Overview

As Gen Z continues to emerge as a dominant financial force, banks must evolve to meet their expectations: speed, flexibility, purpose, and personalization. This project focused on designing a modern digital banking experience that goes beyond balance checking — one that supports money movement, micro-social interactions, and purposeful giving.

The Challenge

Traditional banking apps weren’t cutting it for Gen Z.

They expected:

• Instant money movement (like splitting a check, paying a roommate, or collecting for a trip)

• Purpose-driven finance, including donating to causes and tracking impact

• A social connection to money — not just cold transactions

We were tasked with reimagining a mobile-first banking product for this generation — integrating social utility, purposeful design, and the speed of modern apps like Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle.

My Role

• Lead Product Designer

• Drove design strategy and vision from discovery to high-fidelity prototype

• Led whiteboarding workshops, low- to high-fidelity wireframing, and UX testing

• Collaborated closely with Gen Z research groups, marketing, and engineering

Research

We used a human-centered design approach with an emphasis on co-creation and lightweight experimentation.

🧠 Whiteboarding

We ran in-person and remote workshops with Gen-Z college students and early-career professionals. Using Figma’s FigJam, we mapped out:

• Emotional drivers of money movement (trust, speed, visibility)

• Key moments when splitting or requesting money matters most (e.g., food, trips, subscriptions)

• Interest in social accountability through giving and shared goals

🧩 Wireframes & User Testing

I designed early wireframes focusing on key flows:

• “Split It” after a purchase with friends

• “Move Money” tab for fast P2P or charitable transfers

• A gamified tracker for monthly donations or causes supported

Feedback from user testing led us to:

• Add auto-calculated splits with adjustable contributions

• Enable emoji-style reactions on fulfilled payments

• Make charitable giving visible but private-by-default

Visual & Interaction Design

• Soft tones, organic shapes, and inclusive illustrations reflected Gen-Z's preference for friendliness and authenticity

• Motion micro-interactions reinforced feedback and flow confidence

• Data visuals showed not just account balances, but impact metrics, like "You’ve donated meals for 12 people this month"

Results

• Though the product was still in early concept/prototype phase during testing, feedback and metrics showed:

  • +72% of users preferred the app over their current P2P tool for its social design

  • 84% of users said they would use the donation feature monthly

  • 92% satisfaction score during prototype testing of the “Split It” experience

    
    

  What I Learned

  Designing for Gen-Z requires empathy for expression and values alignment—not just utility. Money, to them, is a social tool as much as a financial one. By enabling trust, transparency, and purpose in every flow, we moved beyond “banking” and into life facilitation.