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)
This is a personal finance app designed for Gen Z to build mindful money habits and transition into full financial independence. I led UX design and research, collaborating with data scientists to create a system powered by data and behavioral science that motivates long-term financial wellness.
This project was initiated to demonstrate how a synthetic data model can be applied in a real product while designing a personal finance app that helps Gen Z build healthy money habits. The process combined top-down user research to uncover user needs and bottom-up model training to define technical constraints.
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."
Step 1: Increase Awareness of Spending
I was inspired by dating apps and made a tinder-like spending reviewing flow.
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 of swiping left to make users comfortable being honest and reflect.
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
Transitioners often lack clear goals and don’t know where to start, so I added benchmarks to guide them.
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.
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
✅ 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.
V2. Reward Focused
❌ 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.
About Me
Graduation Date: December 2025
Location: Free to relocation in U.S.
Looking for: in-house UX designer/UX researcher/ PM
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