Moneyaze by Barclays
Role:
UX/UI designer
Tools:
Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects and Miro
Year:
March 2023
For entering the D&AD New Blood competition in my final year at university, I designed a banking app for neurodivergent individuals. The challenge aimed to enhance accessibility and inclusivity through a user-friendly interface, simplified language options, colour contrast adjustments, and personalized alerts. The main goal was to empower users with greater control over their financial management in a safe and supportive environment.
Interact with the prototype
Problem
Neurodivergent individuals, particularly those with conditions like ADHD and Dyslexia, often face challenges managing their finances due to impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity. This can lead to overspending, debt, and insufficient savings, exacerbating financial difficulties prevalent among the UK's impulsive demographic, which constitutes 41% of buyers.
Define
Recognizing the need to address the financial management struggles of neurodivergent individuals, I aimed to create an inclusive digital banking app tailored to their unique needs. The objective was to provide a user-friendly interface, simplified language options, colour contrast adjustments, and personalized alerts to enhance accessibility and empower users with greater control over their finances.
Solution
The solution involved developing Moneyeaze, a digital banking service designed specifically for neurodivergent users. Moneyeaze offers essential banking functionalities such as account creation, virtual debit card generation, and contactless purchases with fingerprint authentication. To address impulsive spending behaviours, the app employs a question system to assess the importance of purchases and prompts users to consider waiting before proceeding.
Outcome
The launch of Moneyeaze aimed to revolutionize financial management for neurodivergent individuals, offering them a safe and supportive environment to manage their finances effectively. By providing accessible features and personalized alerts, the app empowers users to make informed decisions and avoid impulsive spending. The ultimate goal is to alleviate financial stress, promote responsible financial behaviours, and foster a sense of control and confidence among users.
The Process
Research
Investigated of the relationship between impulse buying and neurodiversity to gain a deeper understanding of the interplay between these two factors. I sought to identify the key insights that could inform the development of effective interventions and strategies to mitigate the impact of impulsive buying behaviours on individuals who identify as neurodivergent.
Competitor Research
Conducted a comprehensive analysis of competing banking apps to identify best practices and areas for improvement to improve accessibility and usability for all users, particularly those who identify as neurodivergent.
User Interviews
Conducted in-depth interviews with banking app users to understand their experiences, challenges, and preferences in relation to digital banking. This qualitative research approach provided valuable insights for the development of more inclusive and user-centred banking app designs.
“I keep losing my physical bank card, and now the bank has prevented me from giving a new one.”
User 1
“I stopped going to clothing stores, because every time I go there, I spend money unnecessarily, and I regret it.”
User 2
“When I go to groceries, it's a nightmare for me, because I start filling the cart with too much food, and then I waste money.”
User 3
User Personas
Ensuring that our product remained focused on addressing the pain points, motivations, and goals of users, I created a detailed persona based on the data we had collected. These personas served as a representation of our target user, incorporating key insights and characteristics that were reflective of their needs and behaviours.
Customer Journey Map
I crafted a customer journey map to see how users interact with the banking service. This helped me spot problem areas and chances to make things better, leading to a design that's more user-focused and efficient.
User Flow
I kicked off the Moneyeaze design by diving into data analysis and crafting user flows for the core banking tasks. After that, I got creative with wireframe sketches to brainstorm ideas for every screen in the app. This helped me figure out what features and functions were most crucial for the initial app design.
Low-fidelity prototypes
High-fidelity prototypes
Typography & Colours
I created a cutting-edge banking app tailored for neurodivergent users, blending the Barclays colour scheme into the user interface. The goal was to keep things simple yet functional for easy navigation.
Usability Tests
I enlisted the participation of three students from Norwich University of the Arts and a senior UX designer for usability tests on the banking service app. These tests provided valuable insights into the app's strengths and weaknesses, helping me make well-informed decisions regarding visual design improvements.
Eye Tracking
Following the eye-tracking tool, it was determined that the prototype's navigation was simple and that users could navigate it effectively.
Entering into D&AD New Blood
I produced and edited a mandatory video that explained the key aspects of our final prototype for the D&AD competition. Additionally, I created presentation slides to showcase insights, the user experience, and our strategy for promoting the application as a comprehensive experience.
Evaluation
During the process of the Moneyeaze, I designed with a minimalist UI, inspired by the preference of simplicity and ease of use among neurodivergent users. Eye-tracking exercises were used to test the app's clarity and navigation, leading to improvements in the layout and design to ensure intuitive and distraction-free navigation.
Overall, the final app design was successful in meeting the needs and preferences of neurodivergent individuals, but there are still opportunities for improvement. I encountered constraints and limitations that prevented me from conducting testing with neurodivergent individuals for the application. To enhance the validity of the research data and verify the usability of the app for this group, I would aim to conduct additional testing in the future.
Additionally, I see the importance of working with individuals with neurodivergent conditions throughout the design process to ensure their feedback and input are taken into account at every step.
Overall, the final app design was successful in meeting the needs and preferences of neurodivergent individuals, but there are still opportunities for improvement. I encountered constraints and limitations that prevented me from conducting testing with neurodivergent individuals for the application. To enhance the validity of the research data and verify the usability of the app for this group, I would aim to conduct additional testing in the future.
Additionally, I see the importance of working with individuals with neurodivergent conditions throughout the design process to ensure their feedback and input are taken into account at every step.
