Role
Product Designer
Team
2 Designers
Timeline
5 Weeks
This project was completed as part of Concordia University’s User Experience Design Certificate, in response to a fictional Horizon Bank brief to design a standalone experience for new users.
As Horizon Bank expands nationally as a digital-first institution, attracting and retaining customers is critical. Saving is a common goal but hard to sustain, creating an opportunity to deliver immediate value and foster lasting engagement.
Many savings tools struggle to keep users engaged. When progress feels invisible, saving feels unrewarding, and tools fail to adapt to real life, momentum fades, goals are abandoned, and opportunities for retention decline.
Horizon Bank, a Canadian neobank, aimed to attract and retain customers with a simple standalone product that solved a clear financial challenge. The app needed to provide value independently, support onboarding for non-customers, and remain adaptable for future integration into the full platform.
Among the client-provided personas, Monique represented the strongest need. A working parent with limited time and irregular income, her journey common but significant barriers to saving and shaped the foundation for the product direction.
Horizon Bank’s brief and the tight delivery window set clear boundaries, defining what could be built and how the design process would unfold. These constraints shaped priorities and kept the project focused from the start.
Solution
Solution
Make Progress Visible
Projected Pace View: Shows if users are ahead, behind, or on track by comparing their saving pace to the target timeline.
Recent Progress Feed: Breaks down deposits over time to highlight consistency and uncover saving patterns.
Goal Milestone Tracker: Divides long-term goals into smaller wins so users can see tangible progress early on.
Solution
Sustain Motivation
Points and Rewards: Incentivizes saving habits with redeemable points for missions, milestones, and streaks.
Mission Prompts: Offers bite-sized challenges between deposits to keep momentum going.
Streak Counter: Reinforces habit-building by tracking and rewarding consistent saving activity over time.
Solution
Provide Steady Support
Flexible Goal Settings: Lets users adjust targets and timelines when plans change to avoid abandoning progress.
Supportive Microcopy: Uses warm, affirming language to keep users motivated without pressure.
Progress Nudges: Sends timely reminders tied to habits or milestones so users stay aligned without extra effort.
The solution was designed to build early trust, foster lasting saving habits, and create a clear path to full platform adoption. Each focus area targets a specific behavior the product aims to influence.
Define
Persona
Monique is an accountant and single mother of two. She manages multiple income streams on a tight budget and values financial control, but her time is limited and routines are unpredictable. Tools that feel rigid or unrewarding quickly fall out of use.
Key Insight:
Even users with strong intent lose momentum when tools fail to adapt or make progress visible.
Define
User Journey
Monique begins with a clear savings goal and a basic account. When life interrupts, saving slips out of focus. Without feedback or support, her motivation fades, leading her to search for a tool that feels more flexible and rewarding.
Key Insight:
Clear goals don’t sustain saving. When routines break and progress isn’t visible, motivation drops and users seek alternatives.
Define
Problem and How Might We Statements
Monique’s challenge isn’t setting savings goals — it’s staying connected to them. When routines shift and progress disappears, motivation fades and saving drops off, leaving her disengaged from her goals.
Ideate
Competitor Analysis
To understand how saving is positioned in the market, tools from neobanks, budgeting apps, and major Canadian banks were reviewed. The analysis focused on how they support long-term saving through feedback, progress visibility, and guidance.
Key Insight:
Most tools treat saving as a one-time setup, not an ongoing behavior. Few reinforce habits after goal creation, leaving users without support when motivation fades.
Ideate
Sketching
Early sketches explored ways to keep users engaged by making progress visible, reinforcing habits, and adapting to life changes. These concepts tested how saving could remain rewarding, even when motivation dipped or routines shifted.
Prototype
Wireframes
Early concepts were developed into two distinct prototypes — one centered on structure and support, the other on motivation and momentum. Both explored ways Horizon could help users stay engaged with saving over time.
Simple Support
• Reduces decision friction with friendly prompts and setup tips
• Builds confidence through clear, visible progress feedback
• Provides check-ins to adjust goals without losing direction
Playful Progress
• Encourages saving with small wins and ongoing rewards
• Uses light gamification to revive stalled habits
• Delivers continuous feedback to keep users engaged and moving forward
Strategic Direction:
The client selected the gamified flow for its clearer differentiation and stronger potential to build trust, spark early engagement, and sustain long-term use.
Test
User Testing
After selecting Playful Progress, usability testing examined whether users understood the product, felt motivated by progress cues, and stayed engaged even when habits were disrupted.
Study Goals:
• Do users understand the product’s value right away?
• Is onboarding clear and easy to complete?
• Is progress visible and motivating?
• Do users feel supported when routines break?
• Does gamification help sustain engagement over time?
Test
Test Findings
Testing assessed whether the experience provided clarity, motivation, and long-term engagement. Feedback showed strong user confidence alongside areas of confusion and unmet expectations.
“I liked that I could make changes without feeling like I’d mess something up.”
“The app’s tone felt encouraging, like Horizon actually cares about my goals.”
“It felt calm and easy to move through. I never felt rushed or overwhelmed.”
“Oh, this is a bank? I honestly thought it was just a savings app at first.”
“The graph’s kind of basic; I was hoping for a clearer view of my progress.”
“The missions are fun, but I wasn’t totally sure what the point of them was.”
Test
Design Iterations
Findings revealed moments of confusion, hesitation, and missed opportunity. Refinements aimed to build early trust, clarify progress, and give users stronger reasons to return.
Clarifying App Purpose
• Some users didn’t realize the app was from a bank or understand it's purpose
• Added an onboarding carousel to introduce Horizon and explain its value
• Made identity and benefits clear upfront to build early trust
Breaking Down Progress
• Users struggled to gauge progress toward goals
• Split progress into two views: recent activity and projected pace
• Paired habits with payoff to keep motivation high
Strengthening Incentives
• Users lacked a reason to return consistently
• Added a points system tied to saving behaviors and small wins
• Made progress feel more rewarding and repeatable
A style guide defined color, typography, and spacing choices to support handoff. Specs ensured screen consistency and alignment with Horizon’s design system, enabling accurate and efficient implementation.
Reflections
This project challenged assumptions about what sustained engagement requires. These takeaways continue to guide how the experience could evolve with more time and iteration.
