People aged 18-35 with low and middle household income trying to save money and be more conscious about their spendings.
People aged 18-35 with low and middle household income trying to save money and be more conscious about their spendings.
Target Audience
Target Audience
I came up with the idea and was in charge of the whole design process: information architecture, user flows, interaction, visual design, and prototyping. I also conducted user research using methods such as interviews to validate my ideas.
Later on, I was joined by Eric Phung to fulfill the role of a developer and co-founder.
I came up with the idea and was in charge of the whole design process: information architecture, user flows, interaction, visual design, and prototyping. I also conducted user research using methods such as interviews to validate my ideas.
Later on, I was joined by Eric Phung to fulfill the role of a developer and co-founder.
Team & My Role
Team & My Role
Based on a simple principle "Less is more" (NN Group: Having a feature-rich interface can make navigation difficult to learn and overly complex.), my idea was to focus on just one feature to build MVP — quick and direct inputting of transactions.
To evaluate if the app was worth building, I conducted interviews with a group of people who use budgeting apps on a regular basis. They were well-fitting into my idea of the target audience: middle-income Millenials from Berlin, San Francisco, and Moscow.
Based on a simple principle "Less is more" (NN Group: Having a feature-rich interface can make navigation difficult to learn and overly complex.), my idea was to focus on just one feature to build MVP — quick and direct inputting of transactions.
To evaluate if the app was worth building, I conducted interviews with a group of people who use budgeting apps on a regular basis. They were well-fitting into my idea of the target audience: middle-income Millenials from Berlin, San Francisco, and Moscow.
Idea & Valuation
Idea & Valuation
1. Demand for budgeting apps: To my surprise, respondents revealed that online banking with reliable transaction history is not something that's widely available in Europe or the US. Besides, countries like Germany seem to prefer to use cash a lot, which makes it harder to track the spendings. So another budgeting app would have a chance at succeeding if it hit a niche.
2. Most often they use the app right after making a purschase, to not forget about it. They then started requesting features, but in order to build an MVP, I decided to only focus on this one user story:
Key Findings
I then quickly sketched the idea to accommodate the user story.
The key feature here is that everything is available at first sight — budget, numeric keyboard, categories and list of past transactions.
Sketching
To appeal to our young target audience, I decided to go with bright colors with today's popular dark mode.
To speed up the development process, I designed a style guide.
To appeal to our young target audience, I decided to go with bright colors with today's popular dark mode.
To speed up the development process, I designed a style guide.
User Interface Design
User Interface Design
When the user first opens the app, they first see a simple explainer of what to do, which acts as an onboarding.
We don't require signing up before using our app. Instead, we let people use the app, and let them see the value in signing up themselves — which is cross-device sync.
Onboarding
Once user has added the transaction, they can tap on it to edit or add a comment.
Comments and Editing
When the user first opens the app, they first see a simple explainer of what to do, which acts as an onboarding.
We don't require signing up before using our app. Instead, we let people use the app, and let them see the value in signing up themselves — which is cross-device sync.
In a later versions of the app I also added "Rate Us" and "Share App" buttons to increase numbers of reviews.
Customization and Sync
Some of our users were telling us that they want to see comprehensive analytics and filter their spending history by date and category.
However, we decided to leave this feature our in order to launch our MVP quickly.
Some of our users were telling us that they want to see comprehensive analytics and filter their spending history by date and category.
However, we decided to leave this feature our in order to launch our MVP quickly.
Left Out
Left Out
We spent about half a year on development and design doing it in our free time. Launched an MVP in early 2020, we gained a small user base and received a lot of positive reviews.
Currently, we're looking for ways to improve engagement and retention in the app, as well as gain more clients using social media marketing.
We spent about half a year on development and design doing it in our free time. Launched an MVP in early 2020, we gained a small user base and received a lot of positive reviews.
Currently, we're looking for ways to improve engagement and retention in the app, as well as gain more clients using social media marketing.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I learned how to lead a product from the initial idea and research to pixel-perfect mockups and eventually — launching on the App Store and Google Play.
And there's so much more to learn.
I learned how to lead a product from the initial idea and research to pixel-perfect mockups and eventually — launching on the App Store and Google Play.
And there's so much more to learn.
Personal Takeaways
Personal Takeaways
1. Demand for budgeting apps: To my surprise, respondents revealed that online banking with reliable transaction history is not something that's widely available in Europe or the US. Besides, countries like Germany seem to prefer to use cash a lot, which makes it harder to track the spendings. So another budgeting app would have a chance at succeeding if it hit a niche.
2. Most often they use the app right after making a purschase, to not forget about it. They then started requesting features, but in order to build an MVP, I decided to only focus on this one user story:
Key Findings
I then quickly sketched the idea to accommodate the user story.
The key feature here is that everything is available at first sight — budget, numeric keyboard, categories and list of past transactions.
Sketching
When the user first opens the app, they first see a simple explainer of what to do, which acts as an onboarding.
We don't require signing up before using our app. Instead, we let people use the app, and let them see the value in signing up themselves — which is cross-device sync.
Onboarding
Once user has added the transaction, they can tap on it to edit or add a comment.
Comments and Editing
When the user first opens the app, they first see a simple explainer of what to do, which acts as an onboarding.
We don't require signing up before using our app. Instead, we let people use the app, and let them see the value in signing up themselves — which is cross-device sync.
In a later versions of the app I also added "Rate Us" and "Share App" buttons to increase numbers of reviews.
Customization and Sync
Financely
One-screen mobile app for easy and effective budgeting. It helps you track how much you spent and earned.
Financely
One-screen mobile app for easy and effective budgeting. It helps you track how much you spent and earned.
Head of Design
My Role
Head of Design
My Role
Product / Web / Mobile / Marketing
My Responsibilities
Product / Web / Mobile / Marketing
My Responsibilities
21K+
Userbase
21K+
Userbase
I was looking for a budgeting app for myself that meets two main requirements:
1. An ability to see how much I spent in one month compared
to the overall budget.
2. Simple and quick adding of transactions.
However, I wasn't able to find a suitable option. Which led me
to assume that other people might have the same problem.
I was looking for a budgeting app for myself that meets two main requirements:
1. An ability to see how much I spent in one month compared
to the overall budget.
2. Simple and quick adding of transactions.
However, I wasn't able to find a suitable option. Which led me
to assume that other people might have the same problem.
Background
Background