DESIGN 100 PROJECT BLOG 3

DEVELOP

IDEATION

I started this phase by reflecting on the HMW statement I decided to go with during the last activity.

"How might we make a budget planning tool that is convenient, simple to use, and trackable for college students?. "

To make something that corresponds with the HMW statement, I began the ideation process by brainstorming the possible solutions for my client's problem space. I try to think of many ideas as possible, whether they are effective or not. The process is shown below.

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PROTOTYPING

After I had a list of possible solutions, I narrowed them down to the most potential three solutions, and from there, I went on to develop the three solutions in depth and tested them with users for feedback.

BUDGET PLANNING WEBSITE

This is a website that allows you to customize your budget, and the website provides you suggestions as to how to plan it reasonably; it also offers free online financial workshops/short videos/quizzes to let the users learn basic knowledge about financial management, so they know how to plan their budget in the future. And the app also provides a forum for the users to share their experiences on how to save money or plan their budget. From the user's feedback, they like learning financial knowledge, but they prefer a mobile application rather than a website. As for making plans by themselves, they want the app automatically generates a plan for them.

MOBILE APPLICATIONS LIKE "FOREST"

This idea is a mobile application that resembles the " Forest " app for keeping the users motivated to achieve their goals. Users will take a short survey when they first use the app, so the app will customize daily goals for the users to complete daily (for instance, try not to overspend the money )and one big goal to finish monthly. The app will link the users' bank accounts and other financial applications to track their status. And when users meet the pre-set goals, the app will reward them by giving them virtual points to plant their "garden." Some of the users like the idea because they feel motivated by doing so, but some users don't because they want something straightforward.

CUSTOMIZED BUDGET TRACKING APP

This budget tracking app gives you a customized budget plan and provides a simple statistic analysis of your monthly spending. When the users start to use the app, the app will let them take a quiz that asks for their monthly budget, which categories they spend most of their money on, and what do you want to achieve by using this app (e.g., save money/don't overspend....). Then the app will provide a customized plan for the users and offer suggestions and reminders, allowing them to follow their goals more quickly. It also provides a statistical analysis of the user's previous spending. From the feedback I received, most of the users are satisfied with the feature of the customized plan, and they like the app's simplicity. My client also said he would use it daily.

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FINAL CHOICE

The prototype I chose to deliver is the customized budget mobile app because this one received the most positive feedback from the users. Most of them like the app has customized features, and it seems easy to use compared to the other two. And it is the most practical one and corresponds with my HMW statement the most. I wish I would have more time to perfect my prototype, it took me a while to come up with different ideas, hopefully in the future I could make some of these prototypes into a more refined version (e.g. users can actually interact with the app so they might have a known the concepts better).