KULDEEP TRIPATHI

Background

Project Background

Milestone is a financial education product designed for parents who wish to teach their children how to manage their money. It employs a multi-faceted approach to facilitate such education by allowing parents to:

Assign guided learning activities that cover financial concepts (Quests).
Assign challenges to help children apply financial concepts (Challenges).
Assign chores to their children that come with rewards for completion (Chores).

The objective of the product is to help children become financially savvy and responsible with money.

I became familiar with Milestone in February 2022 and noticed that it lacked in the design department, not only in terms of visual design but also in the overall user experience. The product had been designed by a freelancer and was overloaded with features, resulting in a cumbersome user experience. As a UX designer, my responsibility was to collaborate with the team to significantly enhance the app's user experience.

The previous designs:

The Design Director has requested that I make substantial improvements to the mobile app and commence a redesign. Previously, product decisions were primarily driven by which "features" could be marketed to clients, with minimal attention given to the end-user experience.

It became evident that to achieve success, we needed to shift our focus to the user. As a result, we established a strategy that prioritized simplifying financial communication for parents and children.

FIND THE PROBLEM, EXPLORE SOLUTIONS

THE PROBLEMS

Balancing the needs of both parents and children: The app needs to be easy for children to use, but it also needs to provide parents with the necessary control and oversight. Achieving this balance can be tricky, especially when designing for multiple user groups with distinct needs.
Ensuring a smooth user experience: The app should be intuitive, easy to navigate, and visually appealing. The design needs to simplify complex financial concepts and make them easy to understand for children.
Developing effective reward systems: The reward system must be engaging enough to incentivize children to complete tasks and learn financial concepts. At the same time, it should not be so rewarding that it encourages unhealthy spending habits.

The SOLUTIONS

Improve onboarding process: Streamline the onboarding process to make it simple and easy to understand. Provide clear instructions and guidance to help parents and children get started with the app.
Simplify the user interface: Reduce the complexity of the app by simplifying the user interface (UI). Use clear language and visual design to make it easy for parents and children to navigate the app.
Implement gamification: Gamifying the learning process can help to keep children engaged and motivated. The app can offer rewards for completing challenges and chores or use badges and points to encourage participation.
Incorporate social elements: Consider incorporating social elements such as sharing achievements and progress with friends and family, to encourage children to stay engaged and motivated.

Design System

Design system was created to promote consistency across both the parent and child app, irrespective of the designers involved. This approach saved valuable time and effort while enabling teams to concentrate on problem-solving instead of duplicating effort. Furthermore, the design system helped to reinforce the brand and deliver a seamless experience across all touch points.

Mid-Fidelity design system:

High-Fidelity design system:

the Final Design

Over the course of a few months, we undertook a redesign of the Milestone 2.0 product for both iOS and Android. Throughout the process, we remained committed to our core principles and focused on our strategic goal of enhancing the user experience to be more streamlined, clear, simple, and advisory.

We successfully created a app for both parents and children, and they have been launched on the app store and Play store.

Parent app: