SpendWise App

Advanced Subscription Tracking & Management

UI/UX

Product Design

Research

Testing

Overview

This bootcamp project aims to create an app for a prompted digital company that offers subscription tracking services to its users.

My Roles

Solo UI/UX Designer
Solo Product Designer
Solo UX Researcher

Specifications

Duration:

December 23, 2024 -March 8, 2025

Tools:

Figma

Deliverables

Secondary Research & Screener Survey
One-on-one Interviews
Affinity Mapping & Empathy Mapping
Personas
JTBD & HWM Statements & User Stories
Heuristic Analysis
User Flows & Site Map
Low Fidelity Wireframes & Prototype
High Fidelity Wireframes & Prototype
Usability Testings

Problem

People tend to overspend and struggle to keep track of their subscriptions.
People struggle to track all of their subscriptions with multiple linked bank accounts .
People frequently forgot to cancel free trials & subscriptions they no longer use.

Solution

An app that:

Tracks all subscriptions in one place.
Cancels subscriptions with ease.
Provides analytics to make better financial decisions.
Has an integrated AI assistant that give suggestions and answers questions.

Research

From secondary research, studies have found that:

Participants typically spend 250% more than their estimated monthly spending on subscriptions.
74% of participants say it is easy to forget about subscriptions.
42% of participants say they have forgotten about an active subscription(s) they no longer use.
76% of the sites and apps examined have at least one possible dark pattern, and nearly 67% have multiple dark patterns.

Primary Research

To better understand the problem space, I recruited 5 participants through screener surveys for one-on-one interviews. Here's what I found:

Attributes

Between 23 to 30 years old.
Have more than 3 active subscriptions.
Struggles with managing and tracking subscriptions.

Interview findings

All Participants underestimated their subscription spending and forgot to mention active subscriptions during the interview.
Participants generally have negative experiences with subscriptions due to uncertainties with subscription plans, difficulties with canceling subscriptions, unknowing when the services end after cancellation, and forgetting to cancel subscriptions on time.
Participants are more likely to lose track of subscriptions when they have to subscribe to the services through different platforms and/or pay their subscriptions using various bank accounts.
Participants understand the importance of tracking subscriptions but tend not to think about subscriptions which creates the fear of purchasing new subscriptions.
Participants find text, email, and calendar reminders useful to track their subscriptions but frequently miss out on important reminders from spam content or if they forget to add reminders to their calendars.

Affinity Mapping

To synthesize data from interviews , I started with affinity mapping, breaking 70 data points into 3 main themes: Uncertainty, Tracking, and Reminders.

Empathy mapping

With Empathy mapping, I was able to identify the two target personas :

Young adults who have multiple subscriptions.
Working professionals who owns multiple credit cards

Personas

By creating Personas, I have identified the needs, experiences, behaviors, goals, and pain points of the target users.

JTBD & HWM Statements & User Stories

I listed out the jobs, needs, and circumstances of the target users using the JTBD framework, came out with 4 HWM Statements, and created User Stories to focus on the MVPs. Here are the 5 HWM Statements:

1. How might we help people track subscriptions before getting unwanted charges?

‍People forget about subscriptions due to different linked bank accounts / platforms and hidden reminders, resulting in paying subscriptions they don’t need.

Proposed Solution 🛠️

An app that shows subscriptions, upcoming payments, and transactions all in one place.

2. How might we remind people to cancel unwanted subscriptions on time?

People often realized they had unwanted subscriptions after getting charged.

Proposed Solution 🛠️

An app that reminds and shows users upcoming payments.

3. How might we help people cancel subscriptions effortlessly to feel safe and secure?

People get frustrated when companies make subscriptions hard to cancel with dark patterns.

Proposed Solution 🛠️

An app that allows user to cancel directly through the app and shows alternative ways to cancel the subscription.

4. How might we introduce people to better subscription plans/options to utilize their spending?

Proposed Solution 🛠️

An app with integrated AI to provide actionable recommendations and feedback.

User Flows & Site Map

After doing heuristic analysis on industry leaders such as Rocket Money, TrackMySubs, and One Main Trim, I brainstormed an app solution for tracking subscriptions. Here are the key user flows and site map of the app solution:

Wireframes & Prototyping

After rapid sketching to ideate app screens, I transformed my sketches into low-fidelity wireframes and prototyped them to test with users.

Design System

Here is a simplified design system that I have built.

Hi-fidelity Design

After 2 rounds of usability tests and numerous iterations based on test results and feedback, here are the final hi-fidelity wireframes:

Subscriptions All In One Place.

Connect your bank accounts and track all your subscriptions in one place.

Upcoming Payments & More.

View upcoming subscriptions and catergorized subscriptions with ease.

Cancel Subscriptions Instantly.

Cancel subscriptions with SpendWise or by yourself within a few steps.

Real Time Analytics.

Understand where your money goes to make better finanical descisions.

Integrated AI Assistant.

Understand your spendings to make better finanical descisions.

Key Challenges

Here are the top 3 challenges that I encountered from the 2 rounds of usability tests on red routes with 10 participants in total:

1. Users get confused by the mix of spent and upcoming spendings in Analytics.

‍Users aren’t expecting to see spent and upcoming spendings coexisiting in Analytics, making data harder to interpret.

Final Solution ✅

Catergorize spent and upcoming spendings into sections.
Remove "Yearly Spending" from the Dashboard and introduce "This Month’s Spending" along with statistics for "Spent" and "Upcoming" spending.

2. Users thinks the AI assistant should be easily accessible but not overly emphasized.

Users are having mixed preferences with the prominency of AI section on the Dashboard.

Final Solution ✅

Introduce AI Chat bot tab.
Remove the AI section from the Dashboard.

3. Users want to gain deeper insights into their subscriptions

Users want to gain deeper insights into recent price changes, apps they don’t use frequently, and more visual graphs for better analysis.

Final Solution ✅

Add indicators for price changes compared to the previous month.
Introduce “Most Active Applications” section in Analytics.
Introduce line graphs for data visualization.

Design validation

The design was validated through two rounds of usability testing and did not encounter errors during the final round. Here are the findings :

1. The design and navigation are intuitive

Users appreciate the app's intuitive design, user-friendly navigation, and appealing features and visuals.

2. Analytics and insights help making better decisions

Users find the analytics and insights about their subscriptions to be helpful.

3. Canceling subscription with ease

Users find it convenient to cancel subscriptions directly through the app with alternative ways provided.

4. Al chatbot for personalized recommendations

Users value the personalized recommendations provided by the app's integrated AI.

5. Custom payments for optional tracking

Users like the flexibility to add custom payments for subscriptions and free trials that aren’t connected to their bank accounts.

Takeaways 📖

1. Naming components differently for versions to avoid unwanted changes.

I duplicated the components into a new file to manually detach and recreate them for newer versions, which slowed down my productivity.

2. Project plans improves efficiency

‍I spent a day creating project plans for the upcoming months to increase time efficiency and hold myself accountable.

3. Weekly meetings with a mentor is a must

Meeting with a UI/UX mentor weekly has been extremely valuable, allowing me to grow and refine my skills while validating small design decisions before conducting usability tests.

SpendWise App

Overview

Research

Affinity Mapping

Empathy mapping

Personas

JTBD & HWM Statements & User Stories

User Flows & Site Map

Wireframes & Prototyping

Design System

Hi-fidelity Design

Key Challenges

Design validation

Final Design

Takeaways 📖

If I have more time ⏳

More Projects

Like What You See? Contact

darrenyang.design@gmail.com