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Project Overview
Context
As part of my entrepreneurship class, I created this app in three weeks, including interviews, R&D, planning, design, and presentation. The primary focus of this project was on honing the business and app concepts; no development was required.
As Chief Design Officer, it was my responsibility to not only design a user-friendly and visually appealing app but also to ensure that the app's interface and features were in sync with the core business concept. This experience provided me with the opportunity to apply my design skills in a realistic real-world setting, allowing me to grasp the critical balance between creativity and functionality in creating a valuable product for our target audience.
Project Scope
Scope
This was a collaborative group project, and I had to coordinate with multiple roles and instructors at times to ensure I was meeting project and organizational requirements.
My process
- Ideation and Concept
- Quantitative and qualitative analysis
- Customer Segmentation
- Business structure and definition
- User and Business Experience design
- App Concept
- What'sCompetitive Analysis
- Presentation
The Process
In three weeks, I created a start-up as part of an entrepreneurship class. As Chief Design Officer, I balanced research and functionality to design a valuable product for our target audience.
As Chief Design Officer, it was my responsibility to not only design a user-friendly and visually appealing app but also to ensure that the app's interface and features were in sync with the core business concept. This experience provided me with the opportunity to apply my design skills in a realistic real-world setting, allowing me to grasp the critical balance between creativity and functionality in creating a valuable product for our target audience
We identified pain points related to receipts and decided to design an app that automates receipt management and budgeting.
Everyone had a different perspective on receipts, so I facilitated a pain point mapping session in which we were able to show everything we liked, disliked, and wished for in terms of receipts and handling receipts.
Research and Business Development
We sent out two different surveys to know if this app is even wanted, what features we should include, and gather user research.
We surveyed users and conducted market analysis to understand receipt management and budgeting needs. We also gathered local businesses' insights through cold calls and visits. The feedback informed our app's design to meet specific user and business requirements. Many businesses showed interest in our app for tax purposes, coupons, customer loyalty, and to overcome challenges with manual receipt organization, which could lead to errors and inefficiencies.
Survey results highlighted the struggles of college students with receipt tracking and budget management, guiding our design process.
We surveyed our customer base, which is mainly college students. We asked them about their experience budgeting and keeping receipts, we've selected a few of our most prominent user responses.
Interpreting our customer statistics:
Survey results show most college students struggle with receipt tracking and desire an app for assistance. Many also wish to monitor their spending and have proof for their parents, while some find returning items without receipts problematic.
In design, understanding their key issues with receipt tracking and budget management is crucial. Knowing their preferences for a receipt management app will help develop an effective solution.
We cold-called and interviewed local business owners to understand their interest in using our product and how it could benefit their businesses.
In addition to our customer discovery process, we also explored how businesses would like to use our product, if applicable, and what a possible point of entry would be for us. For this part of the discovery process, we cold-called 10 businessmen from around our community. Of the 10 we called, only 4 were able to answer. To save the business time, we only asked them three simple, open-ended questions and explained our business idea.
- Do you currently keep receipts?
- Would having a device that automatically collects and tracks receipts for your customers benefit your business, and why?
- In what way would you use this technology?
We developed user personas and employed psychographic segmentation to target specific customer segments.
We developed user personas based on our findings from the interviews. These personas represent different types of customers who may benefit from our receipt tracking device. By understanding their needs and preferences, we can tailor our product to better meet their expectations. Additionally, psychographic segmentation allows us to target specific customer segments based on their attitudes, values, and lifestyle choices.
Designing for business and user goals
We prioritized user convenience for college students, while businesses could easily integrate our app to boost sales and repeat business.
We developed user personas based on our findings from the interviews. These personas represent different types of customers who may benefit from our receipt tracking device. By understanding their needs and preferences, we can tailor our product to better meet their expectations. Additionally, psychographic segmentation allows us to target specific customer segments based on their attitudes, values, and lifestyle choices.
Our users are our primary focus. During the initial stage of our business, we made a purchase and documented our process.
To better understand the user's experience, we bought something and created a scenario featuring our user persona, Joan Perez. Joan represents a common user profile: a busy college student who often struggles to keep track of her receipts. In this scenario, Joan goes to a local thrift store to buy a shirt. She makes her purchase and receives a physical receipt at the checkout. Given her busy schedule and the small size of the receipt, there's a high chance that she might lose this receipt.
Through user research and business exploration, we tailored our app to meet specific user and business needs.
