Bridging Families Through Financial Literacy
Scholar Dollars
Overview
The Challenge
Improving Financial Literacy in Teens and Families
Financial literacy isn’t always taught in school, leaving parents responsible for educating their children. Many feel unprepared, while teens lack engaging, independent learning tools
Solution
A Collaborative Solution for Learning Together
We designed Scholar Dollars, a mobile app that promotes intergenerational learning through financial education modules, quizzes, and sharing features.
Key Feature 1
Modules Page Organizes lessons into All, Suggested, and Favorites tabs.
Key Feature 2
Family Page A hub to see the learning progress made by your family circle
Key Feature 3
Quiz Knowledge check quizzes after learning modules with immediate feedback
Research
Market Research
Financial Education is Lacking in the U.S.
The importance of financial education is becoming more and more apparent, with the rising costs of college and a collective interest in social good, our team was inspired to dive into the financial education space.
Competitive Analysis
Gap for Financial Apps Using Co-Learning & Without Requiring Personal Information
Our competitive analysis revealed gaps between financial education, digital learning, and parent-child interaction apps. Key insights include:
Intergenerational Learning Gap – Few apps address financial topics relevant to low-income families, such as housing and public benefits.
Market Saturation in Budgeting & Investment – Given the abundance of apps requiring financial data, we are focusing solely on financial education, avoiding account linking or banking features.
Opportunity for Family Learning – While many apps handle personal finance, collaborative family learning tools remain scarce.
We focus on family-friendly financial literacy, removing traditional barriers to access.
User Interviews
Users Are Seeking Privacy, Co-Learning, and Relevant Topics
We interviewed six participants (ages 22–67) from diverse backgrounds to explore financial literacy challenges.
Key Themes: Privacy concerns, desire for co-learning, and focus on relevant financial topics like budgeting.
How Might We
Focusing Our Goals on User Security
User Personas
A Mother and Her College-Bound Son Navigating their Financial Futures
We created relatable personas like Michelle, a working mom, and her college-bound son Josh, to guide design decisions.
Michelle is a working mom who is worried about paying for college and is concerned about her retirement. She wants to teach her children good financial habits but feels uninformed about how to navigate this next phase of her financial life.
Josh is excited about heading off to college, but lately, his mom won’t stop nagging him about how they are going to pay for it.
She won’t stop talking about how she’s getting older and wished she had learned about money earlier. While he thinks his mom is probably overreacting, he’s a little nervous about going off to school and all of the talk about finances.
Design
Usability Testing + Heuristic Evaluation
Users Encountered Confusion in the App Navigation
After usability testing with 5 participants on a Mid-Fidelity prototype, we identified navigation confusion, unclear progress indicators, and quiz accessibility issues. Our design refinements included:
Improved Navigation: Replaced confusing buttons (e.g., “Start Over”) with direct lesson selection & Exit & Save.
Enhanced Progress Clarity: Added checkmarks for completed lessons & a quiz progress bar.
Better Quiz Experience: Introduced instant feedback after each answer and made quizzes easier to find.
These changes improved clarity, usability, and engagement for users navigating financial literacy content.
Information Architecture
Shaping the Onboarding, Learning Modules, and Quizzes
We developed user flows and paper prototypes to outline the app:
Onboarding Experience – We sketched a simple, guided onboarding process that allowed parents to set up accounts for themselves and their children while customizing learning preferences.
Home Dashboard – The initial wireframes displayed an organized hub with an overview of modules in progress, family engagement, and recommended learning activities.
Interactive Learning Modules & Quizzes – We structured lessons to be engaging and actionable, incorporating video tutorials, knowledge checks, and interactive exercises.
Family Progress Sharing – To encourage co-learning, we included features allowing parents and children to share quiz results and milestones with each other.
User Flow
Paper Prototype
We translated the user flow into paper prototypes to test design concepts. User testing helped refine onboarding clarity, navigation, and quiz submission flow. We improved instructional guidance, streamlined decision points, and adjusted key interactions to enhance usability before transitioning to wireframes.
Design Decisions
Iteration
Learning Module
Iteration
Quizzes
Iteration
Profile Page
Final Designs
Reflection
Lessons Learned
Our team excelled at meeting deadlines, handling feedback, and adapting quickly. A shared commitment to impact pushed us beyond requirements, especially in user research, testing, and prototyping. Our final product reflects strong collaboration and iterative problem-solving. This project reinforced my ability to conduct user-centered research, translate insights into design solutions, and iterate based on real user feedback
Challenges
Balancing scope and iteration was a challenge, with differing perspectives requiring open discussions. Managing time constraints while refining prototypes also tested our ability to integrate feedback efficiently.
Improvements
For future projects, early alignment on priorities and structured review sessions would streamline decision-making. Clear communication can help navigate design challenges more effectively.
