GrowWise is a gamified financial literacy platform I designed for young adults — from user research and synthesis all the way to a high-fidelity Figma prototype.
Young adults aren't financially illiterate because they don't care. They're excluded from financial education that actually speaks their language. School systems rarely cover investing. What fills the gap? Social media, unregulated advice, and "get-rich-quick" content that creates more anxiety than clarity.
Our team set out to design a platform that didn't just teach finance — it made the whole idea of money feel safe to explore. My role spanned both ends of the process: I led user research from scratch and then translated those findings into designs for the Community section, Dashboard, and Learning page.
"The gap wasn't that users didn't want to learn — it was that nothing had ever made it feel safe enough to start."
I designed the interview guide, ran 8 in-depth interviews with young adults aged 16–21, built the survey, and led affinity mapping to synthesize findings into actionable design directions.
Every participant linked their anxiety to a lack of understanding — not an inherent dislike of risk. Remove the knowledge gap, and the fear shrinks with it.
100% of interviewees felt more comfortable with investing when they could see people their own age doing it. Peer success stories were load-bearing.
Users wanted self-paced, step-by-step modules with visible progress. Gamification was about making advancement feel real and earned.
Complex financial vocabulary introduced too early caused participants to disengage immediately. Plain language was non-negotiable.
I owned the information architecture across the full app, then took primary responsibility for three key surfaces: the Dashboard, Learning page, and Community section.
Before touching Figma, I mapped every user journey — from onboarding through to the investment simulator. This revealed early that the simulator was buried too deep.
I roughed out screens on paper first, focusing on layout decisions before visual polish. Sketching forced me to justify every element.
The dashboard surfaces market prices, community feed, and module progress all in one scroll — serving both beginners who need guidance and returning users who want quick data.
I designed trending course cards, module progress percentages, and a gamified Investment Simulator locked until course completion — turning navigation into motivation.
A tabbed Posts/Groups structure, category filters, and mentor-led group chats. The challenge was making peer engagement feel organic — not like a forced social feed.
We ran a structured cognitive walkthrough across 5 key tasks, then followed up with an expert evaluation from 4 experienced product designers. I treated every finding as a design brief, not a criticism.
"The rename from 'Groups' to 'Community' was a single word change that completely shifted how users understood what the space was for."
GrowWise taught me that the most important design work often happens before you open Figma. The research I led completely reframed the problem — we weren't designing an information product, we were designing a confidence-building experience.
Owning both research and design meant I never had to translate findings into briefs — I already understood the "why" behind every decision.
Designing the community challenged me to think about social dynamics, not just UI patterns. Peer validation is a design tool, not just a feature.
The cognitive walkthrough broke assumptions I'd made confidently. Prototypes are hypotheses, not solutions.
Usability testing with actual 16–21 year olds, "what-if" scenario tools in the simulator, and A/B testing navigation changes.