IDEO.org collaborated with Moneythink, a domestic organization bringing financial literacy to youth, on an six-week project to design a mobile app to support their curriculum. With the age bracket of 18-25 becoming the fastest growing segment for bankruptcy in the United States, Moneythink addresses the need for a youth-focused financial literacy program. Working to improve financial decision-making in college-bound high school students, Moneythink brought in IDEO.org to expand their curriculum outside of the classroom with a financial literacy mobile app. 

Opportunities for Design

Working closely with students, mentors, and Moneythink staff in urban high schools of Chicago, IDEO.org delved into the experience of how teens make financial decisions. The team found that teens' financial behavior is rooted in unique factors such as sporadic income, varying degrees of financial dependency, and an informal creativity in financial choices. Additional insights arose by understanding these behaviors in the context of the Moneythink curriculum, which relies heavily on mentor relationships and their adaptability on a student-to-student basis.

Based on these insights, the team identified the need for a tool that both facilitates non-traditional savings and budgeting practices while leaving flexibility for creativity. Equally as important, the design needed to add value to the student-mentor relationship, as this continues to be at the core of Moneythink's program. Ultimately, the IDEO.org team narrowed down the scope of the challenge to ask: How might we accurately capture a teen's financial decision-making and then provide a roadmap to healthy savings habits?

What We Designed

The final Moneythink app created by IDEO.org is an interactive social platform where youth can engage in challenges that build financial awareness, skills, and habits for saving. Challenges are facilitated by mentors in conjunction with the curriculum, but use is driven by ongoing peer and mentor activity. Meanwhile, mentors can keep track of students' performance to gain a better overall understanding of their progress. 

Moneythink launched with the pilot version in February 2014. So stay posted - we look forward to hearing more about the mobile app in action and its impact as part of the Moneythink curriculum!