Process Highlights
We began our user research by conducting empathy interviews throughout New York City.
From our interviews we found out that money and mental health were an interconnected issue for anyone who had responsibilities and people that depended on them.

We used donuts to lure people into taking a few minutes to talk with us in a cold winter day.
Parents
We want to bring our kids to America to get the best education, and that costs a lot of money so it is really stressful.”
Young Adults
I tend to spend more when I get stressed, but then I end up getting even more stressed cuz I just spend money I shouldn’t have."
Elderly
We want to live comfortably when we retire, so we need a plan to achieve our retirement goal.”
We took the data from the empathy interviews and organized them into overlapping categories to discover essential user needs in both money management and mental health.
Affinity Map Findings
- People spend more money when they are stressed.
- Visualizing money going away, like using cash, makes you spend less.
- People wish to see more specific categories of where their money goes.
Getting sticky note wasted on a Friday night.
When developing the personas we focused on keeping a wide variety of users in our mind as mental health and money management affect all age and income groups.

MATTHEW ROBERTS, 25
Middle class working professional, married with no kids, still paying off his college debt.
NEEDS
A detailed and specific breakdown to where the money spent goes.

FEI HONG, 40
Immigrant mother who is saving for her sons college tuition.
NEEDS
Method to resist emotional and irrational spendings.

Enrique Ruiz, 55
Working class man in the verge of retirement.
NEEDS
A personalized financial plan to reach financial (retirement) goals.
Most people struggled with irrational spendings, otherwise known as retail therapy. Irrational spendings are often made in the pursuit of instant gratification, but they leave the user with nothing more than temporary satisfaction and heightened stress regarding their bank account.
As human beings we confuse needs and wants.”