Redefining and reshaping what it means to invest for our youth
Brief Summary
Investucate is a South Carolina based investing educational organization focused on providing quality content to young adults. The product exists by redefining and rethinking how the educational tools are presented to the youth. These solutions are driven by providing motivation, multi-faceted learning and rewarding system tools to kick-start into their investing journey.
My Role
Sole UX Designer - leading the app and responsive website from conception to delivery
Responsibilties
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, design iterations, information architecture, accessibility considerations, and responsive device designs.
Project Duration
December 2021 - January 2022
Client
Passion Project
Problem Statement
Based on secondary research, we found that only 38% of young adults in America invest in the stock market. But why so few? The problem is multi-faceted with various reasons. The two main reasons are the lack of overall financial illiteracy and psychological barriers.
Goal
The goal is to discover user pain points and develop a learning resource that attracts and motivates young adults to start their investing journey.
Secondary Research
According to Gallup’s annual economic and personal finance survey (2008-2018), “only 38% of young Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 years invest in the stock market.” We have to ask ourselves the “why” question, when the United States is the most powerful economic country in the entire world. There are two main reasons why we are failing to address this crisis.
Financial Illiteracy
Education is one of the main culprits leading the way to financial illiteracy. The public education system has failed to meet the needs of students’ most basic necessities for managing finances. In 2021, a study by the American Public Education Foundation found that 66% of schools received a C or worse in educating finances. To make matters worse, South Carolina received letter grade of D. So if we aren’t teaching students in school, where are they learning? The problem is that most are not. According to research from the journal of economic psychology, direct evidence has shown that parents' financial decisions are being emulated directly on their children. Lower income families are at the highest risk, which in turn creates a cycle of generational financial illiteracy. Even then, we are seeing that individuals with higher incomes and education backgrounds can be just as vulnerable, according to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
Psychological Setbacks
The second component, directly linked to financial illiteracy, is a psychological barrier with investing. Many young Americans have a sense of fear and anxiety when jumping into the investing world. According to research from Cao HH, Han B, Hirshleifer D, Zhang HH (2011), less stock market knowledge is directly related to either higher levels of anxiety and stress or a sense of naivety. These emotions translate to either making poor financial decisions because they are unaware of the risks or remove themselves from the stock market altogether. The anxiety of the unknown turns individuals thoughts into ambiguity aversion, and this aversion is directly tied back to the lack of education.
The Feedback Loop
Primary Interview Research
I conducted user interview questions for 5 total participants who met the initial survey requirements. Various topics were covered including ice breakers, past, present, and future plans about finances and investing. Based on the user responses, I discovered two storied themes that ultimately line up with an end goal of wanting to invest in the stock market. My assumptions prior to interviews lead me to believe that individuals knew at least some basic information about investing, but further digging disproved my opinions.
​
First Scenario
Participants
5 users
Requirements
Age 18-35 years old
South Carolina Resident
Conditions
Moderated & Recorded Phone Calls
They had a past life where money was not a concern, thus there were very few discussion about it. It was only until much later in life, in college, that they learned how to budget and grasp the knowledge of saving each month. This lack of general financial education has ultimately led to no reliable sources for investing and does not know where to begin. Emotional barriers are the biggest set-back, leading to complete avoidance in the subject. Although, these individuals are eager to take the next steps with investing.
Second Scenerio
These individuals lived in a lower middle-class family where it became difficult to pay monthly bills. These difficulties lead to greater discussions about the importance of money management and investing with parents and siblings. These individuals witnessed first hand struggles that their parents' would face and they would emphasize the importance of saving each month. The biggest set-backs are trust, confidence and consistency as well as motivation when enduring the investing journey. Although, they want to fight these struggles and start investing to improve generational wealth.
