement
Thus, with the aim of seamlessly integrating payments, budgeting, financial goals, and overall financial planning, a hypothesis emerges-
How might we help young professionals in effectively recording, tracking, and planning their finances amidst their extensive reliance on UPI for payments?
Competitor Analysis
Examining the absence of an app seamlessly integrating UPI and Financial Planning, including budgeting, the study focused on analyzing two budgeting apps and two UPI apps, each offering distinct services.
Insights
Evaluating these apps against the ideal features proposed by the solution revealed a surprising finding: budgeting apps within India are notably basic, falling short of meeting the comprehensive requirements of younger adults in their fast-paced lives.
Target User
Tailored for the tech-savvy Gen Z and late millennials, who are avid users of UPI services, this UX case study targets individuals and young couples. The solution is designed to cater to the specific needs and preferences of this user group.
Understanding the user's needs
User Interviews
To gain insights into the perspectives of our target users, I conducted a series of three interviews: two with individuals and one with a young couple.
The decision to conduct an interview with a couple arose from the recognition that young couples often encounter challenges when navigating their finances together. Therefore, to capture the distinct viewpoints and dynamics inherent in a partnership, I engaged in this additional interview session.
Reddit Discussion
Recognizing that discussions about finances can be sensitive for many individuals, I opted to initiate a Reddit discussion to gather anonymous and unbiased opinions and suggestions on how Indians handle their finances.
This Reddit discussion proved to be invaluable, yielding substantial qualitative findings that significantly contributed to my understanding of potential user needs.
User Personas
Tailored for the tech-savvy Gen Z and late millennials, who are avid users of UPI services, this UX case study targets individuals and young couples. The solution is designed to cater to the specific needs and preferences of this user group.
Key Findings
While some opt for a budgeting app for expense management, this method demands considerable manual effort and dedicated time. Moreover, when handling overall finances, individuals often turn to various apps and platforms, and then consolidate data from each for comprehensive financial management.
The Solution
The key findings suggest that users prioritize financial organization, budgeting, expense tracking, emergency fund building, and thoughtful investments. To address these needs, a comprehensive financial management solution could be developed, integrating features for budgeting, expense tracking, and investment management into a single platform. This solution should offer automation features to reduce manual effort and save time.
Additionally, incorporating data aggregation capabilities would streamline the process of consolidating financial information from multiple sources. By providing a centralized hub for managing all aspects of personal finance, this solution would offer convenience and efficiency to users, promoting better financial stability and planning.
Features
It was essential to capture all ideas stemming from the analysis of the interviews. During this phase, ideas were generated without immediate consideration of feasibility, marking the initial ideation stage. Subsequently, aligning with the design scope, I proceeded to prioritize a subset of features for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
The features were ranked in order of importance after narrowing down the primary functions of the app. These key functionalities include Home, UPI Payments, Accounts, Planning, and AI Penny.
Information Architecture
Color Palette
Typography
Stages of Wireframing
Final Screens
If I had more time…
There were certain steps to the ordering process that can be added to complete the entire user flow of ordering food through the allergy profile feature:
Investment User Flow: At present, I've integrated just a primary screen dedicated to investments. However, expanding the user flow to include investment options and offering tailored suggestions based on overall savings and goal allocations would significantly enhance Penny's usability as a comprehensive personal finance platform.
Payment only after budget allocation: During one of the usability testing interviews, a valuable suggestion emerged: to offer users the choice to proceed with payments only if they've selected a budget category. This option could be presented during the user onboarding process, allowing individuals to decide the level of strictness they prefer in managing their budget effectively.
Game-like savings difficulty levels: Expanding on this, another feature could involve allowing users to customize the "difficulty" level of adhering to their set budget. This functionality would empower users to tailor their budgeting experience according to their preferences and financial goals. Users could select a higher difficulty level for stricter adherence to their budget, prompting more frequent alerts or restrictions on spending. Conversely, opting for a lower difficulty level could provide more flexibility in budget management, allowing for occasional deviations without constant reminders. This customizable feature would cater to varying user needs and enhance the personalization of the budgeting experience within the app.