This is where our Keep My Receipt app comes in. Joan opens the app on her phone and holds it near the NFC-enabled payment terminal. The app automatically detects the NFC signal and collects the receipt data, eliminating the need for Joan to keep track of the physical receipt. Now, even if Joan loses the physical receipt, she has a digital copy safely stored in the app, which she can use for future reference, returns, or warranty claims.
We designed features such as automatic receipt collection, automated expense tracking, receipt scanning, categorization, and more.
Our app, Keep My Receipt, acquires receipts through various methods, including NFC technology, email extraction, and physical receipt scanning.
The process begins with the user making a purchase and receiving a receipt. The Keep My Receipt app is then opened on the user's smartphone.
Option A: If the store has Keep My Receipt technology available, the app automatically detects the NFC signal.
Option B: Enter your email, and through the Keep My Receipt Add-in or Gmail Extension, we will securely search recent emails for key words to extract the information that way as well.
Option C: Get a physical receipt and scan it
Using OCR technology, the app scans and extracts relevant information from the receipt, such as the store name, date, and amount. The receipt is then categorized based on predefined categories or user-defined tags and stored securely in the app's database for future reference.
Visual Design
Our color system and visual design aim to embody our core values and create a welcoming experience.
To reflect the four core values of our business—automatic, seamless, organized, and saving you money—we carefully selected a color system that embodies these 4 principles. By using this warm color system, we aimed to visually communicate our core values and create a welcoming experience.
We Created the “ideal” version of our app
We decided to design an ideal version of the Keep My Receipt app for presentation purposes. This allowed us to showcase the full potential of the app, demonstrating all the envisioned features for receipt management and budgeting.
With a focus on user experience, I designed a quick app sketch.
With user research and business development done, I only had 3 days left to design an app mockup. With a focus on a quick and seamless user experience, I prioritized a clean and intuitive interface design.
I presented an early prototype later refined and further improved based on user feedback.
I further refined the prototype based on user feedback and made the U more streamlined and modern. The final prototype included features such as a personalized dashboard, smart receipt scanning, expense tracking, and budget management tools.
We Created the “ideal” version of our app
We decided to design an ideal version of the Keep My Receipt app for presentation purposes. This allowed us to showcase the full potential of the app, demonstrating all the envisioned features for receipt management and budgeting. Despite focusing on the ideal version, we still kept user needs at the forefront. This approach ensured that the app was user-centric right from the start, while also saving us time and resources by focusing on the most impactful features.
App Screen and Navigation Breakdown
Home: The home screen offers users immediate access to new deals, trends, and updates on spending or receipts. It's designed to keep users up-to-date with the latest information relevant to their spending habits and potential savings opportunities.
Search: The search function allows users to quickly find specific receipts and past purchases. This feature streamlines the process of managing and referencing past transactions.
Add: The add button enables users to manually input receipt or expense data as needed. This is particularly useful for instances where a receipt was not automatically captured or for recording cash transactions.
Shop: The shop section provides a platform for users to explore deals and trends. This feature can help users discover new saving opportunities and make more budget-friendly purchasing decisions.
Spending Insights: The spending insights feature provides a comprehensive overview of the user's spending habits. It offers valuable insights into where their money is going, helping them to better understand their financial habits and make necessary adjustments.
Presentation and Showcase
During the pitch, I showcased the app's concept, user research findings, and design process, emphasizing its potential to simplify receipt management. Judges praised the thorough user research and recommended showing the product in use for a better understanding
During our business pitch presentation, my part of the presentation consisted of showcasing the app's concept, user research findings, and the design process. I highlighted the unique features and benefits of Keep My Receipt, emphasizing its potential to simplify receipt management and improve budgeting for both individuals and businesses.
Our instructors, who are successful business owners, served as course judges. They looked into many aspects of the business, but for the sake of the portfolio, I'm only focusing on criticism regarding my role and responsibilities.
- Grows: One area for improvement that was noted by the judges on the design side was to maybe next time show the product being used, even if it was pre-recorded. This would give the judges a better understanding of how the product functions in real-life scenarios.
- Glows: The thoroughness of the user research conducted to identify pain points and needs related to receipt management and budgeting received positive feedback from the judges. The judges praised the effort put in to understand the target audience and design app features accordingly.
Impact & Reflection
Reflection
I believe the research-driven approach successfully identified and addressed the specific needs of our target audiences, resulting in an app design that was both practical and appealing. However, if I were to approach this project again, I would prioritize prototyping and user testing earlier in the design phase. This could have provided more immediate and actionable feedback, allowing for faster changes and improvements to the app's usability and functionality.
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