Interview Findings
Based off interviews, I found five interesting challenges and struggles that young adults faced within the investing world.​
1
Psychological Barriers
Many users have feelings of anxiety, fear, and distrust when even thinking about investing in the stock market, which ultimately leads to avoidance
2
Financial Illiteracy
Many users have or had unreliable sources to learn about stocks and investing over their lifetime
Only surface level discussions about investing or money management were brought up with family members
3
External Issues
Many users were dealing with other financial related issues including school debit, car, and house payments
4
Denial and Avoidance
Many users said they have a grasp on general financial management or investing, but when asking deeper they were unable to provide confidence or adequate skill sets about specific investing topics.
5
Mindset
Many users lack the attention span when discussing topics, like investing, that they are not familiar with. They also want to make money quick.
6
Misinformation
Many users said that they might have received unreliable information from their friends about investing. Some have said that it’s a gamble to invest and that there are easier ways to make money quickly.
Empathy Maps
After discovering these important findings, I created three empathy maps to create a shared understanding of the users needs and aid in the decision making process.
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
User Personas
After discovering important findings from primary user interviews, secondary research and empathy mapping, I created two personas that encompassed the young adults' personalities. I present to you, Max and Ally.
(Investucate).png)
Side tracked and unmotivated
"
"
"
Fearful, anxious, and hesitant
"
(Investucate).png)
User Journey Maps
After creating personas, I wanted to take these individuals though a scenario involving their direct actions and emotional feelings when tackling investing and financial education. These scenarios also provided valuable opportunities to find improvement of their user experience.
.png)
Scenario
Max wants to complete an entire financial education course and buy stocks
Scenario
Ally attempts to find a reliable source to educate on financial management and investing.
.png)
Crazy 8's
During the ideation phase, I did two crazy 8 sketches for both Ally and Max. My focus was to brainstorm as many different learning features that would potentially eliminate their user pain points.
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
Competitive Analysis
Digging deeper into the competitors market created an opportunity to discover strengths, weaknesses, missing features, and opportunities. An excel sheet was created to get a birds eye perspective.
I decided to analyze three companies that met requirements from a direct competitors standpoint. These were Mindy Labs: Finance, Investmate and Learning Stocks: Investing Guide.
.png)
Mindy Labs
Strengths:
-
Forces users to create an account
-
Easy area to find the ‘start lesson’ button
-
Search functionality
-
Progress bar in lesson plans
-
Friendly introduction pages (gets to know the users)
-
Colorful and interactive motion designs
-
Positive connectivity with users
-
Dark mode (accessibility plus)
-
Great flow between providing content, then quizzes, allows to keep the users engaged.
-
Provides check icons when users complete stages
Weaknesses:
-
No desktop education resources, only functional on mobile
-
Feels overwhelming with content when first opening app
-
Forces users to create an account
-
Real and animation photos do not feel connected from a brand identity standpoint
-
Lack of motivational features, from a front and center perspective. (highlighted info in settings seems to provide worthless info)
-
No audio only or listening features
-
Information had to load when opening up a new lesson plan
-
Terminology Issues
-
Search function on bottom navigation bar seems worthless
-
Brand identity is bland, with little color to create an emotional connection (lacks overall playfulness and fun)
Investmate
Strengths:
-
Easy to understand buttons
-
Provides “hints” in words for each of the slides
-
Excellent user swipe flow between card slides
-
Provides motivational screen to let users know they are close to getting to goal, lets users know what is next
-
Excellent navigation within lesson plans
-
Provides many colorful icons and pictures
-
Excellent design system
-
Best app that speaks to young investors from a brand identity standpoint
-
Colors provide a sense of security and trust as well as tranquility.
Weaknesses:
-
No desktop educational resources, only mobile
-
Navigation between bars feels disconnected
-
Lack of audio and video features
-
No starting user point for tasks
-
Buried links in setting that provide valuable resources including current news and favorites area (save cards)
-
No chat feature to speak with somebody live
-
User flow: page has to load when opening up a new lesson.
