An Educational
Micro-Investing App
In this design challenge, our cohort was split into teams to develop a prototype in a design sprint.
With our teams we focused on researching, developing and executing a prototype being a Social Impact investing app.
The Goals for Pebble are:
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To provide a friendly resource for consumers to learn about investing
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Have a way to test scenarios against a real market
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Providing a trustworthy space for users to invest their money in the market and social causes.
Setting the Stage
This project aims to develop a mobile application that addresses challenges of young investors and empowers individuals to make informed investment decisions that align with their values.
Some ideas for areas of focus include:
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Promoting Transparency and Impact Measurement: Developing a reliable methodology for measuring and reporting the social and environmental outcomes of investments, providing users with clear data on the impact of their portfolios.
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Increasing Accessibility: Offering micro-investment options with low minimum investment amounts, making social impact investing more accessible to a wider range of individuals.
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Enhancing Financial Literacy: Providing educational resources that explain social impact investing concepts, different asset classes, and responsible investment practices.
WELCOME
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Introducing: Pebble
A fun, friendly app for young people looking to learn about how to invest, the trends of the market while providing a way for users to donate money to local businesses and charities in their community.
Problem Statement
How might we provide an inexperienced investor with informative and trustworthy method of personal investing so that consumers earn money while contributing to a social cause.
Our goal is to provide a resource for users to learn, invest, and plan out their savings and investments.
Instead of thinking of investing as a daunting boulder of work, we wanted to know if approaching investing, like picking up small pebbles.
Both learning and investing and investing options can help build confidence and good investing habits.
Discovery Research Overview
This project aims to develop a mobile application that addresses the challenges of investors seeking opportunities to align their financial goals with positive social and environmental impact. Traditional investment options often lack transparency and high minimum investment amounts often act as barriers to those interested in participating the stock market, but are less financially liquid.
We see the marketplace opportunity for this product as one that educates, equips users with social impact data, and leverages micro-investing to lower the barriers to marketplace entry.
Research Methodology
Average time of interview:
30 mins via Zoom
Ratio of interviewers to interviewee:
2 interviewers to 1 interviewee
1 exception: Jen and Gianna in-person interview
Summary of demographics of people
being interviewed:
Ages: 18 - 29, 4 Female, 1 Male
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Interview Objectives
01.
Discover what fears and perceived barriers to investing that users experience when trying to invest.
02.
Can we clarify if users correlate investing and social cause impact?
03.
What is the feasibility and desirability of an app that is designed for micro-investing?
Sample Interview Questions: Round One
We presented a range of questions to our users that were looking to find out:
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What their comfort level with investing is
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How they measure financial risk and
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Whether they've felt comfortable with researching investing
01
Theme: Phishing for foundational information about investing
What concerns or hesitations do you have about starting to actively invest your money?
03
Theme: Investing vs Social Causes
How would you feel towards a business or investment who also gave money or time to help that particular social cause or charity?
02
Theme: Does the user trust the idea of investing?
Would you consider using a micro-investing app that matched your daily spending?
04
Theme: Does the user find value in investing?
Are there any specific goals or aspirations that you could see investing helping you achieve?
Summary of Key Findings
From our research, we found that users need more clarity and transparency.
- Greater education would give them their bearings, better understand risks, and give them a foundation for further research regarding how they could better leverage the markets over time, financial strategies to grow their investment assets.
- Liked the idea of micro-investing, but want control, clarity and options regarding their investments and profits.
- Some interest in sharing profits of investments with social / charitable causes, but for people who might be struggling with bills, personal profit a strong motivator.
Persona 1: Risk Cautious
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Persona 2: Risk Confident
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Risk Cautious User Journey
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Risk Confident User Journey
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SWOT Analysis
Through this analysis we learned that although these products contain an abundance of information, they are not always as effective in leaving their users feeling informed and supported. Key take-aways were:
- Although Robinhood and webull
Brand Analysis
This Matrix helped us weigh how the consumers felt based on users overall experiences and reviews, against how well the product met the users needs and solved their problems.
Market Research
Making this chart helped to compare each company's core values and appearance against our goals ,as a group, had to develop our app. We took the aspects of each company to emulate in our product.
User scenarios
User 1
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Wants to save for her future but doesn’t have much available savings and doesn’t know what her options are. She comes across the Pebble app and begins the onboarding and education process to learn about micro- investing.
User 2
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Wants to learn about the possibilities of investing
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Learn how their actions are affected in the actual market.
