The challenge
College students in the US suffer from debt and financial burden because many lack the necessary knowledge to get out of debt and create a better financial future.
The solution
To provide an online platform to equip students & college graduates with the proper knowledge on student loans, debt management, building wealth, saving/budgeting, and creating a better relationship with money & their finances through multiple resources: games, speaking with an expert, community building, and helpful articles.
Overview
Research & Planning
Goals
To understand the benefits of financial literacy for college students and graduates before conducting a user survey.
To identify certain features that need to be implemented within the platform to educate and engage college students and graduates.
Obtain & analyze secondary data through credible sources to fully comprehend financial literacy basics and current financial problems that college students and graduates and develop solutions using the platform.
Financial Literacy Basics
Through secondary research, I discovered the main benefits of financial literacy that the user can gain to enhance their financial, professional, and personal lives:
Financial literacy refers to the understanding of basic financial skills and concepts.
When people have financial literacy, they have the knowledge and confidence to make informed financial decisions.
It allows people to responsibly manage their money, borrow and save, and plan and invest for the future.
College students who prioritize financial literacy will be able to overcome these challenges and live comfortably in the future.
User Survey
I interviewed 12 college students (6 users) and graduates (6 users) between 18 - 35 years and either studying or have their bachelor's or master's degree. The purpose was to understand their financial situation during their college tenure and financial literacy level.
80% have private and/or federally funded student loans
30% have credit debt
25% have a car loan debt
20% have dealt with housing and food insecurity during college
*86% discuss with their peers about investing, budgeting, and saving but do not have any formal or personal financial literacy background
**22% have very minimal understanding of personal finance, specifically budgeting and saving and investing
* These particular participants come from upper-middle income households and have friends and/or family members in good financial standing
** These participants come from a lower socio-economic background and don't have much interaction with peers and/or family members about financial literacy
Competitive Audit & Analysis
The purpose was to find a unique value proposition (UVP) by analyzing direct & indirect competitors. Most have financial articles or courses for students to take. However, most lack a highly relevant feature: A social media or community component, which allows users to network, help one another, and learn from each other.
User Pain Points
knowledge
Most college students are unaware of how student loans operate or how to manage their finances during and after college. Many also don’t know where to go to get the proper knowledge.
support
There is very little support available on and off college campuses to help students understand personal finance.
community
There aren’t many online platforms that provide a community that solely focuses on different aspects of financial literacy for college students.
advisors
Financial advisors are expensive, and many students don’t have the financing to get the proper advice.
Hey, I'm Kelly!
Kelly's Journey Map
Kelly Bastman is a college student studying neuroscience who needs to to learn how to manage and consolidate debt because she wants to lower her student and credit card loans.
Goal: View student and credit card debt, then research financial tips
Personas
I created two user personas for different devices: Kelly was designed for mobile users since she is always on the go, and Carlos was created for desktop users since he uses his computer often.
Hi there, I'm Carlos!
Carlos' Journey Map
Carlos is a professional family man who aspires to become a software engineer. He needs to figure out a way to learn how to manage his debt, save, and budget so he can build wealth for him and his family.
Goal: Research wealth building and managing debt methods and any programs for college students
Carlos' Journey Map
Creating the design (mobile app)
Digital wireframes & Lo-fi prototype
I focused on designing a homepage filled with the main features that college students most likely need: Community to interact and learn from other users; Financial Articles, to provide free financial information on different topics; and Talk to an Expert, for students to get free advice on their personal finances and debt. Here's a link to test the prototype.
Usability testing
The usability testing was unmoderated and conducted remotely with five participants who are currently in college or graduated. Then, I created the affinity diagram below. Here are the findings:
Adding courses: Half of the users found it useful to provide courses so they can learn more about financial literacy.
'Add to Calendar' feature: Some users expressed the need to have a “Add to calendar” option to remind them of their upcoming appointment with the financial expert.
Age?: Many users were confused behind the age question when they were required to complete provide their personal details in the “Talk to an Expert” feature.
Keeping 'experts' feature: Although some users feel courses are more useful than advisors, others expressed the need to have both.
