I work as a Freelance Product Designer (Solo Designer), leading the design of LoanMate, a loan tracking app that helps close circles manage repayments efficiently while promoting transparency, accountability, and trust.
Disclaimer: App Design Under Development
Content may change and does not reflect the final product. Do not copy or reproduce without permission.
Many individuals have multiple loans from different close people (family members, friends, colleagues, coworkers) with its own purposes and payment timelines. Managing these loans efficiently and keeping track of payments can be challenging, leading to missed or late payment, which can result in negative feelings in the relationships.
Simplifying complex financial data while maintaining usability was challenging. I balanced comprehensive information with user-friendly design, considering layout, typography, color scheme, and visual hierarchy to enhance navigation.
Collaboration between designer and developer ensures cross-platform compatibility. I created adaptable designs based on platform guidelines, while developer implementing them using cross-platform tools, ensuring consistency across devices and operating systems.
I conducted user interviews to understand users needs and concerns for managing loans within personal circles. The user interview provided valuable insights and revealed pain points, that I can use to ensure and develop an application, to address the specific challenges and requirements of this target users effectively.
Many users mentioned using informal methods, such as memo notes, text messages or spreadsheets to keep track of loans which are inconvenient to keep tracking and making any updates.
Users highlighted challenges, such as forgetting repayment deadlines, hard to track different loans, and occasional misunderstandings.
Most users revealed the needs of transparency and organization in loan management, expressing a desire for a centralized system to track repayments.
Commonly requested features included repayment reminders, loan history and balances tracking, as well as a simple, intuitive interface.
Create an application that aims to simplify the process of lending and borrowing money among the close people, such as friends and family members, fostering transparency and trust in personal financial transactions.
With the user-friendly interface and useful features, the app empowers users to maintain the loans with ease and confidence, strengthening relationships while avoiding misunderstandings and conflicts related to money matters.
Based on users' feedback and needs, the application should include:
Users can easily create a record and tracking for loans. Each loan entry includes details such as the amount of borrow/lend, repayment timeline, the type of loan and any associated notes & files.
This applies to both borrowers and lenders to ensure timely repayment. Users can customize reminder settings based on repayments schedules and preferences.
The app maintains a history of all loans, including repayment dates or amounts paid. Users can easily refer back to past transactions for reference.
Ability to create the category of people (Ex. family members, friends, colleagues, and coworkers) to efferently organize the repayment among the group of individuals.
I put comprehensive insights into three user flows within the capabilities of loan tracking app.
Loan Creation: The process for initiating a new loan, including entering loan details, review, and invitation.
Loan Receiver and Making a payment: This flow shows how users will navigate through the steps of receiving a loan invitation, reviewing its details, and making repayments, ensuring clarity and ease of transaction.
Closing Loan: Lastly, this flow involved in requesting and processing the closure of a loan, from initiation to final confirmation.
By following these user flows, I gain a deeper understanding of how users will navigate and use application's functionalities effectively, empowering them to manage loans seamlessly.
Drafting screen designs by pencil before digital wireframing ensured that selected elements effectively tackled user pain points and captured key ideas for desired functionalities.
I translated the selected sketches into the low-fidelity wireframes and then created low-fidelity prototypes. Focused on three key user flows: creating new loan, receiving loan and making a payment, and closing unwanted loan.
I conducted two rounds of usability studies with 8 users. Insights from the initial study helped refine the early user needs within the app. The second study utilized a high-fidelity prototype to pinpoint areas in the mockups that still needed the improvement.
Following the usability test, one significant change is that users can now view a loan summary provided when inputting loan details for a new loan. This addition enhances user experience by providing crucial information upfront during the loan creation process.
Additionally, I introduced a new tab labeled "Activity" for loan history. This allows users to access all significant changes made for the loan, enhancing transparency and providing a comprehensive view of the loan's evolution over time.
Users felt it too crowded when inputting loan details. To address this, I added a toggle for users to optionally attach files like images and contracts, enhancing flexibility in the loan creation process.
Also, to ease overwhelming feelings from lengthy details spanning two screens, I simplified each loan detail title into a tab selection. This allows users to focus on one aspect at a time, enhancing navigation efficiency.
I created design system for consistency, using simple and modern styles. I selected Poppins font for enhanced readability and maintained layouts with a 4-column, 16px grid. Plus, components were configured with auto layout to ensure scalability across different screen sizes.
Ready to start a loan? Now all design elements integrated, let's get started!
Users can kickstart their journey toward loan management by signing in or creating an account, providing them with the app to effectively track and manage all their loans.
Users can easily add new loan by clicking on a banner button on the home screen or navigating to the loan page, where all loan-related information is stored. Then, users proceed to customize their loan details such as loan type (borrowed or lent), people group, purpose, amount, and more. And specially, we provide automated contract generation for users!
Users have the option to share and invite their loan partners to use the app, enabling them to jointly track the loan progress.
Following the loan adding process, users will find all loan information stored on loan pages, categorized by the group of people. Thanks to the tab menu on the loan details page, users can easily access specific loan information as needed.
Ready to pay the loan? Simply proceed to the "Make a payment" button on the loan details page. Users can easily process repayments, which require confirmation from the loan partner
No longer need the loan? No worries! Click on the "Close Loan" button situated below the loan details page. The closure request will then be sent to the loan partner for confirmation.
Receive notifications for loan activities and reminders related to loan events. Access app settings to customize currency preferences, view app information, and manage accounts.
