FCAT Balance Bean Personal Finance App
Product Designer • 8 Months
TEAM
2 Data scientist, 1 Software Engineer, 1 UX Designer (🙋♀️ I'm here), 2 UX researcher (🙋♀️ I'm here)
OVERVIEW
This is a personal finance app designed for Gen Z, powered by data and behavioral science, to build mindful money habits and transition into full financial independence. I led end-to-end UX design and research, from needfinding and feature conceptualization to high-fidelity prototyping. I partnered with data scientists to translate a synthetic data model into meaningful, user-centered experiences for Gen Z.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
Gen Zs Transitioning to Independence Need Support With Spending Habits
"As a student, I never worried because I always had money from my parents. Now that I’m earning my own income, I hesitate before every purchase — my parents aren’t my financial backup anymore."
"I don’t feel like I make enough to support my current lifestyle, so I have to prioritize every expense. But cutting back is harder than it sounds — it means giving up things like meal prepping, coffee, and social activities. I used to spend without thinking, but now I hesitate before every purchase."
"I was never money-conscious because I didn’t have a steady income. I always thought, ‘This will be a problem for when I have a job.’ Once I started working full time, it reality hits."
DESIGN PROCESS
An End-to-End Design Process
Assessment
Ideation
AI Prototyping
Design System
Usability testing
2nd Iteration
Phase 1. Technical & Team Assessment
We held weekly cross-functional check-ins with the data team, product team, and Fidelity mentors to share progress and learn from one another. These alignments grounded my design decisions in technical constraints, behavioral science, and business strategy.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Step 1: Increase Awareness of Spending
Review spending decision weekly to be more mindful, inspired by dating apps :)
I chose a merchant-level weekly summary, so there are fewer statements for users to review. In our survey, more than half of respondents said weekly reviews feel comfortable and non-annoying.
I ensure that there's no negative reinforcements to make users comfortable being honest and reflect.
"Feels Right" cues both direction and decision with minimal wording.
A progress bar is shown to make the process feel shorter and more predictable.
It also lets users view details and mark any purchase as a “group purchase,” since pay-then-split is a common trend among Gen Z.
Step 2: Set Realistic Goals
Step 4: Repeat Step 1 - 3, Then Grow The Money
Transitioners often lack clear goals and don’t know where to start, so I added benchmarks to guide them.
Reward system and the side effect
I color-coded categories into “wants, needs, and savings,” and added an outer ring based on the 50/30/20 rule, suggesting users to allocate 50% to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to saving.
Opened the center of the pie chart and highlighted the selected portion with a liquid-glass tag to show more information for that category.
Synthetic generated peer data to provide another benchmark that guides GenZ to set their own goals.
*We aim to demonstrate the trained synthetic model here.
Make setting goals feel like a shopping experience, where users can browse and add goals to their list.
Suggested goals are based on People Like You benchmarks and users’ left-swiped cards. Goals are defined by either frequency or amount, making them technically trackable.
Users can adjust goals before setting them, but having a framework makes it easier for them to think things through.
A side effect of the reward system is that it signals which users are stable and mindful — those ready to start growing their money. Our client could retain these users by offering free investment consulting when they reach higher levels in the app.
Step 2: Set Realistic Goals
Provide benchmarks to help Transitioners set realistic financial goals.
Needs / Wants / Savings color coding: Clearly categorizes spending to reduce cognitive load.
50/30/20 outer ring: Adds a familiar budgeting benchmark, suggesting 50% needs, 30% wants, and 20% savings.
Interactive center detail: Opens the pie chart center and highlights the selected segment with a liquid-glass tag to surface category-specific insights.
Peer benchmark via synthetic data: Uses generated peer data to help Gen Z contextualize spending and set realistic goals.
Model transparency: This view intentionally showcases how the trained synthetic model informs user guidance.
Step 3: Align Spending Behaviors to Goals
The goal page tracks progress and motivate users.
Savings-first motivation: Highlights cumulative savings at the top as the primary motivator.
Reward system: Introduces “wellness beans” that unlock rewards at different levels to reinforce positive behavior.
Consistent color logic: Maintains needs vs. wants color coding for continuity across the experience.
Clear goal types: Distinguishes frequency-based and amount-based goals, while clearly showing remaining monthly budget for both.
Step 3: Align Spending Behaviors to Goals
The goal page tracks progress and supports users in adjusting their spending behaviors.
The needs-and-wants color coding still applies and stays consistent.
The frequency goals and amount goals are presented differently, but both show how much budget is left for the month.
A side effect of the reward system is that it signals which users are stable and mindful — those ready to start growing their money.
Our client could retain these users by offering free investment consulting when they reach higher levels in the app.
Step 4: Repeat Step 1 - 3, Then Grow The Money
I included a reward system to motivate users. Users earn Wellness Beans by completing swipe reviews and accomplishing their goals.
