Project Overview

We identified a challenge within the realm of couples' financial management, a common source of strain that has been linked to many divorces.

Extensive secondary research revealed the psychological burden this issue places on couples. To gain deeper insights, we conducted primary research through Zoom interviews.

Our focus is on young couples in the early stages of their professional lives, typically aged between 25 and 35, who face financial complexities and are on the path to determining the best financial strategy for them.

While the app's features are accessible to couples of all ages, we have yet to incorporate features tailored to more intricate family dynamics, such as individuals with second families, each with their own assets and debts.

Understanding the user

We crafted user personas to represent our target audience and constructed narratives around their experiences and journeys. Through aggregated empathy maps, we gained a comprehensive understanding of our users' emotional responses in various scenarios. This process allowed us to pinpoint key pain points: couples struggle with deciding how to manage their finances, as shared accounts compromise privacy, and individual financial arrangements are cumbersome to manage. Moreover, most financial strategies lack transparency, leading to one partner feeling excluded from important financial decisions.

Failure to resolve money-related conflicts often stems from differing opinions on short and long-term financial goals, inadequate communication skills, and a lack of a solid financial strategy.

Defining the problem

Our objective is to create a tool tailored to the needs of young couples, minimizing friction in managing their collective finances.

To address these issues, we needed to design effective solutions, so we conducted a market analysis to examine how existing tools were tackling these challenges. You can access our comprehensive competitive analysis here. Among the apps we reviewed, none seemed to offer a comprehensive solution capable of addressing all these concerns, providing a one-stop financial strategy platform for couples. For instance, HoneyDue primarily focuses on bill splitting, with transparency being a standout feature based on user reviews and feedback. Meanwhile, Mint emphasizes goals and savings, with users expressing that the app guides them through the process.

Ideating a solution

We envisioned a 24/7 financial consultant who possesses a deep understanding of your financial goals and habits, impartially guiding your financial decisions.

Key Designed Features:

1. Automated Income Allocation: Pairwise automatically allocates your income into customizable categories every month, allowing adjustments as your financial goals and needs evolve.
2. Privacy and Transparency: Pairwise strikes a balance between personal budgeting and transparency, ensuring your financial information is accessible to your partner while maintaining individual privacy. Notifications and recent activities provide clear insights.
3. Financial Goal Achievement: Pairwise facilitates collaborative saving and investing, featuring a cash sweep account in your savings to make your money work for you.
4. Accurate Reports and Recommendations: Our app offers precise reports and suggestions to help you navigate financial challenges with minimal stress and conflict within your relationship.

Site maps, task flows and wireframes were done in this stage to test the idea as we went along the process.

Prototype, Test and Refine

Throughout the process we tested our prototypes meticulously and changed the app UI and UX many times based on user and advisor feedback.

We believe that Pairwise is poised to revolutionize the way couples manage their finances, offering a holistic and user-centric approach to alleviate the challenges faced by young couples in their financial journey.

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