Change
Change is an app that allows people to sponsor, donate, and make a difference in children or families in foreign countries, individuals have the option to also make a difference in their local areas too! Something neat that change will be featuring is a way to invest your spare change from everyday purchases into any specific organization or towards the child/family you sponsor.
Problem
Users perspective: Lea enjoys giving back at the local food bank and often finds herself volunteering at the animal shelter near her home. Lea believes that poverty is an issue that cannot be solved but an issue that can be changed, helped, and nurtured through small impacts.
Young-aged, free-living individuals need an affordable, simple way to donate and make a difference in society without breaking the bank.
Solution
Our solution is to provide users with a way to round up their spare change from their everyday purchases and donate it locally or to a specific organization or non-profit. In addition, Change allows users to sponsor a child or family, where they can write to each other to create meaningful relationships.
A small glimpse of the final outcome.
Overview of project scope
MVP requirements —
A mission statement and brand that is clear to build trust and security
Users will have the option to donate locally and in foreign countries
A simple UI with a reduced amount of cognitive information
Target Audience — 20-35+ year-olds who are eager to donate but may not have the budget to do so. An individual that wants to contribute to society without breaking the bank!
Time estimates —
4 weeks
Role —
UX/UI Designer, Branding & Identity, Researcher
Target Audience
While gathering quanititive data on the target audience, I learned that the generation that donates most are baby boomers. Thus, in the early stages the intital target audience was 50-65+. However, I quickly discovered after conducting a user interview with a young person (22 year old), that the problem that needs to be solved is not to target the older generation who has money and is willing to already donate — it’s figuring out the best possible solution in how to help the younger generation have more opportunities at donating and being able to give with a low budget.
Moving forward, the target audience changed from 50-65+ to 20-35+.
Research
For the user survey, here are a couple of questions I had asked. I wanted to know if people would be more interested in donating locally or to a 3rd-world country. Originally, I had planned to only focus on donations made to 3rd-world countries. After conducting the user survey and the user interview, I learned that almost each of the individuals had stated they would be interested in donating locally. This was one major turning point as our initial idea had changed!
User Interviews
Age: 23 years old
Gender: Male
Income: $22,000
"As a younger person, I would be hesitant to drop let's say even $30 to an organization even if I wanted to. But being able to round up my spare change once a month, would seem and feel like less is being taken out of my bank account when really a good amount is and is being used for good."
Follow-up question: How do you feel about a linked bank account? Using a banking system that big companies like Venmo or Stripe use?
"Comfortable with linking my bank account."
Competitive analysis
To further my research, I went straight into gathering information on potential competitors. Below, you’ll see one of the companies I analyzed quite heavily on is Compassion. They have been in the industry for a very long time, and have a strong focus on foreign countries. ShareTheMeal was more aesthetically pleasing and had valuable visual content. In addition, this is the only app that allows users to sponsor a child and connect with those they are donating to!
While taking the app for a spin myself, I wanted to glance at some of the reviews people were saying about the usability of the app, the look, feel, and overall experience. While the feature of creating a meaningful relationship with those in need is unique and worthwhile, it seems that the app may have been buggy and in our favor, has a problem that needed to be solved.
Problem discovered: A user believes that it’s incredible to stay in touch with the child they get to sponsor, it gives them a level of closeness that you don’t get by just donating. However, as the deliverer, you aren’t able to see whether the letters have been read or received.
Solution: When a user sends a letter, they have the choice of checking off a box that allows them to receive emails and updates on the deliverance of the letters being sent.
Could another charity app make it on the market?
Unlike most e-commerce mobile apps, charity apps show a higher risk of user apathy. Why? Once an individual donates, they feel their part is done and there is no obligation to proceed. I want to note this is also one of the challenges that arose early on.
Solution: Giving users the opportunity to sponsor a child and build a meaningful connection while donating. In return, it gives donating more meaning. Moreover, users have a progress radar that keeps track of how much has been rounded up and donated through spare change. When the user reaches a certain amount of donated spare change, they will receive a small gift of gratitude from the company.
Not only was this solution a way to solve the issue of user apathy within charity apps, but it also helps challenge and target the younger audience.
Because of this research found, I wanted to know whether the app was going to be feasible on the market and how well it would do against competitors. Given the results, ShareTheMeal and Compassion have a fairly large amount of users which indicates that the idea of giving is feasible.
