Concept design · Desktop, mobile · B2C
Envisioning the Netflix of personal finance
Role
Lead product designer
Timeline
7 months · Jul 2020 – Feb 2021
Team
Product designer, Strategist, CTO, Chief Creative Officer
Platform
Web · Mobile · Browser extension
Background
ModFi, short for Modern Finance, aims to be a one-stop shop for personal finance, aggregating bank accounts, credit cards, budgets and savings goals, expenses, rewards, and P2P transfers.
Challenge
Define the feature set for ModFi’s beta launch, including its target market and business model.
Result
A beta feature set and design system, explored with the CTO, Chief Creative Officer, and Strategist over seven months of two-week sprints.
01 — Overview
Financial empowerment through easy-to-use features
For seven months, I worked closely with the Chief Technology Officer, Chief Creative Officer, and Strategist on rapid design explorations of features for the ModFi beta. This included researching competitors, conducting comparative industry analysis, and mocking up screens in two-week sprints.
02 — Features
Six features for the beta
Each feature was explored, designed, and handed to engineering within a two-week sprint, then revisited in later rounds of iteration.
Feature 01
Cloud Wallet
The company had acquired the hardware for a near field communication (NFC) card that aggregates all of a person’s financial cards into one device. I designed the accompanying software for managing these cards, which we called the Cloud Wallet.
Feature 02
ModBot
ModBot is a chatbot that uses natural language processing to help users find what they need in the app, or to answer questions like “What were my last three transactions?” and “What are all the accounts I’ve linked to ModFi?”
Feature 03
Savings goals
ModFi is on a mission to empower people through financial education, and savings goals are one of the tools for it. Users can create a vision board and statement, set recurring contributions, and add products to their financial goals.
Feature 04
Budgeting
Budgeting shows users their budget breakdown and trends. Over time, ModFi surfaces insights into their habits to help them improve how they spend.
Feature 05
Receipt capture
Tired of the bottomless pit of receipts in your drawer? Receipt capture uses optical character recognition (OCR) to scan receipts and keep them on record for tax purposes.
Feature 06
Browser extension
The browser extension helps users make informed decisions while shopping online. The product tab shows other sellers for the same item, items frequently bought together, how the purchase would affect their budget, and lets them save the product to a savings goal. At checkout, the payment tab recommends the best credit card to use.
03 — Design system
Infusing ModFi’s flexibility, fun, and flair for aesthetics into its design system
I collaborated with the Art Director to continuously refine ModFi’s design system, which greatly sped up how quickly I could create exploratory mockups. The system includes not only UI components but also custom icons and 3D illustrations.
04 — Retrospective
Staying agile within an agile design process
ModFi was a heavily engineering-led team, so I adapted the traditional iterative design process to fit the company’s agile development framework. Each two-week sprint focused on designing a feasible solution, building it, and revisiting the feature weeks later for the next round of iteration.
What I learned
Sprint-by-sprint design can lead to a piecemeal experience. To prevent that, I continually revisited and shared the product architecture with the team so we were building one cohesive product.
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