Leadership pitches for FinApp
Brief
Note: Designs have been edited to protect an unreleased 2022 project.
FinApp (name changed) helps teens manage and learn about money. My job was to visualize ideas for leadership pitches on:
Financial learning for the gamer teen audience
What an app that grows with your family might do
Advertising to parents vs. teens
Role: content, visual, and UX design
Worked with: principle director of engineering (acting PM) and senior design technologist
Photos are not my own, but are primarily from Microsoft, pexels.com, unsplash.com, and nappy.co.
Challenges
These pitches took place over several months and pivoted based on the feedback and questions from leadership. The timelines were short, requiring rapid iterative work.
Goals
Clearly visualize ideas to accompany presentation voice over. Avoid fully functional UI to keep the takeaway crisp.
Incorporate feedback from each successive presentation to evolve the pitch assets.
Get buy-in from leadership to continue funding app development.
Impact
The app has been greenlit for further pursuit/development after each pitch.
Financial learning and simple UI
The storytelling intention changed slightly every time a new pitch session was scheduled. I worked with the principle director of engineering to get crisp on what we wanted to communicate before I started (re)designing.
One pitch highlighted financial learning for gamer teens. To make screens glanceable, I stripped down the UI and highlighted key takeaways.
An app that grows with you
Microsoft is making a big consumer push with families, but we’ve yet to engage family members at all ages within the same product.
FinFamily (a spinoff of FinApp) was pitched as a fun way to earn points as a family that were redeemable for tangible, desirable rewards. The associated credit card could be customized with a family photo, reminding the user that each swipe benefits their loved ones.
FinFamily could also serve the growing individual. Simplified UI shows a girl aging, her rewards and savings reflecting different life stages.
FinFamily could also serve the growing individual. Simplified UI shows a girl aging, her rewards and savings reflecting different life stages.
FinFamily could also serve the growing individual. Simplified UI shows a girl aging, her rewards and savings reflecting different life stages.
FinFamily could also serve the growing individual. Simplified UI shows a girl aging, her rewards and savings reflecting different life stages.
Advertising: adult vs. teen audience
Even as the app intention evolved, the teen credit card remained a central idea. I created ads encouraging card signups, contrasting the teen and adult gaze.
Teens: TikTok ads
I wanted to inject creative silliness as well as engage them with a weekly giveaway campaign. Bright colors, nostalgic callbacks, and cheeky copy are at home with young TikTok audiences. They should feel good and get interested without it feeling too serious.
Side note: if you haven’t seen the Microsoft Teams song featuring Clippy, please click that link immediately.
Adults: Microsoft.com ads
The ads for adults are much more user benefit and call-to-action oriented. Build your teen’s credit, keep them and their money safe, send them money quickly and easily. Clean lifestyle photography is paired with a button to get your teen a card now.
Representing people of color
If you look at the people in these pitch visuals, you’ll notice racial diversity. This is no accident.
When our team initially pitched brand directions for the Family Safety app, I noticed the only people in all the lifestyle photos were white people. I unmuted myself and spoke up about it. If our intention is to make a product just for white people, that’s fine I guess (it’s really not), but! If we’re looking to serve a multitude of families, let’s make sure we’re representing them in visuals both internally and externally.
I fully recognize there are many kinds of diversity that aren’t represented here: ability, neural, gender identity, and more. Smashing white as the default is my first step. Stay tuned for more bias-obliterating imagery in my future work.
5+ pitches and buy-in after every round
While I don’t have a visual design background, I am an absolute communication hound. It’s what gets the “yes, keep going” after every leadership presentation. I’d love to help tell your stories next.