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Research Methods For Design
FinBuddy
FinBuddy is a platform that matches young adults in their 20s and 30s with the best financial mentors for their needs. We aim to make financial planning easy and personalized, reducing anxiety and promoting financial literacy. With "FinBuddy," you can take control of your finances and achieve your long-term goals with confidence.
ROLE
UX Researcher
Product Designer
TEAM
Luna Lu,
Amber Yang, Sunny Cheng
DATE
10/2022-12/2022
Overview
01 Prompt
Our team was motivated to explore the topic of financial planning for young people due to the personal experiences of one of our classmates who shared her struggles with student loans and the high cost of living. This inspired us to consider how we could develop an experience that could better support young people in building their personal financial plans. Design an experience that connects mentors and mentees based on shared interests and financial goals, while also considering the needs of both mentors and mentees, to create a successful mentoring program that benefits both parties.
02 Research Process
Definition
Research
Ideation
Prototyping
Result
Design Experimental
Introduction
01 The Challenge
Young people, such as Gen Zs(1995-2005) and Millennials(1981-1994), are unprepared to finance their futures due to their low financial literacy[1] and lack of planning.
Even though financial planning is beneficial and critical, it is deemed a time-consuming and triggering experience.
02 Define the Problem
Participatory Observation Exercise
The team conducted a participatory observation exercise to understand how young people with different roles (ie. students, working professionals, and married couples) are currently learning about and planning for finances.
Since the team is part of the targeted young demographic, we each took on two methods (touch points) and utilize them to plan for finance. During each observation, we documented our steps, emotions, and thoughts on an excel sheet and consolidated them in an experience map.
From our observations, we realized financial planning is a deeply personal and complex process that integrates multiple touch points. Additionally, even though money is a taboo and sensitive topic, it is still conversation-driven, especially for young people who simply don’t know where to start.
03 Project Goal
Advocating financial literacy among young adults (20s-30s), and making financial planning personal and anxiety-free.
Research
01 User Interview
Research Goals
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What hinders and motivates young people to plan for their finances? ·
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What is the personal financial planning process like?
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What tools, services, and resources are used? What is and isn’t working?
Interview Process
Our team recruited 10 participants in their 20-30s with different occupational/marital statuses (i.e. married couples, students, and working professionals). Due to convenience sampling, most participants weren’t doing poorly financially, yet they still struggle and feel insecure discussing finance.
We drafted a semi-structured interview to understand how they’re currently planning or not planning, what motivates and hinders them financially, and what resources are they using.
Participant Demographics
Interview Findings
The main recurring theme from our interviews is conversation.
Learn through conversation
Casually consulting family and friends in similar shoes can provide the foundational knowledge for planning.
# Conversation over instruction
# Family advice
# Consult friends
“And so my sister and I are both like the kind of figuring it out...it's not really like, “tell me what to do”... It's more of like a conversation. ”
Getting advice from family & elderly
Even with financial literacy, family and friends can still give good insights and advice.
# Utilize different Resources
# Advance financial literacy through people
“My mother has a huge influence on me because she is more advanced in financial management and investment. ”
Advice seeking
Couples are more financially aware,
yet they are still actively seeking advices from others.
# Planning guidance from parents
# Consult financial advisor
# Counselling classes
# Older & more experienced friends
“These seniors are more experienced in financial management and do not have too much of a gap in life stages."
Interview Learning & Implications
Based on our interviews, we learned that all participants with different levels of financial literacy preferred a conversation-driven approach to plan and gaining knowledge. That being said, participants are often constrained by the limited knowledge of their social network. This inspired the team to look into mentorship or support groups as a potential direction.
02 Research Synthesis
Before moving on to concept brainstorming, the team created a code book in excel to identify key barriers to financial planning and design opportunities.
We grouped codes based on the frequency and emotional intensity to uncover the top barriers to financial planning. The three themes that came out of this exercise are finance management, income constraint, and financial literacy.