User 3
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Wants to invest a little of her savings from her summer coaching job into an ETF.
User 4
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is passionate about contributing to environmental causes but with her limited income has a hard time being consistent in her contributions.
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She wants to be able to set up a way to contribute to the cause in a realistically affordable way.
User research results:
Round one
Overall users felt they needed more transparency overall to control their hesitancy when it coms to investing. As well as acknowledges that there are gaps between the information you can get exposed to as a beginner, versus what you'd find as a seasoned investor
Key Insight: 01
Users expressed a strong need for an approachable path to learning investing.
A quote from the Interview:
"I've learned really well with hands on stuff like practice problems...a class like that where we could simulate investing in different companies would really help me learn."
03
Users know investing is risky and want clarity on the level of risk involved with different investments.
A quote from the Interview:
"I think I would be the type of person if I could choose the type of riskiness that I am in the beginning of like, onboarding, then that choice would cater the types of stocks it recommends to me."
02
Micro-investing allows them to contribute to their future and social causes without feeling like they are are taking away from other expenses.
Some interest in sharing profits of investments with social / charitable causes, but for people who might be struggling with bills, personal profit a strong motivator.
04
Users liked the idea of micro-investing, but want control, clarity and options regarding their investments and profits.
A quote from the interview:
"Having the ability to cash out your investment with no incubation period to redeem a sizeable profit- will give me the comfort in not feeling trapped on my investment"
We Learned That...
Collectively, we were looking to develop an app that helps educate users about the types of investing and help facilitate some light investing to help build confidence in users to build their financial portfolio.
Being new to investing can feel heavy from research to online advice combined with the fear of the unknown can feel like carrying a boulder up a hill.
New investors can feel insecure about their understanding and confidence with the available tools and terminology, Which can pose a risk for new users, having to feel like they are giving something up in order to participate.
Wire Flows
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We determined that we needed to have:
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a Learn Path - that helps users understand Vocabulary and Practical investment techniques. ,
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an Investment Path - that can walk users through investing on the live market and help them find a way to start small and invest in local businesses.
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and a Simulation Path - To help users understand how a specific investment can work in the current past and future markets for the DOW, NASDAQ, and other favorites companies . The can test a dollar amount without actually investing to see how their "investment" fares
Competitive Analysis
We searched for applications that had a friendly, simple and engaging layout and communication style. We were looking for friendly and simple design in the color scheme and the disclosure of detailed information. We also looked for examples of an engaging layout in utilizing bright colors, shapes and info graphics.
Companies like Ellevest, Robinhood and Acorns helped to inspire our design to use bright friendly colors and avoid too much black. As well as avoiding excessive advertising of services and perks. Preferring to utilize a progressive disclosure of information to ease the mental load on new users.
Mood Board
Further Exploration of the Theme, Color Pallet and Typography
Prototyping
There were 4 main areas that we focused on while developing our prototype. i was responsible for the dash board and entry sequence. As well the Learning Module for teaching users about key words and investing scenarios.
Prototype Sketches
For my section of the project, I explored the layout of the dashboard, how the app would greet the user and introduce the features Pebble has to offer.
Ideation with AI Tools
For Low and Medium Fidelity sketches, we experimented with AI tools, like Uizard, to quickly help us decide between different graphics and layouts.
Hi-Fi Prototype
There may be no better way to communicate what we do than through images. As you browse our site, take a few moments to let your eyes linger here, and see if you can get a feel for our signature touch.
User Testing Results: Round Two
Functionality You Will Love
01
Eco-Friendly Design
We would not be who we are without our eco-friendly design, which is at the core of our strategy. We are constantly working to improve our offerings and expand upon our capabilities when it comes to design and production. Get in touch to learn more.
03
Multilingual Functionality
In today's globalized world, chances are you are interacting with people from more than just one country. This is where our multilingual functionality comes into play. Take advantage of this unique capability to expand your reach.
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24/7 Support
Our customers deserve the highest level of support, and we work tirelessly to maintain those standards. When you choose to work with our team, know that you are consistently choosing quality and excellence. Customer service is at the heart of everything that we do.
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Advanced Tech
We are constantly working to improve our offerings and expand upon our technological capabilities. Our expert team of professionals is passionate about developing the most advanced tech on the market. Ready to experience the future? Get in touch.
Feedback Reflection
What my interpretation of the feedback is and the key points i will focus on going forward
Final Design System
Final Prototype
Final Thoughts
Get to Know Us
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Lessons Learned
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