a retirement savings platform that empowers users to set and achieve their financial goals
As a first-generation, low-income college graduate, I am very passionate about empowering individuals and families through personal finance education. After I graduated in 2018, I received financial guidance and resources from a mentor that made investing accessible and even exciting.
For many people, personal finances is a taboo topic that feels scary and complicated, but everyone deserves clear information about how to grow and protect their savings. Rill is an online platform that guides users through setting retirement goals and understanding how to reach them.
research
I conducted 6 primary interviews with people that are new to or unfamiliar with investing to understand how they feel about investing, what personal finance tools they use, and how they learned about money management.
Everyone I talked to understood the importance of saving for retirement and opened a 401k with their employer, but most expressed guilt around feeling too overwhelmed to take on more control over where and how much they are investing.
product requirements
FUNCTIONAL
- display overview of portfolio across multiple accounts
- set retirement goals
- change contribution amount
- customize goal inputs
EMOTIONAL
- motivating: users can visualize their hard work and feel rewarded
- effortless: platform is intuitive and written in plain language
brand development
In conjunction with functional and emotional product requirements, I identified brand values and a brand promise that guided my design decisions moving forward.
BRAND VALUES
- simple
- approachable
- motivating
- effortless
BRAND PROMISE
A retirement savings platform that empowers users to set and achieve their financial goals.
NAMING
I wanted the name of the platform to convey the slow but steady nature of investing - by contributing a little everyday without much effort, you can look back years later and be overwhelmed by how far you've come. At first, I considered "seedling" and other metaphors for growing plants, but I decided that the brand should be more distinct from the popular spending tracker, Mint. I ultimately settled on "rill," a brook that develops as flowing water erodes soil and forms a channel, and my color palette and visual design evoke themes of water.
site map
wireframe
user testing - what metrics are the most motivating?
In addition to having users explore and provide feedback on the navigation and layout of the wireframe, I primarily wanted to find out what types of messaging and metrics would motivate users the most.
This project is a work in progress - check back soon for more content!