A student-first app that helps college students track spending, save smarter, and learn money basics.
Nominated for the European Design Awards for Interface Design. Created in collaboration with Cherry Phan, Jiwan Park, Ashley Cho & Anna Vorontsova.
Role
Project Manager
Timeline
Jan - Mar, 2026
Tools
Figma
Notion
Challenge
Design and develop a functional mobile application for a real-world campus club or organisation.
Problem
Students don’t lack concern about money; they lack tools that fit their lifestyle.
Before ideation, we explored student money challenges to inform our product direction.
Research
We aimed to create high-energy experience that feels alive.
From there, we pushed the visuals further in Photoshop—dialing up contrast, color, and intensity
Findings
College students want to track finances through visuals and streaks to feel accomplished and stay engaged.
Three patterns stood our specific to our target audience:
Budget & Tracking
Students rely on ineffective tracking methods
Community
It’s less overwhelming when you are learning with other people
Motivation
Incentives creates motivation for achieving goals.
Hypothesis
We built user journey maps and scenarios to understand student behaviours and motivations.
The goal was to identify what drives students to use the app consistently and make better financial decisions.
Visualising a User Scenario
This user scenario explores the journey of an international student navigating tax season.
Ideation
We explored a wide range of concepts through quick, sketches.
Most concepts felt either too complex or disconnected from how students actually manage money, so we simplified it and focused on making it feel easy to use.
Design Exploration
We explored the app’s identity by developing a playful brand with mascots.
Early directions felt either too childish or too disconnected from the app’s purpose, so we refined the visual language and personality to strike a balance—fun, but still credible and helpful.
Final Design
The final design brings everything together into a cohesive, story-driven experience.
By refining the flow, visuals, and character system, we created a product that’s engaging, intuitive, and built to fit seamlessly into students’ everyday lives.
Reflection
As project manager, I focused on keeping the team aligned while making sure our creative direction stayed consistent from idea to execution. Balancing timelines, feedback, and evolving ideas was challenging, but it pushed me to communicate more clearly and make quicker, more confident decisions.
