MIND
OVER
MONEY
An app that provides encouragement and support to young adults feeling anxious about their finances. By demonstrating real, attainable ways to feel more in control of their financial wellbeing, Mind Over Money helps them gain perspective and clarity about their financial situation and opens the door to a healthier mindset.

Using Mind Over Money, users can learn:

  • Ways to save money
  • Methods to combat overspending
  • How to be present with their day-to-day finances

Mind over Money is not a budgeting app, but instead helps users set achievable goals to break free of limiting mindsets and mental obstacles to financial freedom.
TIMEFRAME
3 WEEKS
TEAM
ALLISON AUSTAD
SUSAN EICHMAN
JEFF LOCKE
DANI MACUK
QUINN MARTELL
FARIA RAHMAN
TOOLS
AFTER EFFECTS, FIGJAM
FIGMA, GOOGLE SUITE
SLACK, TRELLO, ZOOM
THE PROBLEM

Many young people experience overwhelming anxiety and stress when it comes to managing their own finances. While lots of banking and budgeting products exist, few help with the mental toll. Might there be a market opening for an app tailored to the financial needs of younger adults that also supports them emotionally?
OUR SOLUTION

Mind Over Money, an app that provides encouragement and support to young adults feeling anxious about their finances. By demonstrating real, attainable ways to feel more in control of their financial wellbeing, Mind Over Money helps them gain perspective and clarity about their financial situation and opens the door to a healthier mindset.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
DISCOVER
01
  • Interviews
  • Competitor Analysis
  • Survey
02
DEFINE
  • User Persona
  • Empathy Map
  • Affinity Diagram
  • User Journey Map
03
DEVELOP
  • Feature Prioritization
  • User Flows
  • Wireframes & LoFi Prototype
  • Style Guide
04
DELIVER
  • User Testing
  • Iterations
  • Hi-fi prototyping
05
REFLECT
  • Challenges
  • What we learned
  • Future Work
01

DISCOVER

USER RESEARCH
In order to understand what the app should look like, we needed to determine:

  • How do individuals manage their money?
  • What role do finances play in their lives?
  • What emotions come up when discussing finances?
INTERVIEWS
Interviewed 6 individuals to gain a clear understanding of what users need to help them with money management.
SURVEY
Conducted a survey that received 62 responses to gather actionable data on users' finances.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Performed a competitor analysis to determine what solutions are currently on the market and what they lack.
INTERVIEW TAKEAWAYS

After our interviews, we discovered the majority of participants struggle with the following:
OVERWHELMED BY FINANCES
Users are so disheartened by their financial situation that it pains them to even think about it and so they avoid thinking about it altogether.
AFRAID OF
UNFORESEEN EXPENSES
The greatest cause of financial anxiety is a lack of preparedness for expenses or emergencies that may arise without notice.
EXISTING APPS ARE TOO COMPLEX
The current slew of financial apps and tools are difficult to understand and don’t offer a personalized experience for the user’s emotional needs.
SURVEY FINDINGS

Our survey revealed the following statistics from participants:
AVOID FINANCES
25% avoid finances in order to manage stress during stressful financial times.
HIGH STRESS
48% say that they have a high average level of stress when actively thinking about their finances.
FUTURE SAVING
75% said that saving for their future was one of their biggest concerns for financial well-being.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
After analyzing competing products, we found current products lack these needed components:

  • ADDRESS FINANCIAL STRESS
The market is pretty solidly cornered for budgeting apps, but less crowded for apps that help with financial stress.

  • OFFER PERSPECTIVE
People worry they are alone in their financial struggles and are afraid to seek help. They need to know there are others in a similar position.

02

DEFINE

To define the problem and focus the development phase, we completed the following:

  • User Persona

  • Empathy Map

  • Affinity Diagram

  • User Journey Map
USER PERSONA: EMMA
Emma grew up in a small family and is close to her parents.
She went to the College of the Siskiyous near home and is now working in a bookstore in Bend. In her free time, she loves to snowboard and go
rafting with friends.

Future plans include starting her own business as a river guide, but thinking about managing the details of a small business seems overwhelming when she already struggles with her day-to-day finances.

