GOAL

To create a tangible product that instills saving and goal-setting habits in younger generations, through interactions and technology.

CONTEXT

For my product design project, I chose ‘design for behavior change’ as my foundation and aimed to create a product that provides motivation and incentive to inculcate better financial habits in young adults and to enable them to manage money in minimal, unnoticeable ways.
Financial habits in Gen Z and millennials are quite tumultuous in today’s life.

“I want it all, and now” is the motto and this has led to a decline in savings and a steep increase in consumerism.

My goal was to create a playful, interactive experience that evokes memories of using a piggy bank from childhood. It should help millennials focus on their goals and monitor their spending and saving habits.

EMPATHIZE

The research was conducted mainly through articles online on financial studies, articles from critically acclaimed financial institutions in the world and from behavioral studies.
Primary research included interviews, surveys, and cultural probes. The question that garnered the most interest, as well as insights, was:

If your wallet could talk to you, what would it say?

This question was purposefully chosen to make people introspective about their spending habits.
Personifying the quintessential wallet created an outcome of candid responses, all behavior-focused which was the aim of my research.

DEFINE

Based on the multiple responses I got, the main insights were:
- The product had to be on the person, or close to the person as a visual cue.
- It had to be handy, something that will quickly grasp a user’s attention.
- It had to have haptic notifications for reminders and incentives.

IDEATE

Based on my key insights, I considered two concepts:

Concept 1: A desk accessory, which is easily noticeable when you’re working, studying or reading
Concept 2: A portable device, essentially a wallet which is the easiest and most convenient accessory to finances and expenditure

Ultimately, I decided on a wallet, as it is a portable device and can provide visual and haptic cues at any time a person is actually opening their wallet to pay for something.

PROTOTYPE

My first low-fidelity mockups were made out of cardboard. I tested them for size, fit and ease of viewing in terms of screen sizes.
After user-testing and refining some of these parameters, I decided to make a final version, a hand-stitched leather prototype.
A soft material like leather was chosen to maintain the traditional look and feel of a wallet while elevating its capabilities with the help of technology.

USER TESTING

I tested my early lo-fi prototypes with a few students and millennials around me. Some feedback that I got was around:
1.  Size of the wallet
2.  Hard vs soft materials (especially for men, who usually keep wallets in their back pockets)
3.  Concerns over screen being too bulky

This feedback was incorporated into my iterative method and the next prototype was created.

OINK.

The adult version of your piggy bank that you can carry everywhere with you. Your personal banker that is always there to help you out.

Oink is a wallet that has a minimalistic display that senses the wallet activity and shows you small messages when you open the wallet.

Sometimes these displays show you your dream possessions and tell you how much money you need to save to get them- the pair of Nike Air Max shoes that you have been eyeing for quite a while or the next car you want to own. Oink also tells you how much money you have saved up for a certain goal that you feed into the system. This method of visual gratification gets you to save quicker, as you can practically see your dream bike building up in your wallet! It also watches your expenses, and might scold you if you open it too often.

Once your cards are synced into the system, give your wallet a shake and find out how much money you have; you don’t have to open another app to see the information.