Building Financial Confidence for College Students
Project Type
UX Research & Educational Product Design
Company
Key Lime Interactive × Purdue Experience Studio
Duration
August – December 2024
Role
UX Researcher & Product Designer
This project challenged our team to tackle a problem that directly impacts many college students but often goes overlooked: financial literacy. Partnering with Key Lime Interactive, we researched the financial challenges students face and designed a solution focused on helping them build healthier financial habits through accessible education, practical tools, and guided learning experiences.
What did I do?
I contributed throughout the research and design process by conducting user interviews, synthesizing findings, creating wireframes, testing prototypes, and documenting our work. I also helped connect our research insights back to design decisions, ensuring that every feature addressed a real challenge identified by students.
imagine you're expected to manage your finances, but no one ever taught you how.
What is this Key Lime Interactive?
Key Lime Interactive is a UX research and customer experience consulting agency that helps organizations improve products and services through research-driven design. For this project, they challenged us to explore how design could be used to improve financial literacy among college students.
Who did I work with?
I worked alongside a team of researchers and designers throughout the semester while receiving feedback and guidance from Key Lime Interactive. Collaboration played a major role in both our research efforts and the development of our final solution.
the process
Helping college students build healthier financial habits through accessible education and guidance.
Many students felt unprepared when it came to budgeting, taxes, investing, and other financial decisions. While resources existed, they were often overwhelming, difficult to understand, or disconnected from the situations students faced in their daily lives.
how might we create an experience that helps college students develop financial confidence and establish positive financial habits?
Key Focus
but, why?
Financial literacy affects decisions students make every day, from budgeting and spending to managing debt and planning for the future. Yet many students are expected to navigate these topics with little formal education or support. This project reinforced the impact design can have when it transforms intimidating, complex subjects into experiences that feel understandable, approachable, and actionable.
throughout the design process, being able to answer the "why" is very important.
What did I learn?
Research Creates Better Solutions
This project showed me the value of spending time understanding a problem before jumping into a solution. Some of our most important findings came directly from student interviews, where we uncovered challenges and misconceptions that we never would have identified on our own. It reinforced the idea that effective design begins with listening.
Design Can Influence Everyday Decisions
Unlike some projects that focus on improving a specific tool or workflow, this experience focused on changing behaviors and habits. It challenged me to think beyond usability and consider how design can encourage confidence, learning, and long-term growth. Seeing how our work could positively impact students' lives made this project especially meaningful.