Homepage: This is the homepage, where the user can easily access their account, search, fixed navigation that denotes where in the app the user is located, and the essentials featured as “Community,” “Financial Articles,” and “Talk to an Expert.”
Talk to an Expert: Users can make an appoint with an advisor for 30 minutes and discuss their financial situation.
Community: Users can join different groups based on their financial needs and interests and communicate with other like-minded users.
Articles: One of the best ways for users to become educated through a variety of weekly, updated articles.
Courses: This feature will provide more in-depth information to educate users outside of the other features.
Refining the design (mobile app)
Mockups & Prototype
After the usability test, some users did not favor the course descriptions because they did not offer the benefits gained from taking a course. I changed the course description text to reflect this specific feedback. I also added a “start” button based on the participants’ comments.
The participants of the usability test enjoyed process of making an appointment to speak with an advisor. However, they discovered a couple of problems with the design: No button and long expert descriptions.I added a “Make appointment” button and shortened & unbolded the description for each expert.
Another suggested change is removing the checkboxes and replace with a larger writing space. Since users are booking experts with certain specialties, then the checkboxes are unnecessary. Instead, the user can inform the expert what they wish to discuss based on the expert’s specialty.
Financial articles
Community
Homepage
Confirmed Booking (expert)
After the lo-fi usability test, I implemented the changes based on participant feedback through hi-fi mockups. Then, I tested the hi-fi mockups with the same participants and implemented the recommended changes based on overall feedback.
Here's the link to test the prototype.
Creating the design (desktop)
Digital wireframes & Lo-fi Prototype
Designing the digital wireframes for the website & mobile version was sometimes fun and other times exhausting since the designs needed to match.
Because I provided the main iterations of the app (expert, articles, courses, & community), I decided to focus on the community page since most college students and graduates use online platforms to get the essential help they need from one another. Here's the link to test the prototype.
Desktop
Mobile (responsive)
Sitemap
I created a hierarchical sitemap to separate the general navigation for users to get account access within Ka-ching! (log-in/out, access profile, get support, and contact). Underneath is the main navigation to flow through the website.
Refining the design (desktop)
Mockups & Prototype
I focused on the community section of the responsive website based on one of the persona’s need and to demonstrate a different user flow contrast to the app. However, I changed the main picture above the fold to create a different visual experience for the website user and text feature to give the feel of making post.
Here are the links for the desktop & mobile versions.
For the responsive mobile version, I resized the text, images, buttons, and other features. I also added a photo roulette on the home page.(left) a hamburger feature with a flyout menu (right).
Usability testing
After creating the prototype, I held a usability testing with five participants who are currently attending college or graduated and use their computer often. The participants provided the following feedback:
Anonymous posting: Some users recommended allowing an option for Ka-ching! users to post anonymously.
Top navigation: Top order of top navigation (green) confused some users and many preferred to have the text moved to the far right instead of the middle.
Accessibility (a11y)
color
interaction
size
Used WebAim to check color contrasts between the background and texts
Ensured interaction transitions are between 500 ms to 600 ms.
Increased text size to help augment the reading experience
What I learned
I learned to be patient and take my participants feedback into consideration without taking it personally. There is always a new lesson gained through these iterations, and I want to consistently improve my skills and designs to make seamless flows for my users. I also enjoyed creating a platform that could make a positive difference for different communities.
Impact
The designs and user flows demonstrated that the platform will be of great use for the target users: College students and graduates. With the abundance of resources, users will be able to apply the knowledge gained in the real world, where they can manage their debt, save & budget, build wealth, and better their relationship with money.
“I love the platform overall and like the abundance of information it adds!” - Participant 1
“It’s a great! I feel there’s community, artiles, course and I can get some wins to get more understanding on financial literacy. Booking was very easy and gave me all the information I needed.” - Participant 2
Next steps
As I continue developing the app, there are multiple features I would like to add to further help the user:
Provide info on scholarship/grant opportunities for POC, rural, low-income, & merit students.
Feature to keep track of their loans.
Helpful videos and articles can go underneath the data
Credit card, personal, auto, school, and other
Overall cost of community college and universities for prospective students per quarter/semester & per year.
A page for users to set financial goals & encourage them to review them weekly or monthly.
