ROLE
Product Designer (UI/UX)
TIMELINE
2 weeks
TOOLS
Figma, Figjam
Background
People’s financial lives rarely fit into the same set of categories. A recent graduate managing loans, a single parent paying down debt, and someone preparing for retirement all need different kinds of support. Spreadsheets offer flexibility but take work to maintain. I wanted to explore how an app could make budgeting easier while adapting to each person’s situation.
When the budget doesn’t fit your life
Rigid budgeting
Preset categories and fixed dashboards may not reflect a person’s debts, pay cycle, priorities, or irregular expenses.
Information overload
Showing every account and metric at once can make it harder to find what is useful.
Invisible progress
A dashboard that stays the same and is not tailored to a user’s goals makes it hard to see their progress or what they can achieve.
Traditional accounts only
Some budgeting tools focus solely on traditional accounts, leaving users without a way to view their crypto holdings alongside the rest of their finances.
Privacy concerns
People need to know how their sensitive financial information is handled.
The Goal
Design a budgeting experience that does not sell users’ information, adapts to their situation and goals, and shows them only what they want to see. Bird’s Eye should make spending and progress easy to understand while offering practical guidance on what to do next.
Understanding how people manage their money
I explored how people with different financial situations use budgeting tools and where existing apps fall short. These gaps helped me define what Bird’s Eye needed to address.
More clarity, more control
A personal starting point
Let users choose the accounts, goals, and information they want to see.
A fuller financial picture
Show traditional accounts and crypto holdings together when they are relevant to the user.
Flexible budgeting
Account for different pay cycles, irregular expenses, and transactions that do not fit preset categories.
Visible progress
Show how users are moving toward a goal and what that progress means for something they want to achieve or buy.
Useful guidance
Help users understand their next step without overwhelming them with data.
Trust and accessibility
Be clear about how financial data is handled and make information easy to read and use.
What does success look like?
A successful budgeting experience gives users progress, direction, and meaning. They should be able to open Bird’s Eye, understand where they stand, and know what action would help them move toward a goal without sorting through information they did not ask to see.
User Flow
Starting with a beginner’s perspective
When designing the structure and look and feel of Bird’s Eye, I focused on someone who feels stressed managing money or isn’t sure where to start. Bird’s Eye is for anyone who wants to better understand their finances, but I knew starting with a beginner’s perspective would help make the experience easier for everyone.
To guide my wireframing, I focused on customization and clarity:
How can I let users customize Bird’s Eye so they feel empowered and see the information they want? What information can I break down to give users more insight into their money without overwhelming them?
Making money feel less stressful
Money is a significant source of stress for many Americans. In the American Psychological Association’s 2023 survey, 63% of U.S. adults reported feeling stressed about money. With this in mind, I wanted Bird’s Eye to feel calm, approachable, and trustworthy.
I came up with the name Bird’s Eye to give users a sense of having a full view of their finances and feeling empowered to manage them. The connection to birds and nature also helped shape the calming feel I wanted for the application.
I love exploring color theory when designing interfaces, and I chose green to bring that connection to nature into the design. I wanted the palette to communicate trust, strength, and calm, qualities I wanted users to feel while managing their money.
Medium-Fidelity Design
Does more information actually help?
After refining my medium-fidelity designs, I moved into high fidelity to bring together the look and feel of Bird’s Eye and create an interactive prototype. I then tested it with a handful of users with different backgrounds, incomes, and careers. Their feedback helped me see where the experience felt overwhelming, what needed more clarity, and how Bird’s Eye could better support their financial goals.
Key insights from testing included
Simplifying Financial Views
Users found some charts and account views overwhelming. This helped me identify where to simplify the information and make the most useful details easier to find.
Making Progress Clear
The debt graph needed to show the balance going down as it was paid off. Goals also needed clearer progress indicators so users could quickly understand where they stood.
More Realistic Goal Planning
Users raised questions about lump-sum payments, interest on debt, and putting goals on hold.
Providing Budget Guidance
Showing the numbers was not enough. Bird’s Eye needed to explain whether users were staying on track, suggest when to adjust their budgets, and offer help when things were not going well.
Improving Transactions and Navigation
The transaction view needed clearer details, search, sorting, and filters.
Making Investments More Useful
Portfolio totals and investment styles needed to be easier to find. Users also wanted more meaningful insight into whether their portfolios leaned too heavily in one direction.
Conclusion & Reflections
Bird’s Eye was a fun application to design because it pushed me to solve problems around such a personal part of people’s lives. I wanted to help people feel less frustrated with their finances and more empowered to make decisions about their money.
One of my biggest takeaways was that giving users more information does not always help them feel more in control. Testing showed me how important it was to simplify financial views, make progress clear, and give people guidance they could act on.
Moving forward, I want to refine goal planning and budget guidance, then test those changes to see whether users can more easily understand where they stand and what to do next.
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