Finance App Design
An intelligent budgeting and expense tracking application that helps users take control of their finances through visual insights, automated categorization, and personalized savings goals with financial wellness focus.
Project Goals
BudgetWise addresses the common challenge of personal financial management with a design philosophy centered on clarity, motivation, and actionable insights rather than overwhelming users with complex financial data. The primary goal was creating a finance app that users would actually want to open daily, not avoid out of financial anxiety.
Research & User Understanding
Research showed that existing finance apps either oversimplified to the point of uselessness or presented data in ways that required financial expertise to interpret. We conducted diary studies with 30 participants tracking their financial app usage for 30 days, revealing that 65% stopped using finance apps within the first month. Interviews uncovered that users abandoned apps when they felt judged, confused, or overwhelmed. Our goal was finding the balance: sophisticated financial tracking presented through an accessible, encouraging interface.
UX Architecture
We structured the app around four main pillars: Overview (financial snapshot), Transactions (detailed spending), Budgets (planning and limits), and Goals (savings objectives). User flows were designed to minimize friction in daily use—adding transactions requires just two taps, and budget creation uses conversational UI elements, asking simple questions to build personalized budgets that align with users' financial goals and lifestyle.
Dashboard Design
The dashboard provides an at-a-glance financial health overview using intuitive visualizations like spending vs. income comparisons, category breakdowns with colorful donut charts, and trend lines showing spending patterns over time. We implemented intelligent transaction categorization using machine learning that improves with user corrections, eliminating the tedious manual tagging that causes app abandonment. Cards display the most relevant information based on time of month and user behavior patterns.
Budgeting Interface
We designed a flexible budgeting system that accommodates different financial philosophies—envelope budgeting, 50/30/20 rule, or custom categories. Visual progress indicators show budget usage with green, yellow, and red states that inform without alarming. The app provides gentle, non-judgmental notifications when users approach budget limits, offering suggestions rather than criticisms.
Testing & Refinement
Five rounds of usability testing with 60 participants across different financial literacy levels helped us refine the interface. We A/B tested notification language, finding that positive, suggestion-based messages had 3x better engagement than warning-based alerts. Bill tracking with payment reminders prevents late fees, and a unique "spending insights" feature reveals patterns like subscription services users may have forgotten or categories where small daily purchases accumulate significantly.
Results & Metrics
User testing revealed 75% of participants felt more confident about their finances after using the app for 30 days. The app maintains a 70% 30-day retention rate, significantly higher than the industry average of 25%. Users praised the non-judgmental tone, visual clarity, and motivating goal-tracking features, with the average user checking the app 4 times per week.