Finapp · 2023
The brief said one thing. The research said another. The research won.
A self-directed project, taken on after a UX/UI bootcamp — chosen deliberately to practice techniques a 10-week course couldn't fully cover. Working alone, with no supervisor, no client, and no one to validate decisions but the process itself.
Role
Solo · Research → UIType
Self-directed mobileTools
Figma · Maze · FigJamOutcome
Shipped to portfolio01 / Discovery
When the problem isn't the problem.
The project started with a clear brief: design an app to help people avoid missing payment deadlines, and in doing so, improve their credit score. Straightforward enough. Except the research didn't support it.
Early desk research and user interviews pointed somewhere unexpected. Missing deadlines wasn't the core issue. The real problem was upstream: people didn't have a clear picture of their finances. Not because they weren't paying attention — but because existing tools made it hard to see everything in one place, in a way that actually reflected how they lived and spent.
Pivoting the brief felt risky at first. But pushing forward with the original direction would have meant designing a solution to the wrong problem. The pivot held.
02 / Process
The process, in full.
Working alone meant making every methodological decision deliberately — no one to defer to, no shortcuts that could be blamed on time or team constraints.
01
Research
Desk research, competitor and indirect competitor analysis, user interviews, affinity mapping.
02
Synthesis
User stories, distinct personas, task analysis, user flows, storyboard to pressure-test the narrative.
03
Validation
Wireframes, hi-fi prototype, usability testing through Maze, iteration based on results.
User Flow
Wireframe
Goal: Understand whether the app's core function (adding income and expenses) feels simple and direct.
Scenario: Log into the app and add an expense.
Time: ideal 25s × worst 49s
Goal: Understand whether transaction search feels fluid.
Scenario: Check December transactions.
Time: ideal 8s × worst 214s
Goal: Understand whether the goal creation flow is sufficiently clear.
Scenario: Add a new financial goal.
Time: ideal 8s × worst 51s
03 / Product
What the project looks like.
Clean, structured, and intentionally flexible. Users categorise expenses in ways that reflect their actual spending, set personalised budgets, and get a clear view of where they stand at any point in the month — without the app making assumptions about how their financial life is organised.
The visual design holds up. Modestly.
05 / Why it's here
Study projects without external validation carry a specific risk. This one earns its place.
01
The research led somewhere the brief didn't anticipate — and the project followed. That's not a student exercise, that's a design instinct.
02
The process was complete and documented: research, synthesis, personas, flows, prototypes, usability testing, iteration. Every phase done, every decision traceable.
03
Built alone, on purpose, to prove the process works even without a team, a client, or a safety net.
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