Where the Money Goes

At Netspend, I designed an expense tracker that helps users visualize their spending across different categories—a powerful tool for personal financial management. By providing clear and intuitive visualizations, it allows users to gain insights into their spending habits, make informed decisions, and take control of their finances.

At Netspend, I designed an expense tracker that helps users visualize their spending across different categories—a powerful tool for personal financial management. By providing clear and intuitive visualizations, it allows users to gain insights into their spending habits, make informed decisions, and take control of their finances.

MY ROLE

  • Competitive analysis & researching best practices for data visualizations

  • Conceptualized different ideas and flows

  • Visual design and building out various prototypes

The primary objective of this project was to empower users with a comprehensive overview of their expenses. By categorizing expenses into meaningful categories like groceries, entertainment, transportation, and more, users could quickly identify where their money is going. Visual representations such as charts, graphs, and color-coded visuals make it easy for users to grasp the distribution of their spending at a glance.

This visualization aspect is particularly helpful because it enables users to identify patterns, trends, and potential areas for improvement. For example, users can quickly identify if they are overspending in a particular category or if they need to allocate more budget to essential expenses. This awareness fosters responsible financial behavior, allowing users to set realistic budgets and make adjustments as needed.

My vision

While the concept of visualizing spending is not unique, with many banking applications offering similar tools, my mission was to create a refreshingly simplified version. I aimed to develop a solution where users could effortlessly dive in and comprehend their financial data without the need for extensive explanations. Navigating through the tool would be seamless, offering intuitive insights into spending patterns that truly mattered.

  1. As users open the tracker, they are greeted by a comprehensive snapshot of their current month's spending. Here, we provide a breakdown of all their expenses, empowering them with a clear overview of their financial habits.

  1. Additionally, by selecting specific spending categories, users can drill down to uncover further details and gain deeper insights into their expenditures.

  1. Taking exploration to the next level, I also wanted our users to be able to dive deeper into individual transactions. By selecting a specific transaction, users could access comprehensive details such as the date, amount, merchant, and more.

Prototypes

Using Figma, I aimed to convey the intended user interactions and demonstrate the flow of the tool. By presenting stakeholders and engineers with interactive prototypes, I provided them with a tangible representation of the user experience, fostering a deeper understanding and facilitating productive collaboration.

More than just the current month

My design goes beyond providing a breakdown of the current month's spending. With the inclusion of intuitive bar charts (at the top of the sheet), users can effortlessly compare their total spend across previous months. This powerful visual representation allows users to identify any notable discrepancies or patterns that catch their attention.

By tapping into a month that appears larger in the bar chart, users gain access to a detailed view, enabling them to understand the reasons behind the increased expenditure. Whether it was a planned event, unexpected expenses, or a change in financial circumstances, users can explore the factors that contributed to the higher spending.

One other important thing to note is the deliberate placement of elements that encourage scrolling or swiping effectively guides users to explore more content, ensuring they have access to the information they need while maintaining a visually appealing interface.

Around the pie

Delivering on the commitment to user-friendly design, my design provides a seamless experience when drilling into specific spending categories. By selecting a category, the bar charts dynamically update to reflect the spending within that category, allowing users to easily compare past expenditures.

To further enhance the user experience, I wanted to make it easy for users to explore other categories directly from this screen. By making the pie chart tappable, users can effortlessly navigate between categories without the need for repetitive back-and-forth actions. This intuitive functionality eliminates clunkiness and streamlines the exploration process, enabling users to delve into various spending categories with ease.

Budgeting and beyond

In envisioning the spend tracker, I recognized the immense value of incorporating additional features that would enhance the overall user experience and foster financial responsibility. I really wanted this tool to be built in a way that it could be intuitive and observant, recognizing patterns and user behavior. For instance, if we could detect a user frequently shopping at a specific store, it would proactively present an opportunity for the user to set a budget for that particular expense. This proactive approach aimed to empower users with greater control over their spending habits, ensuring they could make informed decisions aligned with their financial goals.

Once a budget was set, I then wanted the capability to send personalized notifications or alerts to users when they exceeded their budget in a specific category. These timely reminders would serve as gentle nudges, helping users stay on track and avoid overspending. By fostering awareness and providing real-time feedback, I aimed to empower users to make more mindful and responsible financial choices.