Current State Analysis
In addition, I conducted a Current State Analysis where I researched 4 different companies and narrowed down what features each one has and doesn’t have. Looking at the chart, you can see that 3 out of the 4 have a strong appeal to foreign countries. Flourish, is the only one that uses a linked bank account system. This company also targets those are younger and are more familiar with the idea of linked bank accounts. They are also the only company with a Round-up investment feature.
HMW Brainstorming
Top HMWs:
HMW we create a simple UI with a reduced amount of cognitive information?
HMW implement a secure way for users to link their bank account and have other payment methods?
HMW build security and trust within the brand, away from charity scams?
User stories
I prioritized the user stories from high, medium, and low in Google Spreadsheets. Here are 3 out of 12 user stories.
“As a user, I want the choice to donate my spare change locally or to foreign countries, so I can decide which area will be more impacted.”
“As a new user, I want to know how payments are going to be made, so I can decide if the app is safe to use. ”
“As a user, I want to know the impact the company has made already, so I can see if it’s worth my time.”
User flows
Here are 2 out of the 5 user flows created (user stories to match on the side).
Wireframe flows
Wireframe Sketches
Wireframes
Color palette
Moving into developing the brand, the colors that were chosen for change are earthy vibrant colors. I looked at a variety of images on Dribble, Pinterest, and Unsplash to draw inspiration. Why these colors? Black represents power and authority, something that change needed to state as part of their mission statement. Yellow, represents confidence and happiness. The color Turquoise is indicating wholeness and clarity. Moreover, Sage Green and Brown are equal in areas of trust, wisdom, and experience.
Moodboard
Logo Designs
Moving forward, I conducted a Preference test to gather some quick feedback on the logo designs and to find the most suitable design to continue with.
Feedback
“Changing the weight of the arrows and creating more balance within the design”
“It conveys the information that you want and it represents a cyclical event, whereas the coins dropping to earth are one-way.”
“Combining the coin and the globe and making it a coin with the earth on the face? that way it's both at the same time.”
“I like the one with the coin and the globe with the arrows. If the globe and coin were bigger and the arrows were smaller I think that would be really cool too!”
Iterations on Logos
The final logo that was chosen from the iterations is the 3rd design from the left.
Hi-Fi Prototype
For accessibility, the challenge here were the buttons and what colors were accessible and ones that were not. I used the Adobe color contrast checker which really helped in defining what colors to use. In addition, the font size is above 14pt.
Usability testing
Below, you’ll see 5 out of the 7 tasks I asked test participants using Maze.
Please move through the onboarding process and create an account.
Please choose to donate either locally or to those in 3rd-World Countries.
Consider where you would go if you wanted to learn more about the company and our mission statement.
Consider donating from your digital piggy bank.
Find a way to view your profile.
The overall success rate is 69%.
Key Takeaways
From the usability test results, I found that task #4 had a 10% Misclick rate with an average success of 25%. I believe here users had a difficult time navigating through the app due to how the question may have been worded, or the potential layout of the linked bank accounts screen. To solve this, I iterated on the linked bank accounts screen and completely redesigned the screen using a new method (see below).
If you take a look at task #2, there is a 0% Misclick rate however with a low average success of 60%. I believe testers got lost here due to the navigation bar lacking direction and information. To solve this, I iterated on the navigation bar replicating the Apple iOS design system when it comes to tab bars. I added words at the bottom & changed the icons to better match what the user was going to be doing when clicking the button (see below).
Learnings: Something to note is at the end of the usability testing, I had testers rank their experience and did not leave an empty slot for additional feedback. In moving forwards, I’ve learned in this process to always leave an area for additional feedback to help narrow down the problems that need to be fixed in functionality and create sensible solutions.
Adding testimonials on the About the company screen
Icons on the navigation bar are confusing — adding names to the icons?
Round buttons to create consistency within the brand
One test user chose to donate using her credit card because it seemed simpler than using apple pay.
Iterate on the linking bank accounts screen
Next steps
If given the opportunity to expand on this app, the next steps would be:
Partner with different organizations in the same niche to further ideate on the idea of creating a way to get the young generation involved in donating whilst on a budget.
More research, usability testing, and iterations.
Final Solution
**Disclaimer: I’d like to note the video is about 5 minutes long, so pick your favorite song & enjoy! Thanks for sticking around.
Reflections: Before taking on this idea for this app, I knew it was going to be a challenging topic. There are so many charity apps on the market, theoretically why put another one on the market? Because there is meaning behind it, I believe my vision for this project has been full-filled! I’m an advocate in believing that the work we do, we should always do with a purpose — and change is one of those projects that outshines the purpose and care I try to craft into my work.