About the Project

"Nest Egg" is a mobile app and website designed to teach teens about saving and budgeting. It's the final project of the Google UX Design Certificate Program, built using design thinking and Figma. The visual concept is based on "The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs," featuring a yellow color scheme reminiscent of gold or coin, with an egg-shaped logo.

Project duration: Oct 2021 - Nov 2021

Role: UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher

Tool(s): Figma, Adobe Illustrator

Design Process

User Research

This design process started with user research through interviews with teenagers and parents about money management.

Based on the research, two personas were created: one for teenagers who frequently use mobile apps and another for parents who seek more money tips for their children and use larger screen sizes such as tablet and desktop computers.

“...I want to buy so many things, but my mom always scolds me when I ask her to buy them for me. I know saving money is good, and I want to manage my budget and buy stuff by myself. However, it is boring to set a goal, and I don't know how much should I save.”

Grace (15)

M3 Student (equal to Grade 9), Bangkok, Thailand
Passionate about fashion and gadgets

The competitor audit was done to see innovative features offered by competitors such as utilizing an icon to make it easier to use, using a mascot to communicate in a more friendly tone, and tagging friends or family members.

How might we?

A brainstorming process was then started to address the challenge of how to design a tool that can motivate teenagers to save money while keeping them engaged and interested.

During this phase, I sketched several rough ideas, including a saving wallet with a progress bar and a reward program for achieving a savings goal.

Fail Fast

After completing the lo-fi prototype design, I began testing by having four teenagers aged 12 and up try it out and provide additional feedback through interviews.

The results showed that there were several areas that needed improvement, mainly the placement of buttons that were too close to the edge of the screen, overly complex functions, and a need for better instructions on how to use the app.

Redesign

Make it real

After taking the feedback and developing it, I tried making a hi-fi prototype that had a more realistic interface, and then conducted another usability test.

This time, the results were better. The buttons were clearer, there was an onboarding screen, and information buttons were included to explain the functions of the app in different areas, resulting in a significantly lower error rate.

Family-friendly

Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, I also designed a persona for parents and created a feature for families. This feature allows parents to manage and create shared wallets with their children without compromising their privacy. The function can be accessed on the website without the need to download a mobile application.

“...As a parent, I am concerned about my kids' spending. On the other hand, I know that teenagers have so many things they want to do. However, having this kind of conversation with teens is too challenging.”

Matt (47)

Marketing Manager, Bangkok, Thailand
A father of two children aged 15 and 13

What I’ve learned

Throughout the three projects I experimented with while studying in the Google UX Design Certificate program, I believe that the most important thing is not designing an app or website to look beautiful, but rather understanding the users' problems in detail.

In the past, I tried to solve all users' problems in one go, integrating many functions into one flow. This made the overall flow confusing and cluttered.

However, in reality, UX/UI design work seems to have to be divided into several phases, with iterative improvements and adjustments.

There are lots of things to do and explore further, keep going!