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Barclays Savings Streaks

An app that makes save money less of a chore and more rewarding!

OVERVIEW:
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Barclayʼs wants people to have a feeling of success every pay cycle when they check their bank account. Savings Streaks lets them compete with their friends and see who is saving money the smartest way.

Process Deck

ROLE: Product Design -
Ideation, UX/UI Design, User Research, Prototypes, Interactions

TEAM: Julian Catasus y Brueggemann

TOOLS USED:
Adobe XD & Sketch

INTRODUCTION
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Financial stress feeds into negative mental health, creating a vicious cycle of growing financial problems and worsening mental health that is hard to escape. We wanted to develop a new digital experience, service or tool that bridges the gap between money and mental health while providing support to those in a vulnerable situation.

JUMP TO VISUAL DESIGN

INITIAL OBSERVATIONS
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TARGET AUDIENCE

Fresh Out of College - Ages 22-25
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- Starting to learn early in life how to manage money prevents significant debt later on.
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- Learning to manage your money and paying bills is something that isn't taught. It is a stressful process to learn how to start saving for "grown up" expenses.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

When deciding on the audience to focus on we asked ourselves..

1. Do young adults know to give themselves a budget?
2. What incentivizes people to learn to save money?
3. With all the apps that exist why do people still not save their money or spend money smartly?

RESEARCH
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People in debt are significantly more likely to experience mental health problems. 46% of people in debt also have a mental health problem. Through our research we also found out that when people are in vulnerable situations that..
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93% spent more than usual.
92% found it harder to make financial decisions.
74% put off paying bills.
71% avoided dealing with creditors.
56% took out a loan that they would not otherwise have taken out.


How do people save their money? Why is saving money so hard to do?
Everyone has different ways of saving money. We researched some of the most common ways people manage and save their money to see what systems work.
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- Informal mentoring by others - Friends, family, and volunteers
- Mentoring or Assisting Programs
- Save a little at a time
- Open a different bank account
- Decorate a piggy bank
- Bargain with yourself (Make a fun deal with yourself, helping you to balance splurging and saving)
- Hold on to unexpected windfalls
- Save through your employer





COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
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‍Online Budgeting Apps have become extremely popular to help people control impulse spending. These apps can help you master the basics, become more efficient at managing your money, and even help you discover ways to meet your long-term financial goals.

Some apps can help you master budgeting and expense tracking, while others can help with investment portfolio management. Here are some of the competitor budgeting platforms.

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Mvelopes will help you create a budget and set up your “envelopes.” The software tracks your spending and shows you what you’ve spent from each envelope to keep you on budget throughout the month.


YNAB is a software that provides you with tutorials that will help you tackle some of the tougher financial topics. Creates your budgets and manages your daily finances to help you break bad financial habits by setting up a few financial management rules.

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Mint pulls in your bank and credit card information to analyze your spending and pinpoint areas where you can cut back. Set up budget categories, with real-time information about the amount you can spend on things like food and gas.

VIEW RESEARCH DECK


USER RESEARCH
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We interviewed recent college graduates with various income situations (salary, hourly, freelancers, and people with allowances.) The age range was 22 to 26 years old. We asked about their experiences with budget plans and collected and sorted the answers in an affinity map


MAIN TAKEAWAYS

1. Finding budget plans to time consuming and hard to keep track of.
2. People are pressured to spend money socially.
3. Finding budgets current plans too restrictive & confusing to fit their life.
4. Need educational assistance when it comes to money questions.
5. Afraid of unexpected expenses (bills, car costs, unemployment.)
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BRAINSTORMING

DECISION
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I narrowed the features down that didn't seem necessary. I wanted to develop the perfect app for Barclays. Introducing Barclay's Savings Streaks which makes saving less of a chore and more rewarding.

Itʼs a new concept with the intention to make saving easier and will lead to a positive financial outcome. Barclayʼs wants to help you work towards your goals while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.When setting up the app your income gets split every month into a spending and saving allowance. You can apply your saving allowance towards a streak.

A streak can either be for your rainy day fund or for something big you have been wanting to buy. When you finally reach your streak goal all your friends can see your achievement.
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USER FLOW

WIREFRAMES - Initial Round

WIREFRAMES - Final

MEET THE USER

We created several personas, and narrowed them down to Laura.

Laura - 23
A recent graduate from Oxford, who just started her first full-time position and needs help getting her spending habits right.

SCENARIO:
Laura started her new position at Equinox, which is her first professional full-time opportunity. But being oneʼs own adult includes planning ahead financially.
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GOALS & EXPECTATIONS:
‍Lauraʼs goal is to find a tool that helps her manage her money wisely, as this is her first time of having financial independence. Over time, she expects to be able to fulfill her financial wishes (car, traveling etc.), and has money available when something unexpected comes up.

We use a combination of three accounts for that and merge it with her banking history, to get it right

The daily checking account covers everyday expenses.In Lauraʼs case, she will need at least 30% for that.
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The essential checking account covers all monthly expenses. That's normally around 50%.

The remaining 20% goes into her savings account. From there she can apply it to her savings streaks

VISUAL DESIGN

01
Compete with friends and see who is saving money the smartest. Compare your progress as you save!

When creating a streak it can either be for your rainy day fund or for something big you’ve been wanting to buy. Barclays wants people to have a successful feeling every pay cycle when its time to add to your streaks. And when you finally reach your streak goal all your friends can see your achievement and reward you for your hard work.

02
Assign your savings account balance to your streaks to make progress.

03
Creating a budget of three main accounts that helps you organize and manage all your streaks.

WHAT I LEARNED

To understand what users needed in order to save their money in the easiest way possible. It was very interesting researching the correlation between mental health and money.  It was challenging choosing a bank like Barclays that I knew nothing about. Overall, while it wasn't the most straightforward project from start to finish, I learned a lot and had pleasure in discovering new things along the way.

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