Smart Finances:
A Dual-Function App for Budget Tracking & Learning

Timeline: 2 weeks | Platform: Mobile App | My Role: Product Design

Introduction

Smart Finances is a 2-in-1 mobile app designed to help users manage their personal finances while also growing their financial knowledge. The app combines intuitive budget tracking with bite-sized educational event cards, helping users not only stay on top of their money, but also make smarter financial decisions.

My Role

I was responsible for defining the user experience, creating user flows, wireframes, and UI mockups. This included exploring layout ideas, designing visual components, and ensuring the interface was clear
and accessible for a wide audience.

The Problem

Many young professionals and students want to improve their financial health but often feel overwhelmed by complex tools or uninspiring educational content. Budgeting apps are usually separate from financial learning platforms, causing users to juggle multiple tools to meet their goals.

Goals

  • Design a simple, intuitive way for users to track income, expenses, and savings

  • Provide practical financial education through interactive event cards

  • Allow users to seamlessly switch between budgeting and educational content without feeling overwhelmed

  • Empower users with the confidence and tools to build long-term financial habits

Early Ideation

I reviewed popular budgeting apps like Mint and Money Manager to identify UX patterns that worked well and areas that felt overwhelming or cluttered. I sketched out low-fidelity wireframes to explore different layouts, including a tabbed navigation system that separates budgeting and education features
while keeping them easily accessible.

I also explored the concept of "event cards" — bite-sized content blocks that surface upcoming webinars, investment tips, and savings advice. These would be filterable by user interest and allow calendar integration for better engagement. Below are a few images of my early ideation:

Wireframes

High Fidelity Mock Ups

Final Design

Here is the final UI design based on the goals, feedback, and ideas from earlier stages. The layout aims to be clean, intuitive, and accessible for users managing both budgeting and financial learning in one place.