Debt Perception

Led the design and product strategy of a personalized, simplified debt reduction plan tailored to the user

Note: Due to confidentiality agreements, many details are obscured or redacted.
Please feel free to reach out for an in-person walk-through.

Role	Team	Timeline

Acting PM
Design Manager
Lead Designer

1 Design Manager (me)
2 Jr UX Designers, 1 Visual Designer
1 Jr PM
1 Part-time UXR partner
+ 8 front & back-end iOS/Android engineers

4 months
Concept to beta launch

ROLE

Acting PM
Design Manager
Lead Designer

TEAM

1 Design Manager (me)
2 Jr UX Designers, 1 Visual Designer
1 Jr PM
1 Part-time UXR partner
+ 8 front & back-end iOS/Android engineers

TIMELINE

4 months
Concept to beta launch

Background

We conducted initial user research in the personal finance space, and while “Debtinator” received the highest score among three competing ideas, the executive team chose to proceed with a concept we launched as Tanda (originally Lending Circles). After Tanda was shut down following the departure of an executive, we formed a new Personal Finance Labs team, which began its work with the ideation of “Debtinator.”

Market Analysis &
Generative Research

During our extensive research, we discovered a significant gap in the personal finance space, both in the market and among our company providing.

While the internet offers a wealth of financial information, it often feels overwhelming, lacks credibility, and is disorganized. There was no clear leader that users could turn to for personal finance guidance. Although Yahoo is prominent in the investment space and caters to financially savvy users, there wasn’t a product for the majority of people who are looking to manage their everyday finances.

After identifying the market, our team conducted thorough research, especially since we were all relatively new to developing in the finance space. We started by immersing ourselves in the personal finance information, which allowed us to better understand user problems, needs, motivations, and potential opportunities.

Strategy

As we progressed with Debtinator and continued testing three other concepts, we faced several significant transitions happening at the same time, including the transition from Yahoo to Verizon, a reevaluation of third-party processes, leadership changes, and organizational shifts. While we searched for new product leadership, we needed to create our own strategy and report our plans to senior leadership. I collaborated closely with our junior project manager and two engineering managers to fill the leadership gap and ensure our team stayed on track.

Design Sprint

To kick off the team’s efforts, I organized and led a design sprint to get our minds engaged and generate ideas in the finance sector. We focused on debt management and money-saving strategies to narrow our scope. Many of the ideas that emerged from the sprint directly contributed to the development of the Debtinator, later renamed Debt Perception app.

Moving to Execution

We spent considerable time together understanding the complexities of debt payment methods. The most challenging part was simplifying these concepts into visuals that anyone could grasp, specifically for app screen dimensions.

Storyboarding

The initial storyboard was just the beginning. We then had to figure out how exactly the app would/could work.

Whiteboarding

We couldn’t take over a conference room so I commandeered three giant unused whiteboards from around the company and I sandwiched myself in between them and we whiteboarded EVERYDAY

Notes & Sketches

I then spent time cleaning up and summarizing each concept we came up with so that we can all stay on the same page (and erase whiteboards for whatever next we had to figure out).

Wires

Here is a collection of the various rough concepts of interactions and features we could explore at each step.

I worked with my UX designer to divvy up pieces of the flow to dig into the detailed interactions and create wires for the app. The engineers took these wires and began prototyping a build to show to users. Miraculously, we only had a handful of versions, thanks to most of our discussions happening in lower fidelity sketches and whiteboard drawings.

Visual Design Exploration

I collaborated with the visual designer as she began conceptualizing the app’s look and feel. Although we loved the name “Debtinator,” our legal review revealed that it was already taken. After brainstorming several options and multiple legal reviews, we ultimately launched with the new name “Debt Perception”.

Interaction & Animation Explorations

I also explored animations to enhance storytelling and visualize some of the more complex parts of the app, hoping to bring moments of delight to a heavy topic.