Finance
Management
Income
Constrain
Finance
Management
Overly Defined Income and Expenses
Permission
Family
Maintenance
[Time and Energy]
[Budget Management]
Expense Numbers
[Investment Management]
Saving Money
Making Ends Meet
Limited Income
Adulting
Dependency
Foundational Knowledge
Environment [Economic Situation]
Tecnology-dependent
[Debt Management]
Information Gap
03 Precedents Study
The team also performed a comparative analysis that considered relevant design work in fintech, mentoring programs, online education, support groups, financial advising services, and online mental therapy. For each example, we analyzed their strengths in detail and their implications for our work.
Currently, there isn’t a personal finance mentoring program, and all financial advising services target the group with more financial fluency. Fintech and mobile apps are great for tracking expenses and analyzing patterns, however, they failed to offer customized, flexible solutions for users’ unique financial situations.
With a mentorship program, mentors can come up with tailored solutions based on a mentee’s personal finance. Thus, the team referred to examples such as Together, Cambly, and an article about mentorship training for inspiration. We learned that there are different mentoring, matchmaking, and training methods to ensure a safe, quality mentoring relationship.
Mentor Training Program
Together
Cambly
Carson Wealth
Ideation
01 Concept Branstorming
The concept was informed by the precedent exercise. We drafted a service structure in Miro, including features from existing ideas and new ones. The mentorship program will take on a preventative approach. It focuses on improving financial literacy and building healthy habits instead of solving urgent financial issues.
Legend
Structure/Methods
Existing
Ideas
Preventative
Approach
Co-op Programe
Mixaed Approach
Financiall
Mentors
New Ideas
Differentiator
Peers
Banking Financial Advisors
Brainstoming
Recruitment
Matchmaking
Training
Education
Honorary Mentor Award(Pro-Bono For Financial Advisors)
Mentee-Initiated Recruitment: Through Mentee's Social Cricle
Certification For Mentee to Become A mentor
Time Bank(Company Rewards Points Based On Participation Time)
Self Assessment
Match By Culture + Ethnicity + Income Range
Match By Goals + Life Stage+Mentoring Methods
Match By Activities + Topics
3 Phases:
Pre-Match, Post-Match, Peer Support
Mentor/
Mentee
Milestones
Checklist
Mentor Training
Methods Of Education
Financial Topics
Short Reading/ Quick Daily Read
Long-Term Issues-Making Plans
Company Co-op Courses
Short-Term Issues-Quick Talk
Motivation Through Level-Up Their Expertise
Tutorials and Tech Help
Menor Support Group
Emotional
Care
Mentor Training On YouTube
Public Speech/Lecture/ Talk
Certification Program
1:1 With Profeesionals
Life Milestones
02 Design Scenario
After the mentorship program structure was decided, we then created a design scenario to put our service concept in context for in-class presentation and feedback. The feedback would then inform the directions we move forward with our prototype.
Grace signed up for the program. Through self-assessment, she reviewed her current financial situation to identify the problem and potential solutions before moving on to mentorship.
The program started with a quick pre-match trainings and a milestone checklist, so she knows what to expect from this mentoring relationship.
After completing the quick training she was paired with Kat who shared the same financial struggles in the past.
Grace was overwhelmed by her part-time jobs and schoolwork and desperately wanted to chat with someone about this.
Grace contacted Kat and scheduled a meet-up to discuss her turmoil. Kat made Grace feel less alone in dealing with her issues.
Kat referred Grace to a couple of fellowship and scholarship opportunities and helped her create a checklist to navigate her school and part-time jobs better.
After meeting with her mentor, Grace realized how being financially literate can help support her short-term and long-term financial goals, such as being financially independent and balancing life and school.
With gradual learning through short daily readings, Grace was able to bridge her gap in financial knowledge. She also joined one-off financial talks to increase her financial literacy.
With a milestone checklist and a support group, she's able to work towards getting certified to become a mentor herself.
