HomeEconomics: End to End Mobile MVP
Building Trust and Confidence in Millennial Money Management
PROJECT OVERVIEW
HomeEconomics is a financial literacy app tailored to millennials, a generation that often experiences anxiety, distrust, and decision paralysis around money management. As the UX/UI Designer and Researcher, I created three high-fidelity mobile prototypes and conducted user testing to identify a viable MVP. The goal was to build a clear, motivating, and trustworthy tool that supports users’ goals while reducing the overwhelm of planning for stability, experiences, and long-term milestones.
ROLE: UI/UX Designer + UX Researcher
STAKEHOLDERS: This is a theoretical project as a student at Designlab
TIMEFRAME & COMPLETION: 4 weeks, 2025
FIELD: FinTech
BACKGROUND
Millennials—born between 1981 and 1996—entered adulthood during the financial crisis and received less federal support than previous generations, shaping their skepticism toward financial institutions. While new technology offers an abundance of financial tools, many lack the foundational knowledge to use them effectively. Research highlights this gap: Only 11% of millennials scored highly on the TIAA Institute-GFLEC P-Fin Index, while 28% demonstrated very low financial literacy. This disparity underscores the need for products that strengthen both confidence and competence in personal finance.
OBJECTIVE
Understand millennials’ emotional and psychological relationship with financial literacy and identify what motivates them to improve it. Through qualitative research, I aimed to uncover key pain points, sources of overwhelm, and opportunities for support. These insights informed the design of a financial tool that builds literacy, increases confidence, and empowers users to make informed decisions.
RESEARCH METHODS
User interviews
Competitor analysis
Affinity mapping
Usability tests
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I compared You Need A Budget (YNAB), Paven, and Betterment, three finance apps that my interview subjects brought up, that offer their users budget and provide personalized financial guidance.
Similarities
All platforms charge for their services (subscription or percentage-based).
Each offers personalized experiences guided by user inputs.
All provide financial guidance or education to support better decision-making.
Each helps users manage finances through investing (Betterment), budgeting (Paven, YNAB), or both.
All include financial activity tracking (investments, spending, or budget adherence).
They encourage goal setting across savings, budgeting, or investments.
All emphasize simple, user-friendly interfaces to reduce friction.
Differences
Pricing models differ significantly across platforms.
Paven focuses on education, while YNAB focuses on budgeting behavior and Betterment on investment management.
Paven is employer-distributed, unlike YNAB and Betterment.
YNAB and Paven do not offer investing, whereas Betterment is investment-centric.
Product positioning varies: YNAB = budgeting app; Paven = budgeting + education; Betterment = robo-advisor.
Betterment offers comprehensive financial planning; Paven and YNAB stay closer to budgeting.
USER INTERVIEWS
I conducted exploratory interviews with six participants who were born between 1984-1995 to understand how millennials think, feel, and make decisions about their finances, focusing on users’ daily money habits, emotional relationship with finances, trust in financial institutions, experiences with financial apps, long-term goals, and gaps in financial literacy. The questions explored topics such as budgeting behaviors, financial anxieties, learning preferences, decision-making challenges, and the impact of life events (like turning 30 or experiencing job instability). This helped me uncover the deeper motivations, frustrations, and needs that shape how users interact with financial tools—insights that ultimately informed the product’s features, tone, and overall design strategy.
KEY FINDINGS
“I don't want to spend much of my personal time on[financial] jargon.”
Users described money as highly emotional, often causing anxiety and avoidance. Many expressed deep mistrust of financial institutions and apps, along with low financial literacy that made existing tools feel overwhelming or judgmental. They wanted simple, supportive guidance instead of rigid solutions. Turning 30 was a common inflection point, with family and cultural expectations influencing how “on track” they felt financially.
MOTIVATIONS
“I don't dream about designer bags but I would like to afford experiences and a comfortable living situation.”
Users were highly motivated to improve their finances, driven by a desire for independence, stability, and long-term security. Homeownership felt aspirational, while many prioritized experiences over possessions. Beyond budgeting, they wanted to build financial confidence and feel prepared for unexpected life events.
PAIN POINTS
Most users found financial planning overwhelming—complex information, emotional pressure, and app confusion often led them to give up quickly. Distrust amplified this, making decisions feel risky and paralyzing. Taxes were a major stress point, and comparisons to peers created added pressure to “catch up.” With financial advisors feeling costly and inaccessible, many felt they had no reliable guidance.
“I don’t spend money out of fear.”
Key Learnings
There is no single “right” way to budget—different users benefit from different systems and philosophies.
