Money Companion
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About Money Companion.
A simple way to track your savings! Three easy steps every month to accurately track your savings progress!
Problem statement.
The problem I suspect is that people don't know how much they are saving or spending every month / year.
Research: Competitor analysis.
I conducted some competitor analysis on some popular savings apps.
PocketBook - Was actually the best one I found; one of the negatives was that it required your internet banking user name and password. It also often incorrectly categorised transactions.
Money Brilliant - UI wasn't very intuitive. also needed your internet banking user name and password. Also often incorrectly categorised transactions.
Competitor: Pocketbook
Competitor: Money Brilliant
Research: 1 on 1 Interviews.
Conducted Interviews with 5 participants
Participants names have been changes for privacy reasons.
The revised problem statement.
People need an easy and quick way to track their saving and spending because they often don't know if they are overspending or getting closer to achieving their savings goals.
The hypothesis.
We believe that creating an app which will help people track their savings and spending easily with a few simple steps every month will give these people peace of mind and the confidence that they know with certainty how much they are spending and saving so that they can alter their behaviour if needed so that they can achieve their goals. We will know this to be true by:
Initially creating a spreadsheet prototype which 5 participants will use for a period of 3 months so we can prove that the formula works with accuracy
Assessing if the proposed steps are easy enough to follow to make this a lasting experience rather than one that is thrown away after a while.
Testing the idea: The first prototype.
The first prototype was a spreadsheet. I created a formula to calculate the savings and spending for each month.
User will just need to to complete 1 or 2 steps (Update their income if its has changed and update their balance at the end of the month).
I selected 6 participants who appeared to be very money conscious and already use methods to track their saving and spending.
I gave them a spreadsheet to use in google docs which I also had access too (with their permission) so that I can track how they are using it.
User flows.
The user flow for the setup / first time launch.
To see the flow in Marvel prototype click here
Alternative home page and app navigation.
Different UI treatments for the home screen (Visual ways to display savings and expense and forecast) as well as different information architecture for the navigation.
Final user interface.
As this was to be an android only application, the designs were created following 2016 material design guidelines.