Grace is a 26-year-old graduate student working in two part-time jobs. Her family has been struggling financially since the COVID-19 pandemic so she wants to be more financially independent.
Grace learned about the program from a peer who's involved in the personal finance co-op that's organized by the school and an organization.
Prototyping
01 Design hypothesis
“Young people feel more comfortable navigating the stress of personal finances through conversations.”
We chose our hypothesis based on the concept of mentorship due to our findings that most participants rely on conversations with family and friends to accrue foundational knowledge on personal finances. However, they’re often limited by their personal connections and their proficiency in different topics.
02 Design process
Recruitment
We recruited 6 participants using convenience sampling. Participants are
in their 20s-30s with diverse backgrounds ranging from graduate, undergrad, and recently graduated (with 1 to 2 years of work experience).
Methods
Our team created a participatory experience prototype of a mentor and mentee’s first check-in session.
In the prototyping session, our team member would act as a mentor while the participant acted as a mentee. We created a semi-structured script to guide the dialogues on the topic of “monthly budgeting”.
The conversation was kept open to better observe participants’ comfort level. At the end of the session, participants were prompted to evaluate both the experience and whether they’d like to continue with the mentoring relationship.
Analysis
The sessions were recorded through Zoom and transcribed. All transcriptions, interview reflections, and evaluation forms were then analyzed together.
Session Outline
Greeting & Consent
Introduced our project and session flow
Roles & Scenario
Reiterate the session goals and scenario
Session Script
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Introduction
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Icebreaker
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Assessment questions
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Budgeting solutions, advice, discussion
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Wrap up
Mentorship
Session Evaluation
Send a Google form to participants for session evaluation.
03 Learning and Implication
Comfort Level Comparison
# Comfort level is skewed due to convenience sampling and not all the participants needed help with our predetermined topic.
# After a casual conversation, participants were able to reflect on
and assess their current condition, therefore, they became more comfortable talking about finances.
Before-3 participants feel very uncomfortable and 2 feel neutral
3
2
After-5 participants feel very comfortable
5
Implications
Building empathy
Icebreakers and personal stories can help participants normalize different personal financial issues.
Privacy Concern
# Financial topics can be a sensitive topic for different individuals. A judgment-free space can help participants better communicate and discuss financial issues.
Implications
Setting boundaries
Clearly define boundaries for what’s safe to share and how to be respectful in a session to protect both the mentor and mentee.
Self-Reflection
# Mentees responded that talking things out loud helps them reflect on their current financial situation.
Referral
# Enable mentee to receive help from other experts/ mentors on different topics.
04 Key Findings
Reverse Mentoring
Using other participants’ responses and research findings as insights to discuss with other mentees could be an efficient way of tackling a difficult question.
Communication Skill
Communication skills are critical to a sustainable mentoring relationship. Both mentor and mentee can benefit from further training and practice.
Peer Support
Assigning supervision to mentors would guarantee them guidance in times of need. Mentoring can be a lot of emotional labor. Additional peer-to-peer support groups can be beneficial, where mentors can be resources to one another.
Mentor Training
Additional training based on mentors’ strengths and weaknesses would greatly improve their confidence since they aren’t always experienced experts.
Improvisation
Simulation exercises can be included in the mentor’s training so they can be prepared and know the best responses for the situation.
Building Rapport
Establishing a trusting relationship can help ease the talk about difficult topics within finance.
05 Prototype Iterations-What we can improve
If we were to redo the prototype again, there are a few things we wish to implement and analyze further. Including follow-up meetings rewording questions and asking for elaborations on key points from participants.
Follow up chats
Additional check-in can help the team capture any insights inspired by the questions and topics in the evaluation form.
Recruitment
The comfort level would be much more accurate if the sessions were conducted with strangers.
Recruit some strangers or exchange friends for prototype evaluate.
Evaluation form
Clarification of questions
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Clarify what we meant by emotional support and information/resources
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Keep the follow-up questions for the “overall experience” open by asking why the participants picked either negative or positive.
