Boomerang

✦ UX/UI, Brand Identity, Illustration

Client
Self Study

Role

UX Researcher

UI Designer

Visual Designer

Illustrator

Duration

4 month

Background

Investing at an early age significantly increases the likelihood of achieving long-term financial stability, yet many college students struggle to get started. Despite growing awareness of the need to save and invest for their future, they often encounter multiple barriers. The complexity of financial concepts, combined with limited financial resources—whether from part-time jobs, full-time work, or no income at all—forces them to balance academic responsibilities with personal expenses. As a result, it becomes challenging for them to allocate funds towards investment and diversify their portfolios effectively.

Recognizing these specific obstacles, I developed Boomerang, a cashback investment app designed exclusively for college students.

Objective
To develop a mobile app that empowers college students to achieve financial independence. Boomerang offers an intuitive platform that simplifies and gamifies investing, making it both accessible and enjoyable, even for those with limited financial knowledge. By helping users maximize their spending and invest in their future, Boomerang alleviates the stress and uncertainty associated with managing finances during college. The app aims to enhance financial literacy, motivate consistent investment habits, and help users build wealth over time.

✦ Process

01 | Empathize

Research Goal

The research, conducted by a team of 3, focused on understanding the key challenges faced by college students. Our goal was to identify critical issues that need to be addressed, guiding decision-making and informing the integration of solutions into the app.

Market Research

To emphasize with users, we performed comprehensive market research, categorizing it into 3 areas: cashback apps (e.g., Rakuten and Fetch), investment apps (e.g., Robinhood), and specialized cashback investment apps (e.g., Acorns).

The key gap identified is that existing apps often lack the ability to offer cashback deals that specifically help college students maximize their spending, both online and in-person, while also providing exclusive discounts to ease their financial burdens. I wanted to address this by including higher cashback percentages for purchases made at on-campus stores, further benefiting students. By also integrating cashback rewards into an investment portfolio that compounds over time, my app aims to provide a targeted solution that helps college students generate additional income and manage their finances more effectively.

User
Interview

My team interviewed 12 college students, aged 19-32, who represent our primary target audience. We designed the questions to explore their investment experiences, preferences, and cashback usage. This approach provided valuable insight into their interest in a cashback investment app and helped us determine the essential features and functionalities to include.

02 | Define

User Persona

Based on the insights gathered from the interviews, my team created a user persona named Evan Tang, who embodies the key characteristics of our target audience. Evan reflects on the common pain points and goals identified across the interviews, making him an ideal representative user for our cashback investment app.

Journey Map

This journey map examines Evan's potential experience while using the app, highlighting key interactions and emotional responses he may encounter. It reveals opportunities to alleviate his concerns and refine the features and interface to better meet his needs. This helps build a deeper understanding and a user-centric perspective to enhance the ability to design a more empathetic app.

Site Map

The site map highlights the main features of Boomerang, focusing on its unique concept of cashback rewards, investment opportunities, and portfolio management. This structure helps users easily navigate and access the app better.

User Flow

This illustrates Evan’s expected journey while interacting with Boomerang. The emphasis is on guiding Evan from receiving cashback to seamlessly using it to purchase assets and grow his investment portfolio. This flow highlights the app’s role in helping him take his first steps toward building wealth.

03 | Ideate

Brand Identity

Before starting the visual designs of Boomerang, I defined a set of core goals and values for the app: educational, fun, trendy, motivational, and reliable.

The logo features a boomerang with a hidden letter 'B', symbolizing the app's unique concept of bringing money back to the user. The color palette combines vibrant green and purple to evoke excitement, prosperity, trust, and financial success. These colors are complemented by rich, lively accents of blue, yellow, pink, and orange, creating a fun and trendy aesthetic tailored to college students. This positively influences users' perceptions, encouraging them to engage and stay committed to their financial journey.

Wireframe

I began by sketching low-fidelity wireframes to outline the basic layout of each screen in Boomerang.

I then moved to Figma to create medium-fidelity drafts, refining the design and fine-tuning the placement of elements before progressing to high-fidelity prototypes.

04 | Prototyping & Testing

User Testing

I invited 4 participants, along with my mentor, to navigate through the medium-fidelity draft of Boomerang. My goal was to gather their feedback and suggestions for enhancing the app's user experience, focusing on improving intuitiveness and usability to better align with users' needs.

Feedback

Overall, participants provided positive feedback on the app. They found the primary screens and overall layout to be well-organized, with a smooth flow that made it intuitive for users to navigate independently. The app effectively targets users' needs, with features placed and categorized where users would naturally expect them to be.

However, participants also offered some constructive suggestions to enhance the app layout. These included adding visual aids, maximizing space and content, and improving the order of information.

All participants presented valuable feedback, prompting me to reflect on how to incorporate these suggestions into the final designs. This input helps ensure the app meets user expectations and delivers a more seamless and satisfying experience.