Change is the only constant in this technological era

Today, technology is seeping into almost all areas of our lives, be it education, healthcare, nutrition, banking or entertainment. This has happened to an extent that children are being exposed to technology during their formative years. While gaming and education are two popular areas that kids use technology for, certain areas are yet to gain that momentum.

In tech-savvy households, children are being taught how to handle their allowance money with the help of apps. While this has gained considerable popularity in the UK, that hasn't been the case in the US. As a curious being, I wanted to tinker and see what would it take to design a financial app for kids and nurture important decision making from early years.

Scenario

This was a commonly encountered scenario that participants expressed during the user research interviews. Safety and responsibility turned out to be two important insights gathered during the studies. Both parents and kids emphasized the need for parents having a hold on kids' finances up to a certain age. However, kids preferred to have some level of freedom when making financial choices without having to depend on their parents.

Parents expressed that they’d like their kids to learn financial concepts in a hands-on manner and understood the need for various degrees of freedom. Overall, research indicated that an app would be a good way to get started as kids are glued to their smartphones.

My research involved initial problem space understanding, user interviews and competitive analysis. I interviewed 5 participants, both adults and teenagers to get a first-hand view of the problem space.

In order to understand the problem paradigm even further and to design the architecture of the product, I went ahead and did some secondary research that shaped the design of this app.

• Stanford Marshmallow Test: You can either eat the marshmallow now or wait for a while so that you get another marshmallow. To teach the concept of delaying gratification.
• Money-matching: 1$ for every dollar saved and not spent on useless things. This can also be extended if they donated money. To teach the concept of interest and societal contribution.
• Trade-offs: To teach how resources are finite and encourage decision making. For example, “If I buy this, I might not be able to buy that.”
• Mental Pots: Saving for a music lesson or holiday etc. To teach about long-term rewards.

Home Screen

Gives a sneak peak of money in savings (Safe), checkings (Wallet), expenditure and allowance on a weekly basis.

Money Feed and Wallet

Money Feed shows all transactions whether additions or subtractions in real-time, whereas the Wallet screen is used to keep track of usage of money (how much is being spent, saved or rewarded).