A research study exploring financial literacy seeking patterns among graduate students who are financially independent.
MY ROLE
UX Researcher
TEAM
Fanghao Wang
Hyejin Jo
Qingyang Teng
Yunbin Bae
Ziyi Yuan
6 weeks
2022-2023
TOOLS
Figma
Miro
CLIENT OVERVIEW
OUR CONTRIBUTION
The goal of this project was to gain insight into the financial management practices and decision-making processes of graduate students and recent graduates who are financially independent, living without familial, dependent(s), or partner(s) support.
Specifically, we aimed to explore how these individuals distinguish between short-term and long-term financial planning, including both expenditures and savings strategies.
How do financially independent graduate students and recent graduates, balance short-term expenses and long-term savings goals in their financial management practices?
A virtual investment platform for risk-free learning and a dynamic community hub for peer/expert support and knowledge exchange in financial management.
Dr. Wayne Phoel's initial research revealed a significant finding: despite earning money, individuals were spending nearly half of their income. This highlighted a fundamental issue lying not in the level of income, but rather in the manner in which people managed their finances.
We employed a convenience sampling method, drawing our study participants primarily from our personal networks due to the shared context of being graduate students ourselves. Our participants consisted of individuals currently enrolled at or graduates of UMD and other graduate schools, with a subset of them possessing 1 to 3 years of professional work experience.
Our study design was based on Contextual Inquiry (CI), a research method that centers around the experiences and perspectives of our participants. We employed this method to collect, interpret, and analyze data, which involved conducting preliminary research, gathering data, interpreting and analyzing it, organizing themes, creating models, and designing product concepts.
We interviewed 6 users who were current graduate students graduating within a semester and students who graduated. Each interviews lasted for over 45 minutes, followed by an interpretation session with the team members.
AFFINITY MAPPING
After our interpretation session, we analsed our data by affinity mapping. We segreated data by themes and insights which formed a certain pattern and connections. We discovered 3 major themes, which represented the entire data collected in the interviews.
I'd like to use an app which can manage my finances
I'd like to use an app which can consider my investment style and barriers.
I'd like to use an app which can consider my investment style and barriers.
Persona creation helped us understand students' diverse needs and preferences, enhancing engagement and user experience in the investment learning journey. From our affinity mapping, we discovered three distinct personas:
An Aspiring Investor
A Novice Investor
A Pro Investor
We organized a wall walk presentation, during which our client, Dr. Wayne, had the opportunity to review our research comprehensively and offer feedback. This session not only facilitated valuable input from our client but also encouraged interaction with other teams, fostering brainstorming and the exploration of diverse perspectives and ideas.
With the help of research and wall walk, we identified 10 distinct findings, but as the time ans scope for this project was limited, we decided to focus on 5 major themes:
Once we had identified all the issues and problems, we had a visioning session. In this session, all the team members came together and brainstormed on various ideas which depicted the personas we created. This session helps us extremely in leveraging a creative environment and come up with product ideas.
DESIGN IDEAS
Virtual Investment Simulator: Introduce a virtual investment simulation tool.
Tailored Investment Information: Create a system that offers investment-related information tailored to users' interests.
Expert Advice and Sessions: Provide expert guidance and interactive sessions for users.
Education & Virtual Investor
Community
Personal Profile
Solution
Based on the insights, we designed mid-fidelity prototypes which included onboarding, personalized content, community forums and expert connections.
ONBOARDING
The onboarding process enables users to select their investment interests, choose their experience, and specify the type of investments they wish to learn about.
This personalized approach enhances the user experience by tailoring content and settings to their individual preferences.
INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT
The virtual investment simulator provides users with a risk-free platform for learning and practicing stock market strategies.
It serves as an educational tool that allows users to explore various real-time investment strategies, concepts, track market trends, and make investment decisions without the need for actual financial commitment.
NEWS AND COMMUNITY
Users can stay updated with the latest market developments and trends through curated news feeds. They can also participate in specialized investment communities, facilitated by industry experts, where they can engage in insightful discussions, mini courses, and gain valuable insights into their wealth - saving journey.
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