GRWTH
Financial literacy education app
GRWTH is a financial literacy app that I created for my senior thesis at UMass Lowell. The original idea for this project came from a previous class where we were told to create a movement for good. My group focused on education and preparedness for the real world after college. Expanding on that idea, I decided to create a financial literacy app to help teach people these important topics.
What/
Native Mobile App (iOS)
Role /
Designer, Researcher
Category/
Education
Year /
Aug 2021 - June 2022
Market Research
Financial literacy are lacking across the United States. According to the P-Fin index, U.S. adults correctly answered only 49% of the index questions in 2025. While low across all five generations, Gen Z has the lowest rate of correct answers with only 38%, followed by
Gen Y with 46%.
The claim
Financial literacy is one of the most important concepts, but it is not something most people understand well, especially among younger generations.
The problem
Competitive analysis
I analyzed a few popular apps in the category. Looking at both the lesson quality and excitability of each, while also looking at some critical reviews to see the general consensus of what could be improved.
Zogo
World of Money
DogPack
The good
Allow the user to learn financial literacy at their own pace.
The bad
Feature outdated designs/content while not drawing in the user(Penny, WoM). While Zogo follows a linear lesson path, not allowing the user to customize their experience.
Problems from the reviews
Zogo
“The app has lots of problems and Zogo’s support isn’t the best. Don’t like how it switched to subscription based”
World of Money
“World of money is very outdated and the app is filled with error messages, making it very hard to use”
Penny
“Only features audio based lessons. I wish there were more ways for me to learn, along with bite sized lessons”
User Survey
I conducted a short survey among students/ post-grads, looking to see how they feel about their finances and what they wish they knew earlier. Here's one question asked and some key responses.
Notable comments
Caroline
Currently, I rely on other people for knowledge. I don’t know how to pay taxes or rent, skills that will be crucial soon.
Adam
Currently, I only have a debit card for buying things. I wasn’t aware of the benefits of credit so I haven’t gotten it yet.
Paul
I want to start investing, but I have no clue where to start. I’m worried I’ll make a mistake and lose my hard earned money.
On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate your financial literacy skills?
Of those surveyed, there was a clear difference in skill levels between students and post-grads. Students tended to answer in the 1-2 range, while post-grads were more confident being in the 3-4 range.
A common theme throughout each participant was where they learned their financial info. Most being researching online, or being taught by their parents. It’s important to learn these skills early to get a head start on your future.
Initial research
Financial literacy is one of the most important skills for students, but unfortunately it is often an afterthought in education. With many students relying on themselves to learn. An app to jumpstart their financial literacy is needed.
Personas
I created a persona based on a primary of user of the app. A soon to be college grad who doesn’t feel confident with his financial literacy.
Starting the design
After completing the research, I began to sketch out flows and began to ideate key features and low-fidelity wireframes.
Flow diagram
To determine the necessary features of the app, I created a flow diagram based on the main tasks a user can do. Check out one of those flows below.
Low-fidelity wireframes
After determining the flow diagram, I started to create low-fidelity wireframes of the main screens.
High-fidelity UI Design
After completing the wireframes. I spent time playing with type and graphics to supplement the info, designing screens using Adobe XD.
Friendly look and feel
The idea behind the palette was to have fun, welcoming colors to lift the mood of the user and encourage learning, with a playful font to go along with it.
20+ high-fidelity screens created
These include experimentation of onboarding, and different lessons, and different designs of screens which were tested and improved upon.
Designing also included various button designs/ colors and graphic designs including character design to give the product the friendly, and educational feel.
High-fidelity prototype
Using my high-fidelity screens, I created a clickable prototype with the goal of testing the app on potential users.
The prototype can be previewed here.
Prototypes and Iterations
Throughout the whole design cycle of GRWTH, I made sure to get as much feedback as possible on everything from the UX to the design and iconography.
Most of the feedback requested was toward the lessons to ensure that they were easily understandable, digestible, and especially fun, so to encourage learning in a low stakes environment. In the initial stages, much thought went into the colors and characters, iterating to give them a friendly feel.
Feedback
One of the main points brought up was characters and iconography and ways to best capture the intended feel. For example, replacing archaic iconography of a bank with online banking and considering how the characters interacted with the app and each lesson.
Landing page
The landing page was designed to be a simple introduction into the app. Focusing on bright welcoming colors, with a brief overview of lessons and how to use the app.
Senior thesis
After the completion of this project, it was presented as part of my senior thesis at UML. This included setting up a public display to test the app and view other media such as mock advertisements and characters.
This was on display for a few weeks, until the end of the semester. As well as presented on the UML art website. View here.
Project summary
This app was created during my senior studio at UML. Much time was spent researching topics, design, etc to present an app that would give people the resources they need to feel more confident with their finances. The design and scope was implemented and improved upon in countless reviews that included classmates, faculty, other students, and also the public. Culminating in the final presentation that completed my degree at UML.
