I love it when I have the opportunity of thinking about a project from the very beginning, and that’s what happened with this one. As part of my UI Immersion program at Career Foundry, I had to develop a money savings app, starting by defining a comprehensive Brand Style Guide, including a logo, typography, brand colors, thinking about the values and mission of the brand, the overall communication tone, and defining which imagery would best represent the brand’s message.
This was a great opportunity to bring together old and new skills: branding and graphic design, combined with UI design.
Branding • Brand Style Guide • User Stories • User Flows • Mid & High Fidelity Wireframes • Prototyping • Animation • Mockups
• Supportive and motivational
• Helpful and educational
• Friendly and respectful
• Uncomplicated
• Trustworthy
Money does not control you.
You control your money.
To help you save money by better organizing and understanding your finances, setting goals, and having a more conscious way of saving and spending.
Being a money-saving app, there are two natural color shades that come naturally: Green, representing income, and Red, representing expenses.
SPARE brand color uses a brighter shade of green, which is more modern and vibrant, perfect to keep the user motivated.
Since we know that setbacks happen, the red color has taken a pinkish tone, which is less severe and more friendly. It will still convey an expense, or even a setback, but will not discourage the user from keeping on track to their goals and to keep using the app.
Complementing the color palette there will be a golden yellow and a muted blue color, representing goals, milestones, and achievements, as well as text elements and links.
“Money is not the thing. It is the thing that get us to the thing.”
SPARE’s photography must not focus on money itself, but the goals people will achieve with their savings. Photo’s should be realistic, not doctored or with excessive filters, and always contain a human element. They can and should be aspirational and inspirational, but at the same time portray real, happy people.
“As a user, I need to be able to tell the tool what my savings goal is and how long I have to reach it, so that I can save accordingly.”
“As a user, I want to be notified and rewarded when I have reached certain milestones throughout the saving period so that I know whether I’m on track to reach my goal.”
