BUCKS
Simplifying Social Savings and Investments
ABOUT BUCKS

The financial world is a very delicate venture and often filled with unfamiliar terms and unfriendly interfaces. BUCKS goal is to make saving and investing clear, enjoyable, and accessible to more people by simplifying the user experience.

Problem Statement
Many users struggle with budgeting and managing their expenses efficiently. Traditional financial tools often feel overwhelming, lack personalization, and fail to provide actionable insights. Bucks needed a more user-friendly, data-driven approach to simplify financial management.
Solutions
To address the pain points of low engagement, lack of motivation, and financial overwhelm, we designed a gamified, collaborative financial tool that boosts engagement with goal tracking, social savings, and rewards. Simplified insights and habit-forming nudges help users save smarter and stay motivated.
UX Strategy
70% Boring
Our UX strategy centres on Jakob's Law, which states: "Users spend most of their time on other websites, so they expect your site to work like all the others they already know."By mirroring design elements from popular websites and apps, we're aiming to make our users feel right at home. This approach taps into their existing mental models and learned behaviours, reducing cognitive load and smoothing out the learning curve.
30% Magic
Beyond the regulars, we focus on wow factors that make Bucks stand out. Leveraging Hick’s Law, we simplify decision-making in savings and investments, while Fitts’ Law ensures key actions are easy to access. Peak-End Rule guides our gamification and social features, making interactions feel rewarding and memorable. The result? An experience that’s not just functional, but fun, engaging, and designed to stick.
🔍 Discovery & Empathy
We used a mixed-methods approach to understand user behaviors, motivations, and challenges in financial management:
  • ‍User Interviews – Spoke with young adults to explore saving habits, struggles, and motivations.
  • Surveys – Collected data on financial planning pain points and engagement with budgeting apps.
  • Competitive Analysis – Studied existing finance apps to identify gaps in engagement and user retention.
  • Usability Testing – Tested early prototypes to refine UI clarity, gamification elements, and user flows.
We turned user feedback into design gold by sorting insights with affinity mapping, prioritizing pain points using an Impact vs. Effort matrix, validating with data, and aligning with the team’s goals.
🎨 Turning Feedback into Design Gold ✨
After we ran interviews, surveys & tests, then workshopped the chaos into clarity by:
  • 📊 Impact vs. Effort Matrix – Tackled high-value, low-effort wins first.
  • 🔍 Data Check – Cross-checked with real-world app trends.
  • 🤝 Team Sync – Aligned design moves with biz goals.
  • 🧩 Affinity Mapping – Sorted insights like a UX puzzle.
From insights to action, we shaped Bucks into a fun, sticky, user-loved experience! 🚀 .
🪄Lets focus on the 30% magic for this casestudy
  • Lack of motivation – Users abandon budgeting apps due to lack of rewards or engagement.
  • Financial overwhelm – Too much data, complex terminology, and unclear insights.
  • Low accountability – Solo saving feels isolating, making it easier to quit.
  • Finance apps feel like a chore, leading to low engagement and frequent drop-offs.
🔍 PERSONA SUMMARY
In essence, the users seek a way to navigate the complex financial world with ease, seeking clarity, simplicity, and an accessible platform that would empower them to make confident investment decisions. This project's goals is to capture these.
User flow
I created a Userflow to map out the entire user experience from the initial point of engagement, which ultimately shaped the high-fidelity design to be truly user-centered and aligned with the project's goals.
Solution : A Collaborative & Gamified Financial Experience

I have prepared for the interview by writing down relevant questions and creating a script. My goal is to confirm or refute my hypotheses through these interviews. (quick summary below).I gathered insightful feedback regarding their experiences and perceptions of the real estate market, particularly in the context of using online platforms like DIM.RIA for property searches.

1. Interactive Goal-Setting & Progress Tracking
2. Social Collaboration & Group Savings Challenges
3. Gamified Rewards & Incentives
4. Personalized Financial Insights with Simple UI
5. Habit-Forming Daily Engagement

Wireframes

Wireframes

My Works

My Works

Services
Wire-frame Iterations

Before diving into flashy UI and pixel-perfect designs, I started with wireframes—aka the blueprint of brilliance. Think of it as sketching a battle plan before storming the castle. It’s where ideas take shape, chaos gets organized, and bad decisions get caught before they haunt us later. Wireframing let me map out the user flow, test layouts, and make sure everything made sense before adding the bells and whistles. Because let’s be real—better to tweak a few boxes now than to cry over a broken UI later. Smart moves first, shiny stuff later. 🚀

Asset Choice & Design System: The Key to Consistency
Ever seen a design that looks like it was built by five different people arguing in a Google Doc? Yeah, not here. Enter the design system, my trusty sidekick that keeps everything crisp, cohesive, and chaos-free. From typography to buttons, every asset was chosen with purpose—no random colors, no rogue fonts, no UI anarchy. It’s like setting house rules for a wild party: everything stays stylish, functional, and plays well together. Because great design isn’t just about looking good—it’s about working flawlessly, every single time. 🎨⚡
Bringing Bucks to Life: The Final Design in Action
Outcome
UX Value
Our strategic UX approach transformed Bucks into an engaging, intuitive, and social financial platform. By integrating gamification, clear user flows, and collaborative saving features, we increased user motivation, improved financial literacy, and made investing feel effortless rather than intimidating. The seamless experience ensures users stay engaged, hit their savings goals, and build better financial habits—without friction or confusion.
Learnings & Takeaway
  • Gamification Works – Reward systems and social accountability boost user engagement and retention.
  • Simplicity is Key – Reducing complexity through clear UI, digestible insights, and smart automation increases adoption.
  • Users Want Connection – Collaborative financial tools encourage consistent saving and improve financial decision-making.
  • Small Details, Big Impact – Micro-interactions, strategic UX laws, and frictionless onboarding significantly enhance the user experience.
Bucks isn’t just another finance app—it’s a movement. By blending smart UX, gamification, and social collaboration, we’ve turned saving and investing into something people actually want to do. The result? A seamless, engaging, and rewarding financial experience that keeps users coming back. 🚀💰 Smarter saving, together.
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