EMMA
Age: 24
Work: Bookstore Clerk
Family: Single
Location: Bend, OR
GOALS:
  • To tackle finances and get a clearer picture of how much she can spend and save each month
  • To create an emergency fund and pay down debt
  • To manage her money without getting overwhelmed and avoiding her finances.

FRUSTRATIONS:
  • It’s so hard to save when extra costs keep coming up.
  • Banking tools and finance apps aren’t a perfect fit for my needs.
  • Planning for the future seems impossible when my I can barely manage my day-to-day expenses.
EMPATHY MAP
  • SAYS
    • It’s hard to leave money in savings without touching it.
    • Anxiety and money is a bad combo- you can really spiral yourself out.
    • Things will figure themselves out.
  • THINKS
    • I can take care of my current financial needs, but I struggle with saving for the future.
    • Spending money can be both stressful and a stress relief at times.
    • Attempting to manage my finances seems pointless at times because of the state of the economy
  • DOES
    • Keeps a budget, but doesn’t account for unforeseen expenses.
    • Struggles with consistent stress management.
    • Looks to her parents for financial guidance.
    • Has occasionally tried budgeting apps.
  • FEELS
    • It’s so hard to save when extra costs keep coming up.
    • Banking tools and finance apps aren’t a perfect fit for my needs.
    • Planning for the future seems impossible when my I can barely manage my day-to-day expenses.
USER JOURNEY MAP
UX SCENARIO
Emma, a 24-year-old bookstore clerk, feels the weight of anxiety creeping in as she navigates her unique financial journey. Struggling to keep up with expenses while juggling part-time work and pursuing her passion for literature, Emma often finds herself overwhelmed by financial stress.

GOALS
  • To get a clearer idea of what her spend/save ratio should be
  • Manage money proactively
  • Pay down debt
  • Create an emergency fund
INTRODUCTION
Faced with an unexpected expense, Emma starts to stress about her finances.
She searches for an app to help her manage her money and feel better about her finances.
1
2
TRY
She is guided to set personalized goals for her financial wellness that feel attainable.
She receives encouragement and support from the app through reminders.
6
7
DISCOVERY
Emma finds and tries Mind Over Money, which can help her meet her goals.
She sees that the app has all the features she wants to use and that it can help with her anxiety.
3
4
She goes through the app set-up and is guided through how to use the app.
5
RETAIN
Each week she sees an encouraging reminder about her goals and feels more confident about her finances.
Emma starts an emergency fund and is able to pay for an unexpected car repair without becoming overwhelmed.
8
9
03

DEVELOP

To develop a functional product that meets users needs, we created the following:

  • Feature Prioritization Matrix

  • User Flows

  • Wireframes

  • Lo-fi and Mid-fi Prototypes

  • Style Guide
FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
We created a feature prioritization matrix to decide which features we wanted to focus on. It resulted in the decision to prioritize these features:
GOAL SETTING
Helping users achieve goals related to financial wellness.

PERSONALIZATION
Users can choose custom goals specific to their needs and input their emotions for guided support.

MENTAL WELLNESS
Focus on relieving stress and anxiety related to finances.

STYLE GUIDE
We wanted to establish a brand that is gentle and encouraging for our users. To this end, we created the following style guide:

RELAXING COLORS
FRIENDLY & CHEERFUL AVATARS
SMOOTH TYPOGRAPHY
04

DELIVER

To gain feedback and iterate on our existing design, we did the following:

  • User Testing

  • Iterations

  • Hi-fi Prototyping
ITERATIONS
We conducted 3 rounds of user testing and used the feedback we received to make the following iterations:
  • Lo-Fi Prototype
    • Users were unsure how to navigate this page
    • The Emotions check-in seemed random and unneccessary
  • Mid-Fi Prototype
    • We added chunking to break the page up into parts and make it easier to digest and navigate
    • In user testing, we found people preferred a straight lined menu bar as opposed to wavy
  • Hi-Fi Prototype
    • Added a clear call to action with "today's to-dos"
    • Clearly outlined the steps a new user can take to get the most out of the app.
FINAL PROTOTYPE
The user research and iterative design resulted in this final prototype, shaped by refining interactive lessons and goal-setting features to simplify financial education. Usability testing informed intuitive UI solutions, ensuring an engaging and accessible experience. The final result is a user-centered app that empowers young adults to build healthy money habits with confidence.
Made on
Tilda