Users vary widely in how they learn about money, so offering multiple ways to learn (visual, interactive, scenario-based) increases engagement.
Technical reliability and clean UI are critical—especially for products requiring secure bank syncing or real-time data.
Personalization is a powerful driver of engagement; these products succeed when users feel the experience is tailored, relevant, and responsive to their unique financial lives.
Opportunities
Build a product that teaches financial concepts and applies them to users’ real data in real time.
Offer low-cost or free premium guidance, including human or AI-assisted support.
Introduce an AI financial assistant for personalized answers, insights, and actions.
Create a “robo-teacher” that simplifies complex decisions into small, doable steps.
Provide bite-sized, non-overwhelming education alongside budgeting and goal setting.
Help users identify immediate actions they can take based on their current financial situation.
Combine learning, budgeting, and planning into a single, confidence-building ecosystem.
PERSONAS
From my interview findings, I created two personas as interviewees seemed to fall into one of two categories: cautious spender or carefree spender. While their attitudes differ when it comes to budgeting (or lack thereof!) both groups do not have the confidence or knowledge to make informed financial decisions, and want to increase their financial literacy to achieve their personal goals.
The Refined Problem
Millennials experience intense financial anxiety—especially around credit cards, taxes, and long-term planning—leading to avoidance and procrastination. Many distrust banks, advisors, and financial apps, a result of past crises, fraud, and confusing jargon that widens the literacy gap.
Around age 30, they feel pressure to “catch up” on milestones like homeownership while still prioritizing experiences. They’re motivated by a desire for independence, security, and emergency readiness, but existing tools feel rigid, complex, or incomplete.
As a result, they remain stuck in decision paralysis and want clear, plain-language guidance and flexible, trustworthy support that aligns with their goals.
How might we engage millennials about their finances so they feel motivated and excited to increase their financial literacy?
SITE MAP
Once I redefined the users problem and developed the HMW statement, I began thinking about what features the user might need to complete their goals, and created this sitemap to figure out the navigation hierarchy. This sitemap uses a hamburger for navigation and it made me realize that so much important information is hidden in subcategories. Ultimately I decided to design a bottom task bar with the most commonly used features so users could easily navigate to them.
USER FLOW
Through my interviews I discovered that users are easily overwhelmed and intimidated when learning about their finances. Keeping this in mind, I considered ways to reduce barriers to entry by exploring options for users to quickly, easily, and securely up load their financial information.
User flow for bank account connection
BANK ACCOUNT CONNECTION
Other products, like YNAB, have users sign-into their bank account to link their information. I wanted to make this process even easier so explored alternative ways to link banking information. In this mid-fidelity wireframe, the user to take a photo of their credit/debit card, or perhaps an account statement for a loan, and through OCR, their account information would be connected. After getting feedback, I decided to not move forward with these two features and develop others that would be more impactful.
Mid-fidelity for debit/credit card scan with option to bypass and upload through banking credentials.
FEATURES
For the MVP, I narrowed features to three core areas:
Goal Setting
Help users set financial goals and explore alternative savings strategies through AI suggestions.
Learning Path
Customize educational content based on users’ goals, preferred learning style, and time availability.
Budget & Finance
Monitor budgets and goals, provide alerts when overspending occurs, and offer actionable options to get back on track.
LOW- TO MID-FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
I began with low-fidelity wireframes, focusing on the goal creation screen. Through feedback from peers, I iterated on what questions to ask, how each flow should be, how to show the user their progress, and the final messaging.
GOAL SETTING
First, I set out to understand the right questions to help a user determine a goal. After that, I determined the UI elements, and, per peer feedback, added illustrations to break up the text.
LEARNING QUIZ
Similar to goal setting, I first considered which questions to ask the user to make decision easy on them and UI elements, like a progress bar, to let them know how much time the quiz would take.
Budget Overage / Dashboard
This flow requires the user reset their budget based on insights into their account, but I also wanted to help the user understand through visual aids, like charts and graphs. I spent time viewing different sources and selected ones that best represented information to make it easily digestible.
BRANDING & UI
The UI design phase focused on translating research insights into a visually appealing, trustworthy, and accessible experience. Every element—color, typography, layout, and iconography—was carefully chosen to reinforce clarity, calm, and user confidence.
BRAND INTEGRATION
The color palette centers on blues, evoking calm, trust, stability, and professionalism. Typography was selected for readability and clarity, balancing numeric precision with approachable text for an organized, professional feel. Accessibility was prioritized through strong contrast between deep blue and white, large headers, and minimal on-screen text to reduce overwhelm.
