Advanced Digital Asset Manager (ADAM)
Advanced Digital Asset Manager (ADAM) is a project in process that I have been working on since the beginning of 2021. The six-week project consists of the design of a financial platform that will help users in the UK manage their assets’ expenses in one place, while giving them personalized recommendations on the best deals from providers. The platform also aims to help users improve their credit score to allow them to get better credit.
Team: 1 Business Analyst, 1 Engineer, 1 Designer (me)
My Role: User Research, Branding, UX/UI
My Tools: Sketch, Marvel, and Maze.
Period: 2021
Disclaimer: No part of the materials available through this page may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Bell Capital Ltd, registered in the UK with No.09746171 (the copyright owner).
User Research
Wanting to understand better how people currently manage their assets’ expenses, I interviewed 15 people around the world to know about their current management process, tools, and routines.
Parallel, I sent out a survey that aimed to gather insights on people’s motivations behind their management and service-browsing style.
Overall, over 30 people were asked for their habits on asset management.
The research taught us:
User Research from Facebook Campaigns
To gather information about the platform’s desirability, Asset Manager’s engineers and I worked on creating a Facebook campaign using the three benefits that Asset Manager could focus on: 1. Managing assets and reducing expenses, and 2. Improving credit score and getting credit.. Each ad linked to a website that in return had different features users could opt to sign up for. The number of clicks on each feature would further inform their interests.
The campaign targeted the biggest cities in U.S. and Europe and ran for one week each.
The Facebook campaigns informed us that people were more interested in being able to managing their expenses in one platform and reducing their expenses, which influenced our focus in the next designs.
Market Research
In the U.S, TrueBill and Mint by Intuit are very well-known financial management tools. TrueBill has over 1M+ total downloads in the AppStore and Play Store, while Mint has an astonishing 10M+ downloads. However, users living outside the U.S. have often complained about the lack of compatibility of these platforms with banks outside the U.S.. In our analysis, we also believe that Asset Manager will give a more comprehensive look on how much is being spent by asset, rather than a general overview, and will give users the option to better plan their future by showing financial projections.
Wireframing
Once we determined the main important features that the app would have, I started to sketch out the main structure for the onboarding process. At first, we asked users to upload the bills or enter information manually, without having to connect to their banks right away. Based on the information they give, the app will analyze their bills, compare them to current plans in the market, and advise them on a cheaper deal.
User Testing with Maze
We knew as a team that the most important part to get right was the structure, flow, and content of the app, and the only way to validate this was testing our wireframes with real users.
I have set up a user testing session through Maze, where users will accomplish a series of tasks through the app. This first version was tested by over 30 people and the results informed the final design.
Final Design
After gathering feedback from users, I proceeded to work on the final design and to prepare the design guidelines for development. Since finance and asset management can be overwhelming for some, the look and feel aims to look fun and approachable.
Overview
For returning users, users will have a first look at the Overview tab, where they can see a summary of their assets, incomes, and expenses. In this tab, users will be able to learn the spending trends, see a breakdown of their expenses per asset, and budget their expenses for the month.
Projections
In the Projections tab, users will be able to see their future expenses in 1, 3 or 5 years when they choose a series of life events or “what if’s.”
Transactions
The Transactions tab allows users to see each incoming and outgoing transaction, classify them by categories, and upload their bills and receipts.
Subscriptions
In Subscriptions, users can see an overview of the services and recurring payments they are signed up for. The app notifies users of upcoming payments and lets them know the total amount needed in the following weeks. In this tab, users can also pay, switch, and cancel their current subscriptions.
Recommendations
Finally, the Recommendations tab gives users personalized recommendations on the best services, banking, and insurance deals based on their spending trends.
