Project Brief
The Problem: The challenge I encountered was the discrepancy between my budgeting efforts and my kids’ lack of budgeting skills. This sparked the idea of developing an app that caters to parents and kids, providing a solution to this issue. As I envisioned this app, I realized there were additional features that could enhance the overall experience for parents and students. One crucial aspect I focused on was budgeting. Teenagers often live in the present moment, and without reminders to stay within a budget, they may not give it much thought.
The Solution: I incorporated a spending budget below each total to serve as a constant reminder for students to stay within their allocated limits. My intention is to instill essential budgeting skills in them before they face the challenges of independent financial management. To enhance the user experience, I aimed to create a restaurant-like app where students can plan their entire day’s food consumption and even request overages when necessary.
Background: CafeTeria is a digital tool designed to foster financial literacy and responsible spending habits in students while providing parents with an efficient way to manage and monitor their kids’ school lunch budgets. The application bridges the gap between financial management and education by enabling parents to set budgets for their child’s lunch money and allowing the child to track their spending within those limits. Recognizing the distinct needs of its two primary user groups – parents and students, the app offers tailored interfaces and features for each.
Objective: The objective of CafeTeria is to facilitate a greater understanding of financial responsibility and budgeting among students while offering parents a simple, secure, and efficient tool to manage and track their child’s school lunch spending. By providing parents with control over the budget and visibility of transactions, the app aims to offer peace of mind and foster healthy financial habits in their children. For students, the application aims to transform the potentially complex concept of budgeting into a fun and interactive learning experience. In doing so, the app hopes to lay the foundation for sound financial practices in the future.
Target Audience: Both students and parents value simplicity, accessibility, and intuitive design. They seek a solution that balances independence with parental oversight, promoting financial literacy while ensuring students make informed choices within predetermined boundaries.
ROLE
CONCEPT | UI/UX DESIGN
TOOLS
WIREFRAME: SKETCH
MOCK-UP: SKETCH
PROTOTYPE: ADOBE XD
Market Research
Target Market: As we have already identified, the primary target market for this app is two-fold: parents of jr. high and high school students, specifically those aged 11-18, and students within the same age bracket. This market is typically characterized by middle-to-high income levels and a moderate-to-high level of education.
Competitor Analysis: While there may be many budgeting apps and parenting apps available, very few combine these aspects with a focus on school lunches. That said, apps like Greenlight, GoHenry, and FamZoo provide financial tools for families and include features for tracking spending, setting budgets, and educating kids about money. Comparing features, user reviews, and the market presence of such apps will provide valuable insights.
Market Needs: Parents need a tool to teach their kids about financial responsibility while having control over their spending. Students, on the other hand, need an engaging, interactive way to learn about budgeting and finance. There is also a need for an accessible, user-friendly app that caters to the different preferences and requirements of both parents and students.
Market Trends: There’s an increasing emphasis on financial literacy at an early age. In addition, there’s a trend toward gamification in learning and personal finance apps. Furthermore, digital payments and mobile wallets are becoming commonplace, which aligns with the use case of this app.
Market Challenges: One challenge is ensuring the app appeals to both parents and students, given their different preferences and needs. Additionally, maintaining privacy and security, especially considering that the app will be used by minors and involve financial transactions, is a critical challenge.
Potential Market Growth: With the growing emphasis on financial literacy and the increasing adoption of digital wallets, the market potential for this app is substantial. According to a report by Allied Market Research, the global mobile wallet market is projected to reach $7.5 billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 28.2% from 2020 to 2027. Given this, an app that promotes financial literacy from a young age while aligning with these trends has significant growth potential.
User Research (Pre Design)
As the current app is still just a concept, consisting of screens and a demo rather than a fully developed product, the scope for conducting extensive user research is limited. However, I can outline the key user research considerations that would inform my approach if given the opportunity:
Surveys and Questionnaires: This method can be used to gather information about potential users’ habits, preferences, and pain points when it comes to managing their children’s lunch money or their own lunch budget.
User Interviews: These can be used to get a deeper understanding of how potential users currently manage school lunch budgets and what features they might find helpful in an app. This can also help to identify common problems or needs.
Field Studies: Observing users in their natural environment (for instance, parents while managing household budgets, or students during their lunch break) can provide valuable insights into user behavior, context, and underlying needs.
Usability Testing: This involves observing users while they interact with the app or a prototype. This can help to identify any usability issues or areas of confusion and assess how well the app meets the needs of its users.
A/B Testing: This is useful for comparing two versions of a specific feature or design element to see which performs better. For instance, you might test two different designs of the budget-setting interface or two versions of a call-to-action button.
Focus Groups: This involves gathering a group of potential users to discuss their needs, preferences, and perceptions related to school lunch budgeting. This can provide a range of perspectives and lead to deeper insights.
