Mint

PROBLEM

How might we add more value to Mint by increasing usability?

With name brand recognition from time in the Market, Mint, is the go to when it comes to getting your finances in order. But how can we make Mint more accessible for those users who have traditionally struggled to maintain a relationship with their finances? What components and data can we add? What can we remove?

⏰

Create external trigger

Encourage users to open the app by creating a reward system.

📊

Show me the information

A whole screen and we get 5 data points, let’s make Mint more useful.

😰

Remove credit score

We can argue the efficacy and relevancy of this number elsewhere, but I think we can agree it doesn’t need to be static.

👔

Why so serious?

Sure it’s a banking app, but maybe we can lighten things up a bit around here?

GOALS

My main goal in improving the landing page was “how might we define Smart Retire in the simplest possible terms?” And from there, how can we make people want it? The technical goals for the project are as follows:

✅

Update color palette

Modernize and create space by pairing the “Mint green” with lighter, more open fields of color.

✅

Your money, your app

Add customization features to allow users to engage more with the app based on how they learn.

✅️

Out of the shell

Create a design system and new copy tone to lighten the subject matter and encourage users to click in more often.

✅

Create Action

Explore external and internal triggers to turn Mint into a positive habit-forming product.

RESEARCH

How are the competition approaching saving?

I started my research by looking at the competition to see how they organized their budgeting and the services they each offered. YNAB (You need a budget) is famously popular, with a cult-like following so I started there.

Well-loved Learning curve Habit building “Clicks” or doesnt Customization Confusing UI choices

Investment tracking Multi-account linking Sparse budget manager

Smart categorization Paid, but no ads Customization Great UI

Aimed at future planning No account syncing Manual organization

As a Mint user… I want to learn how to manage my money so that I can save and improve my life.

What is causing users to churn?

DEFINE OUR CUSTOMERS

SKETCHING

5 WHYS

Why would Sam want to use Mint? So they can track their spending. Why would they want to do this? So they have more control their finances. Why do they need that? So they know exactly when and how much they’re spending. Why do they need to do that? To budget and create a habit that will save money over time. Why would they need to save? To improve their life.

SKETCHING IN FIGMA

Beyond reorganizing the data to be more easily accessible, I wanted to make Mint more approachable by softening the tone of the app. Using Open Sans to give the type a rounder, less serious feeling and calling back to Mint’s classic teal.

SOLUTION

By opening up the homepage visually, with an alternate light color palette, and creating visual representations of the future of Smart Retire, informed by the UK successes, we can bring clarity and engagement to the goal of a smart retirement.

AESTHETICS

🎨

Update color palette

Emphasize Mint’s classic dark mint by pairing it with lighter colors and fields.

🤖

Design system

It’s time to give Mint a little personality, softening the tone with Open Sans and a lighter color scheme.

🎈

Elevate the design

Literally. Create elevation levels to encourage engagement and improve usability with multiple levels and sliders.

🕶️

Dark mode

Add a complimentary dark mode for users to customize.

USABILITY

📈

All the data

Reorganize the dashboard to provide more than 4 points of data without overcrowding.

🧩

Customization

Allow users to create custom budget categories and dashboard screens.

👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻

Shared account

Add functionality for budget to be shared by multiple users.

😀

Give in to the emoji

Using an emoji system to represent a category we not only set the tone but give the feeling of a native OS app.

HABIT FORMING

👩‍🏫

Educate users

Create a better onboarding system to engage and educate new users.

👷

Build your own path

Create custom dashboard widgets to let users understand data their way.

🔔

External triggers…

Create a notification system tied to saving to encourage engagement and lifetime value.

🙇‍♂️

…create internal triggers

Through the use of notifications and thoughtful onboarding, start to create internal triggers.

INTERACTION

A long-term UX strategy I wanted to employ was to create an external trigger to keep users engaged and hopefully over time this will create natural internal triggers in the users and increase click-through rates. To create the link with Mint and the external trigger I added a notification system to alert the user via GPS when there are savings nearby based on their spending habits. For example, if a user purchases gas Mint can use the total cost, plus the location and current price/gallon (along with previously mined data like the make of the car) to estimate how much gas was purchased and approximately when the user will next put gas in their car. Now when that time approaches Mint can trigger a notification to alert the customer of nearby gas prices. By creating relevant, time-sensitive savings we are able to use data for good and hopefully improve the bond between Mint and the user.

How might we improve the user experience and ease financial anxiety?