-
Profile section provides little value to users
-
Lacks hierarchical typography for card swiping (lesson area)
-
Feels like content of cards are not separate, just long bits of information (boring)
-
Navigation buttons, with cards, are in a strange place and too low on screen.
Learning Stocks
Strengths:
-
Easy to understand buttons
-
Provides “hints” in words for each of the slides
-
Excellent user swipe flow between card slides
-
Provides motivational screen to let users know they are close to getting to goal, lets users know what is next
-
Excellent navigation within lesson plans
-
Provides many colorful icons and pictures
-
Excellent design system
-
Best app that speaks to young investors from a brand identity standpoint
-
Colors provide a sense of security and trust as well as tranquility.
Weaknesses:
-
No desktop educational resources, only mobile
-
Navigation between bars feels disconnected
-
Lack of audio and video features
-
No starting user point for tasks
-
Buried links in setting that provide valuable resources including current news and favorites area (save cards)
-
No chat feature to speak with somebody live
-
User flow: page has to load when opening up a new lesson.
-
Profile section provides little value to users
-
Lacks hierarchical typography for card swiping (lesson area)
-
Feels like content of cards are not separate, just long bits of information (boring)
-
Navigation buttons, with cards, are in a strange place and too low on screen.
This competitive analysis research revealed many gaps and opportunities for Investuate.
Gaps:
-
Lack of content or no introductory explanations about the app
-
Lack or no questions getting to know the user
-
Important features are hidden in settings or other tabs
-
Overall lack of audio and video accessibility including podcasts and webinars
-
Overall navigation disconnection between tabs
-
Limited or no motivational sayings
-
Limited or no adaptive websites outside of the mobile version.
-
Lack of bite-sized learning, too much info on each page
-
Lack of branding and identity geared toward young individuals
Opportunities:
-
Create a closer personal account experience with the user (‘Get to know’ user questions, introduction of application, friendly profile picture, trophy system, percentage of completion,
-
Provide motivational tools when completing lessons (percentage completion, trophy system)
-
Create a seamless navigation flow between tabs
-
Enhance and simplify investing lessons for each of the cards (bite-size learning)
-
Provide intuitive visuals, quizzes, and fun facts.
-
Ability to share and save important card slides.
-
Provide a multi-screen tool for both mobile and desktop/tablet users.
-
Ability to easily sign-up without an email
-
Provide podcasts (audio learners) and live webinar features.
-
Improved branding identity to make it friendly, fun and approachable for all
-
Provide tools to make users have accountability.
-
Provide an optimization experience for both mobile and desktop versions
Hierarchical and Sequential Site Map
I constructed a hierarchical and sequential site map that would allow users to easily navigate. These actions provided a high quality and unrecognizable change in user experience between both the mobile application and responsive adaptive website.
_edited.jpg)
Paper Sketches
After creating site maps, I started to paper sketch red routes for both the mobile application and responsive website with a sharpie. I provided some icons, information and a consistent rhythm for the user. These sketch design were consistent with the users' needs. Once complete, they were converted into digital wireframes and tested for usability.
(Investucate).png)
Mobile Application
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
Responsive Website (iPad)
(Investucate).png)
(Investucate).png)
Usability Low-Fi Testing (Round 1)
Once digital sketches were complete and a prototype was connected, I interviewed 5 participants to perform a series of tasks. These tasks were followed by specific questions about those tasks. After participants completed the testing, a system usability study (SUS) questionnaire was provided and filled out.
Questions we are trying to uncover:
-
Can users successfully complete the topics of each of the investing plans?
-
What impact will content amount have on the user?
-
What part of the content will users struggle with?
-
Will these types of tools increase their likelihood to being the investing journey? why or why not?
-
What kind of impact will users have to provide a rewarding system?
