Kevin Ulloa
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Learn & Earn

 

Take fun courses. Invest in stocks.

Project overview:

Learn & Earn is a finance app for young investors who want to learn about finances and real-world topics. Meanwhile, they can make money along the way by completing educational courses and invest into stocks and ETF’s to diversify their portfolio. The goal was to bring this from concept to reality.

My role:

I strategized with business and our product team to create the MVP. This involved research and product strategy as this was the inception of a new app. I was involved in every end-to-end experience as we continued iterating on product solutions. As we began to scale the company in growth, I led the design direction for product, design systems and marketing. Below are samples of what we created.

 

Role:
Head of Design
(previously Sr. Product Designer)

Project duration:
Feb 2020 - Jul 2021

Credits:
VP of Design: Andrew Gauer
Visual Designer: Jordyn Wong

 
 

origination

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origination 〰️

 

Problem:

As teens become adults, they lack financial knowledge and don’t invest money early on.

Solution:

Build a finance app intended for young investors where they can earn money by completing courses and invest into stocks.

 

Building a persona

I put together a persona that represents our target audience. The key here is solving their wants and needs.

 

Research

Market & Competitive analysis

We surveyed students and educators nationwide to get a sense of what type of content they would like to see. This helped us validate certain experiences. In addition, I put together competitor apps to see what already exists today.

User flow

During the initial stages, I would collaborate with product team and put together a map of different user behaviors that would impact the flow.

 
 

core experience

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core experience 〰️

 

Completing a course

As soon as the user finishes onboarding, they can start learning from a multitude of courses like tech, finance, health and science. This can be accessed from the home screen. Users can earn cash or points upon completing courses. I tailored the categorization and built a simplified education experience for people looking for bite-sized content.

 
 
 

Video - Complete a course

Displayed here is how the user can navigate through the variety of courses which are categorized through topics and tags for easy navigation.

 
 

Adding a stock

Investing into stocks is the most engaging part of the app experience. This builds a long-term relationship for the user. Displayed here is how the users can add or remove stocks. We made sure that beginning investors didn’t get overwhelmed using our investment platform.

 
 
 

Video - Adding a stock

We built this with the intent for young investors. There’s a limit of 10 stocks the user can add so that the rest of their money is allocated into ETF’s. I organized the stocks in a similar behavior to how courses are presented.

 
 
 
 

additional flows

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additional flows 〰️

 

Initial sign up

During onboarding, an investment account is required for people to use the app. Alternatively, a user could be a custodian supporting a student.

 
 

Depositing funds

Users can add their own funds into their investment account. This encourages more serious users to stay for the long-term.

 
 

Donating to a minor

For users who are under 18, there may be scenarios where they are limited on funds. Outside of their custodian, it would be useful for them to receive funds externally. The user can invite a link to their friend or family member and they can pay directly.

 
 
 
 

marketing presence

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marketing presence 〰️

 

Website

Here’s the website I designed once the app had officially become live. Check it out here: LearnAndEarn.com

 
 

Email campaigns & Social media

 
 

App store

 
 
 
 

reflections

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reflections 〰️

 

Key takeaways

Results:

Our users achieved a 92% course completion rate. We were able to find that 84% of users add 5-10 stocks which was pivotal with retention metrics. And lastly, our company reached a Series A fund raise.

In conclusion:

I was able to execute building the app methodically and efficiently. There were challenges that I overcame like: understanding of investment account creation, strategizing of our roadmap, leading a team, applying accessibility practices and building/scaling design systems.

My favorite part of the process:

I truly enjoyed leading design principles and scaling a design team. Also, I was happy to see how design thinking reflected many business/product decisions.