The logo, “Home Economics,” blends personal and educational themes: a house shape containing a chart to symbolize financial growth and learning, reinforcing the product’s mission visually and conceptually.
UI PATTERNS
Interface patterns were designed to guide users step by step, keeping interactions calm, motivating, and easy to follow. Data is presented thoughtfully to promote clarity and proactive financial decisions, with clear visual hierarchy, selected item highlights, and nested content arranged in intuitive order. The overall design emphasizes personalization and progress, reinforcing user confidence and engagement throughout their financial journey.
TESTING + ITERATION
User testing was conducted to validate the prototype and ensure it met real user needs. By observing participants interact with key flows—learning style quiz, goal setting, and budget dashboard—I gathered actionable insights that guided iterative improvements and refined the user experience.
ITERATION APPROACH
Feedback was prioritized by urgency and impact. Changes that could quickly reduce confusion were implemented immediately, while mid-level and eventual adjustments were scheduled for later iterations. This approach ensured that user pain points were addressed efficiently while maintaining momentum in the design process.
Before
After
Changes implemented: Contribution framing was updated to monthly amounts.
Goal Setting
Participants appreciated the clear flow for setting goals and the usefulness of AI-driven suggestions. Pain points included confusion around contribution timing, unclear progress tracking, and ambiguous action labels like “Set Goal” and “Save to Learn.” Users wanted more guidance, including automated paths to reach goals and clearer visual progress indicators.
After
Before
Changes implemented: Sized the warning screen down so users could see all the options available without scrolling.
After
Before
Changes implemented: Laid out the changes being proposed and made it clear to users that their budget would automatically adjust. Removed confusing CTA on the confirmation screen.
Budget Overage / Dashboard
Pain points included hidden details within the budget page, unclear auto-updating, confusing buttons, and difficulty making quick adjustments. Participants wanted easy on-dashboard edits but I chose to focus on changes that would take little effort to implement but would have a big impact on the user’s experience.
Before
After
Changes implemented: Add language to make it clear which questions were multiple choice vs. one choice.
Before
After
Changes implemented: Final CTA updated from “Get Started” to “Start First Lesson”.
Learning Style Quiz
Multiple-choice and single-choice were only clear to half of the participants. Some confusion also arose around the final screen call-to-action, unclear terminology like “subscription tracker,” and redundancy in a few questions.
Final Design Solution
The final solution brings together research, ideation, and iterative design into a cohesive, user-centered experience. It addresses the anxieties, confusion, and overwhelm millennials face around finances by providing clarity, guidance, and actionable tools that empower users to take control of their financial lives.
Goal Setting
Users can set and track personalized goals with clear visual progress, AI-driven suggestions, and automated guidance. Goals are framed in intuitive, actionable steps rather than abstract percentages, helping users see exactly how to achieve their targets.
Learning Path
The app personalizes financial education based on user goals, preferred learning style, and available time. The learning experience is approachable, interactive, and broken into manageable steps to reduce overwhelm.
Budget & Dashboard
Users gain a holistic view of all accounts, with visual indicators like rings and progress bars to track spending. Manual adjustments via sliders, clear labels, and on-dashboard editing provide control and transparency. Alerts notify users of overages and actionable options help them stay on track.
How It Solves the Original Problem
The final design directly addresses the challenges identified in research:
Reduces overwhelm through intuitive flows, simplified setup, and digestible learning steps.
Builds trust with clear language, transparent data visualization, and consistent, professional branding.
Bridges the financial literacy gap with personalized learning paths and AI-driven guidance.
The solution transforms financial management from stressful and confusing into clear, approachable, and motivating. Early testing indicates that users feel more confident, engaged, and capable of taking meaningful actions toward their financial goals, demonstrating that the design effectively meets both user needs and business objectives.
Reflection
Reflecting on this project highlighted the complexity of personal finance and the importance of thoughtful, research-driven design. It reinforced how user-centered approaches can simplify overwhelming topics and empower people to take meaningful action.
Lessons Learned
Taking time to understand financial concepts not only deepened my empathy for users but also strengthened my confidence in translating complex information into clear, actionable experiences. For example, I wanted to help my users visualize their finances in multiple ways. I spent time developing charts and graphs to help them understand their financial progress and proactively show anticipated progress.
I learned the value of creating a robust library of design components, variables, and instances—allowing me to prototype efficiently and maintain consistency, especially for features like multiple-choice learning paths. I spent hours on YouTube trying to learn the best process for these features!
While I gained a solid foundation in both financial literacy and design workflows, I recognize there is always more to explore, particularly in expanding the educational feature and understanding the landscape of financial education tools.