The following tasks were asked of each participant:
1
View the main page and show where you would start an account. Start the sign-up process. (Responsive website ONLY)
2
Navigate through the introduction pages
3
Begin, navigate through Lesson 1, Topic ‘Why Buy Stocks’, and close the lesson plan once complete to return to the home page.
4
Navigate and view the ‘Webinar’ page
5
Navigate and view the ‘Podcasts’ page
6
Navigate and view the ‘My Rewards’ page
Participants
5 users (3 Mobile & 2 Website testers)
Requirements
Age 18-35 years old
South Carolina Resident
Methodology
Moderated Phone Calls
Communication: Skype,
screen recorded
Application: Figma
Time: 1 hour
Location: Remote, U.S.
KPI's
SUS Questionnaire
Conversion Rate
Clickable Error Rate
Affinity Mapping Diagram
After usability testing, I gathered valuable feedback about the mobile application and responsive website and clustered those ideas into themes. This gave me the opportunity to discover key findings about the usability testing.
_edite.jpg)
Usability Study Findings (Round 1)
After affinity mapping, I discovered 5 key findings and some key performance indicators (KPI's). These key iterations were addressed and edited before moving on to the high fidelity versions of the product.
1
Improve User flow
Users felt somewhat overwhelmed when first opening the application main page. They wanted somewhere to guide them to start the lesson plan.
2
Terminology
Users were contextually confused about terminology or lack thereof in various task orientated situations
3
Cognitive Overload
Users were overwhelmed with the financial calculator page and wanted those questions split into various pages on the mobile application.
5
Accessibility
Users felt that when viewing video content, they wanted the option to have a text/audio option as well. They also wanted to see how many pages were left in the lesson content, besides saying ‘Swipe’
4
Page Layout
Users felt that page restructuring of the podcast page was necessary. The current content at the top did not speak to new users and created overwhelming feelings. They felt that beginner podcast content should be displayed at the top of the page.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI's)
77
System Usability Study Score
All five participants filled out a 10 questionnaire scale on their opinion about the first round of usability testing. Based off the score, my round 2 of usability testing had more room for improvement.
.png)
5%
Clickable Error Rate
An average clickable error rate was calculated and were surprisingly very low. The only errors were present when users were at the home page and asked to begin the lesson plan. This indicted there was a lack of call-to-action button.
100%
Conversion Rate
All participants were successfully able to complete each task from the beginning to end.
Usability Iterations (Round 1)
Below are visual side by side changes that the majority of users felt hindered their user experience for both the mobile application and responsive website versions after round 1 testing. I wanted to continue to keep in mind the continued users' wants and needs.
Mobile Application
.png)
1
Added 'Begin Lesson' section to create an enhanced user flow and motivate users to begin lessons
2
Removed 'Quote of the day' section because it created more harm than value to the user
.png)
1
Added page numbers in the learning content section so users could anticipate when the topics would be complete
2
Removed 'Swipe' text because users understood visually by the cards that a swipe action was necessary.
.png)
1
Improved terminology by changing '5 day earning streak to '1 out of 5 consecutive day earning streak'. Users were confused what the '5' represented out of a total streak.
2
Removed current date in daily goal section because users already knew what the date was.
.png)
1
Improved terminology by changing '$5 Reward Credit' to 'Balance: $5 Credit'. Users were under the impression that if you referred an individual you would be awarded with $5.
.png)
1
Added 'Time' to webinar page as users wanted more specifics about the online classes
2
Changed terminology from 'Sign-Up' to 'Attend' as users felt like signing up mean't that they would have to create another account.
.png)
1
Remove the 'Just for you' tab because of the minimal value in provided
2
Restructured and combined the 'Just for you' section into the explore tab as well as providing beginner investing content at the top of the screen. This content provided a more friendly and approachable way to learn for the users.
.png)
1
Page restructuring of the financial calculator goal page into three separate pages. Users experienced some frustration and cognitive overload by having content on one page.