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Ask participants to elaborate on their positive or negative impressions of the mentor.
Additional open-ended questions
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Were there moments that motivated or helped you the most?
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Overall, what moments contribute most to your financial problems?
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Who are you most comfortable talking to about personal finances? Why?
Result
01 Personal Financial Planning - FinBuddy
FinBuddy
“Matching the best financial mentor for you.”
Young people with low financial literacy often depend on parents or family for financial guidance, however, not every family is equipped with the financial literacy to mentor them.
FinBuddy would bridge the information and knowledge gap through a community-driven mentorship program. Young people in need of financial guidance can choose from a range of mentorship methods (i.e. 1:1, group mentoring, and flash mentorship) based on their financial goals.
The program would partner with local banks, non-profits and colleges to recruit mentors with diverse backgrounds. Financial experts would be verified by affiliated institutions while peer mentors are assessed through a short financial literacy quiz based on the topics of their choosing (i.e. student loan, mortgage, budget management, etc.)
02 Iterated User Journey
The below user journey represents an ideal user flow of a 1:1 mentoring relationship that aims to devise a plan for personal finance.
03 Next Steps
There are areas in our service touch points that the team would like to explore further and refine the mentorship program for both the mentors and mentees.
Mentorship Training
# From the mentoring session, the team realizes it’s tough being a mentor and we want to develop a certificate training program that includes training in empathy-building, financial literacy and communication skills. There could also be simulation or role-play exercises to help mentors gain confidence and practice their improvisation skills.
Recruitment
# Recruitment for both experts and peer mentors is critical to the success of
the mentorship program. In our next step, we want to conduct interviews to understand mentors' and mentee’s motivation to join a mentorship program and how we can incentivize them.
Additional Prototypes
# Mentoring session We would like to invite a financial expert to conduct a mentoring session with participants and observe the best practices for guidance and communication.
# Matching Process Design iterations of the matchmaking interfaces to understand criteria and preferences for mentors/mentees.
# Assessment and Quizzes Design an online assessment to assess the mentee’s personal finance goals. Design an online quiz to assess the mentor’s financial literacy and strengths and weaknesses as a mentor.
Education
# Brainstorm and design digestible learning materials to help mentors and mentees reinforce financial knowledge.
Take Away
A Research-Driven Journey through Personal Financial Planning with Fin Buddy
Research Methods for Design
# We built upon our idea by taking it to the next stage in design research methods.
Embrace the journey of our design research-driven project, where we prioritize the fascinating process over immediate results. Uncovering sparkling details at every step not only makes the research effective but also provides a deeper understanding of user behavior, leading us to the best solutions for our research problem.
Teamwork
The difference between what one person can do and what a team can do is huge, and the process of learning and growing as a team helped us gain friendships.
# My biggest contribution to the team is being responsible for the visual work, including the project cover, design guidelines, storyboards, and hero images.
# Our team has the following qualities:
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A team player who can also work independently
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Excellent communication skills
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Share Resources
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Dedicated team member
For me, teamwork is not only a process of solving problems together but also a process of learning from each other. Sunny has leadership ability and Amber has logical thinking skills, by learning from my teammates, I can better recognize my strengths and weaknesses.
Project Value
# Unlocking Financial Confidence: 'Fin Buddy' and the Path to Empower Youthful Financial Independence
As a designer, each step of the design process comes from the research findings, which guide us step by step. I think "focusing on communication in financial planning" was one of the most significant design decisions we made, ultimately leading to "Fin Buddy". Financial planning is a very professional topic, and communication is the most direct way to get information, so each interviewee we have interviewed always talks to family members or friends when they have financial issues. But the truth is that the level of financial literacy of family or friends is not guaranteed, you may or may not be able to get helpful advice. Fin Buddy fills this gap directly. As the designer, this kind achieves my final goal - to find a reasonable way to help young people solve their financial problems.
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