Financial Literacy App for Young
Users — UX Research & Design

Note: This project is subject to NDA. Details about the product, specific metrics, and visuals have been omitted.

CREATED AT

Fidelity

INDUSTRY

Finance

ROLE

Designer

The Challenge

Fidelity wanted to build an application teaching children from low-income families positive financial habits. The problem: we had assumptions but no evidence about what motivated these kids or what barriers blocked engagement with financial concepts.

Discovery & Validation

Primary Research — Building Empathy

  • Conducted empathy interviews with children from low-income families using UserTesting as our recruitment platform

  • Worked with lead researcher to refine interview screeners, removing leading questions and bias

  • Mapped user goals, behaviors, and pain points using Empathy Maps

  • Key finding: [specific insight that shaped the entire design direction


Design & Iteration

Wireframing Phase

  • Created low-fidelity wireframes grounded directly in research findings

  • Collaborated with engineering intern early to validate feasibility and align on technical constraints

  • Regular stand-ups with design, product, and engineering teams ensured alignment and caught issues before they became expensive


Building the Solution

  • Iterated mid and high-fidelity designs in Figma based on stakeholder feedback

  • Built interactive prototype demonstrating core user flows and primary use cases

  • Ensured accessibility standards were built in from the start, not retrofitted

What I Owned

Research synthesis: identifying patterns across interviews and translating them into actionable insights
Design decision rationale: every wireframe choice traced back to a specific user need or research finding
Prototype development and interaction design
Stakeholder communication and presentation

Outcome

Presented research findings and interactive prototype to senior designers and product managers. Documented all research methodology, design files, findings, and design rationale for the next team phase (visual design and implementation). Findings informed the product roadmap and design direction.

What This Taught Me

Research quality directly determines design quality; weak research wastes everyone's time downstream

Early cross-functional alignment prevents rework and keeps teams moving fast

Testing assumptions beats debating opinions; let users decide what works

Mentoring junior contributors (the engineering intern) strengthens the work and the team