Responsive Website (iPad)
.png)
1
Added 'Balance: $5 Credit' to the responsive website version as this added value for users to be front and center.
2
Added a 'Back to homepage' navigation because users felt stuck that they were not able to get back to the website homepage.
.png)
1
Added a yellow highlighted box over text to create a screen reader option when audio is playing. Users felt it was visually necessary when or if audio was playing.
2
Increased typography to take more advantage of the iPad screen size. Users felt the content was somewhat small for such a large device.
1
Changed terminology from 'audio only' to 'text & audio only' to inform users that the screen reader option is available
2
Changed the audio play icon to a text page icon, informing users that video capabilities are not the only options
Prototypes (Low-Fidelity)
Below are low-fidelity prototypes for the mobile and responsive website. Each connection between pages were thoughtfully constructed.
Mobile Application
Responsive Website (iPad)
Design System
Before transitioning into the high-fidelity prototype, I focused my attention to the design system. This crucial component allowed me to create consistency and cohesiveness between various screen sizes. I focused my attention on a logo, typography, colorography, layouts & grids, components, iconography, and cards.
Logos
Colorography
Iconography
Components
Typography
Grids & Layouts
Input fields & radius
Cards
Usability Hi-Fi Testing (Round 2)
Once edits and design systems were implemented, I took my designs to the next level by creating a hi-fi prototype version. Testing was performed with the same tasks, methodologies, participant requirements and KPI's.
What was discovered:
After creating another affinity diagram map and compiling user themes, it became apparent that there were minor edits that needed to be done. All changes made fell under Prioritization 'Level 2.' This means they were only additional features that were nice to have, but not essential. I also noticed improved KPI's across the board when comparing round one to round two testing. Conversion rates remained at 100% throughout both rounds of testing.
System Usability Scores
Because of various edits, users felt more connected and with a greater chance of using the application for a longer period of time.
77
94
Round 1
Round 2
Clickable Error Rate
Creating a call-to-action button after users were presented with the home screen validated an improved clickable rate, and reducing some confusion on where to begin lesson plans.
5%
0%
Round 1
Round 2
Link to Research Study Plan (Hi-Fi)
Accessibility Considerations
1
Dark Mode
Providing a dark mode, enhances the users ability focus their attention to the information cards.
3
Screen Reader
Text is highlighted in yellow when audio lessons are being played.
5
Color Accessibility Standards
2
Visual & Audio Options
User has the ability to watch video, but also has the option to change to text and/or audio only.
4
Increased Typography
Large text with bite sized and easily understandable learning content
When designing, I knew my color palates had to pass WCAG 2 Color and Contrast Requirements. This insured full and clear visibity for all users
Final Prototype (High Fidelity)
Below are the final high-fidelity prototype screenshots and links for the mobile and responsive website.
Mobile Application
Responsive Website (iPad)
Mobile High Fidelity Prototypes
Responsive Website
High Fidelity Prototypes
Final Takeaways
Impact:
Investucate was created to provide quality tools for the young investor in mind. Users showed their love for the product, in that it provided the emotional, motivational and informational components they were looking for. Ultimately, users said that it truly changed their outlook on investing for the better.
What I learned:
What I learned became apparent after digging deeper with primary and secondary research. These young adults never had the proper tools they were yearning for. These tools included motivational components to improve their confidence, multi-faceted learning tools, and a rewarding system to kick-start their lifetime investing journey. Because ultimately, providing a quality product is all about being empathetic toward your users needs.
What I plan on doing next:
1
Analytical Research
I would conduct further research by compiling data to see how many users completed the lesson plans. I would take this further by looking into how many users took that next step to invest in the stock market.
2
Incentives
I would look to improve motivational components. This might include partnering with companies to provide additional incentives with heavy discounts for their investing products.
3
Continued Iterations
Continued to empathy and ideate with users, research competitors in the market, conduct usability testing, and redesign previous hi-fi versions.
Check out my other projects
