Problem Statement
How might we design web and mobile app that allows Gen Z college students to create a monthly budget and track their spending?
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We conducted 4 ethnographic interviews that revolved around users trying to navigate two apps that were similar in design and purpose (Buddy and EveryDollar) to what we were trying to achieve. The main takeaways we wanted to get from conducting these interviews were a sense of which features are beneficial and valuable to users in a money tracking app and what we can do better to target our specific user class. In preparation for these interviews, my partner and I sat down, each one of us assigned to one of the apps and tried to explore the main purpose and functionalities of the app. We saw what was most interesting to us and took inspiration from what we thought was important. We then created open-ended navigation questions that would take the users through making a budget and give us an insight into how a user would use the app intuitively. We used zoom as a way for users to share their screens and to observe actions. Since this project was done in quarantine, it was difficult to observe smaller interactions and comments that the user had so we really relied on the users being verbal about what they were doing and thinking.
The main takeaways that we got from doing these interviews were that the structure of these apps were intuitive, especially when the goals were adding a transaction and creating a budget for various lengths. We also found that some buttons and the way they were displayed did not relay the correct message to users, this allowed us to be more cautious of what icons we used as well as making sure everything looked clickable.
Something we found interesting was that each user had a different way they navigate and perform certain actions, for example, delete, some users found a button that helped them perform the actions while some opted for swiping on an item and deleting through there. Ultimately when asked whether they would use the apps most people said no because it does what an excel sheet would do or its more convenient to keep mental notes. This got us thinking about a subproblem to our problem statement, how could we make this app more meaningful for gen z students to use and that would be better integrated into their lifestyle.
Alongside the ethnographic interviews we also conducted 4 non-directed interviews with the purpose of understanding the core reasons why college students save and choose not to save. We wanted to get a better grasp of the user mindset to create something that will be useful in their lives. The questions asked here were also open-ended and broad. Some of the best insight we got weren't even from these questions but from the conversations and stories that came about from them.
From these questions, we were able to understand users’ current habits and how those came to be. We also used these questions as a bridge to allow users to share personal stories of money in their lives and how it was handled growing up. Some things we found insightful in these conversations included that many people use their bank apps to keep track of money since they deem it trustworthy and convenient for tracking expenses on their card. Another insight is that the students we interviewed, many had their parents take care of finances for them, being a “good spender” is something that they were never taught. The way parents would help them budget when growing up included a golden rule of not spending money when they don’t need to instead of providing healthy spending habits. Finally, many students felt more inclined to keep track of money if they had goals and persistent guidance since it was never an active part of their life before.