V1. Saving Focused
V1. Saving Focused
✅ Selected
✅ Selected
✅ Research shows users are mainly motivated by the money they have saved and the progress they made.
✅ Clients don't want to overpromise on rewards.
❌ Adding another layer to access reward details and reducing their impact.
✅ Research shows users are mainly motivated by the money they have saved.
✅ Clients don't want to overpromise on rewards.
❌ Adding another layer to access reward details and reducing their impact.
V2. Reward Focused
V2. Reward Focused
❌ Unselected
❌ Unselected
✅ Exciting reward details and requires less interaction
❌ Shifts users’ focus to rewards rather than their own financial wellness
❌ Doesn’t drive real financial change and can lead to reward-gaming.
✅ Exciting reward details and requires less interaction
❌ Shifts users’ focus to rewards rather than their own financial wellness
❌ Doesn’t drive real financial change and can lead to reward-gaming.
THE FINAL PROTOTYPE
THE FINAL PROTOTYPE
Bringing It All Together
Bringing It All Together
REFLECTIONS
REFLECTIONS
Collaboration + bold thinking = great products
Collaboration + bold thinking = great products
🏆 Top 1 project of the year
🔬 88/100 in usability test (SUS) & 91% adoption intent
📱Launch-ready prototype with a functional synthetic model backend.
Working on an end-to-end project required balancing user needs with technical constraints and understanding what the team could realistically deliver within the timeline.
Fast iteration through team critique and quick guerrilla testing proved essential in the ideation stage, helping us avoid investing time polishing the wrong idea.
AI tools accelerated both ideation and development. When I proposed the swiping-card feature, I used rapid AI-assisted prototyping to quickly demonstrate the interaction to my team and client—without spending hours on Figma noodles.
If I had more time, I would test adoption, retention, and long-term behavior change, and iterate the design based on richer user data. I would also refine the visual details, explore additional styles, and reduce discrepancies between the designed UI and the developed UI.
Working on an end-to-end project required balancing user needs with technical constraints and understanding what the team could realistically deliver within the timeline.
Fast iteration through team critique and quick guerrilla testing proved essential in the ideation stage, helping us avoid investing time polishing the wrong idea.
AI tools accelerated both ideation and development. When I proposed the swiping-card feature, I used rapid AI-assisted prototyping to quickly demonstrate the interaction to my team and client—without spending hours on Figma noodles.
If I had more time, I would test adoption, retention, and long-term behavior change, and iterate the design based on richer user data. I would also refine the visual details, explore additional styles, and reduce discrepancies between the designed UI and the developed UI.
Thanks for Reading!
Thanks for Reading!
Check out more of my projects:)
Check out more of my projects:)
Let's connect and see what's next!
© 2025 Yidi Lin. All Rights Reserved.
Contact
Let's connect and see what's next!
© 2025 Yidi Lin. All Rights Reserved.
Contact
FCAT Balance Bean Personal Finance App
Product Designer • 8 Months
TEAM
2 Data scientist, 1 Software Engineer, 1 UX Designer (🙋♀️ I'm here), 2 UX researcher (🙋♀️ I'm here)
OVERVIEW
This is a personal finance app designed for Gen Z, powered by data and behavioral science, to build mindful money habits and transition into full financial independence. I led end-to-end UX design and research, from needfinding and feature conceptualization to high-fidelity prototyping. I partnered with data scientists to translate a synthetic data model into meaningful, user-centered experiences for Gen Z.
DESIGN PROCESS
An End-to-End Process
Phase 1. Team Assessment
We held weekly cross-functional check-ins with the data team, product team, and Fidelity mentors to share progress and learn from one another. These alignments grounded my design decisions in technical constraints, behavioral science, and business strategy.
Assessment
Ideation
AI Prototyping
Design System
Usability testing
2nd Iteration
Phase 1. Team Assessment
We held weekly cross-functional check-ins with the data team, product team, and Fidelity mentors to share progress and learn from one another. These alignments grounded my design decisions in technical constraints, behavioral science, and business strategy.
Assessment
Ideation
AI Prototyping
Design System
Usability testing
2nd Iteration
DESIGN SOLUTION
Step 1: Increase Awareness of Spending
Review spending decision weekly to be mindful
Tinder-like swipe flow: Inspired by dating apps to make spending review lightweight and familiar.
Weekly, merchant-level summary: Reduces review fatigue and aligns with survey insights that weekly check-ins feel comfortable and non-annoying.
No negative reinforcement: Encourages honest reflection without guilt or pressure.
Group purchase support: Allows users to mark transactions as shared, reflecting Gen Z’s pay-then-split behavior.
Progress visibility: A progress bar makes the review feel shorter and more predictable.