Persona Development: This involves creating detailed profiles of typical users, based on user research. These personas can then guide the design process, ensuring that the app caters to the needs, goals, and characteristics of its users.
Analyzing App Reviews: This involves examining reviews of similar apps to understand what users like and dislike, and what features they find most valuable. This can also help to identify gaps in the market that your app could fill.
Social Listening: This involves monitoring social media platforms and online forums to understand what potential users are saying about school lunch budgeting or similar apps. This can provide insights into user sentiment, emerging trends, and common pain points.
Persona Creation
Drawing upon in-depth research, I’ve thoughtfully developed comprehensive user personas that encapsulate our main target audiences.
The application’s user base primarily divides into two distinct personas: the budget-conscious parent and the student eager to learn about financial literacy while keeping track of their available spending money. These personas provide a critical understanding of our users’ necessities, inclinations, and behaviors, serving as the cornerstone for crafting an intuitive, user-centric application experience.
User Journey Mapping
For our project, we’ll be developing user journeys for both our key user groups: parents and students. Each user journey will capture the actions, thoughts, and emotions of the user at each stage of their interaction with the app.
The goal of our user journey maps is to identify opportunities to enhance the user experience, streamline the user’s path to their goal, and mitigate any potential pain points or obstacles. By understanding our users’ journeys, we can design an app that is intuitive, satisfying, and tailored to the needs of both parents and students. This empathy-driven approach is essential in delivering a user-centered design that truly resonates with our target audience.
Wireframing
For our project, we’ll be developing user journeys for both our key user groups: parents and students. Each user journey will capture the actions, thoughts, and emotions of the user at each stage of their interaction with the app.
The goal of our user journey maps is to identify opportunities to enhance the user experience, streamline the user’s path to their goal, and mitigate any potential pain points or obstacles. By understanding our users’ journeys, we can design an app that is intuitive, satisfying, and tailored to the needs of both parents and students. This empathy-driven approach is essential in delivering a user-centered design that truly resonates with our target audience.
Prototyping
The end result is an app that sports a bright, candy-like aesthetic, likely to captivate the young users who engage with it, inviting them to explore further. Concurrently, the app also resonates with parents aiming to impart budgeting lessons to their children. For the parent interface, I opted for a green palette, symbolizing the primary interaction point for them – money. In contrast, the student interface utilizes blue, a color that communicates stability and maturity. Based on my experience as a parent of teenagers, they yearn for recognition of their growing independence and maturity. Pairing this color with the app’s objective to teach budgeting seems particularly appropriate for a teenage demographic.
User Research (Post Design)
As the current app is still just a concept, consisting of screens and a demo rather than a fully developed product, the scope for conducting extensive user research is limited. However, I can outline the key user research considerations that would inform my approach if given the opportunity:
Surveys and Questionnaires: This method can be used to gather information about potential users’ habits, preferences, and pain points when it comes to managing their children’s lunch money or their own lunch budget.
User Interviews: These can be used to get a deeper understanding of how potential users currently manage school lunch budgets and what features they might find helpful in an app. This can also help to identify common problems or needs.
Field Studies: Observing users in their natural environment (for instance, parents while managing household budgets, or students during their lunch break) can provide valuable insights into user behavior, context, and underlying needs.
Usability Testing: This involves observing users while they interact with the app or a prototype. This can help to identify any usability issues or areas of confusion and assess how well the app meets the needs of its users.
A/B Testing: This is useful for comparing two versions of a specific feature or design element to see which performs better. For instance, you might test two different designs of the budget-setting interface or two versions of a call-to-action button.
Focus Groups: This involves gathering a group of potential users to discuss their needs, preferences, and perceptions related to school lunch budgeting. This can provide a range of perspectives and lead to deeper insights.
Persona Development: This involves creating detailed profiles of typical users, based on user research. These personas can then guide the design process, ensuring that the app caters to the needs, goals, and characteristics of its users.
Analyzing App Reviews: This involves examining reviews of similar apps to understand what users like and dislike, and what features they find most valuable. This can also help to identify gaps in the market that your app could fill.
Social Listening: This involves monitoring social media platforms and online forums to understand what potential users are saying about school lunch budgeting or similar apps. This can provide insights into user sentiment, emerging trends, and common pain points.
Demo
I have created an engaging and informative minute-long walkthrough demo video, skillfully animated using Adobe XD. This video serves as a comprehensive guide for developers, presenting them with a complete visual representation of the designs and their interactions.
Through this demo, I am able to effectively communicate various crucial elements to the development team, including screen transitions, such as smooth fade-outs between screens, the visual representation of pop-ups, and the precise placement of all assets. This meticulous attention to detail ensures a seamless handoff process and empowers the development team to accurately translate the designs into a fully functional application.
By utilizing the power of Adobe XD, I have successfully bridged the gap between design and development, facilitating a smooth and efficient workflow that promotes collaboration and brings the app to life with precision.
