Show people where their money actually goes
*Project 1*
Research into how customers track spending, budget and split bills and a proposed direction for a clearer, more personal Lloyds digital banking experience.
My role
UX Researcher & Junior UX Designer
Time line
2 weeks
Tools used
Figma
The problem
Customers now expect more than transactions from a banking app budgeting tools, spending insight and easy ways to manage shared expenses. Research surfaced four recurring gaps.
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Limited spending breakdowns
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Lack of personalised budgeting support
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Difficulty tracking spending habits
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Limited financial visualisation tools
Competitor Research
Three competitor features, each solving a piece of the same problem differently.
NovaBank - SpendTrack
*Automatically categorises expenses and builds monthly spending reports.*
Key features
Real-time spending alerts
Custom spending categories
External account integration
UX findings
Clean, simple interface
Strong visual hierarchy
Users value real-time visibility and personalised insight.
FinEdge - ShareEasy
*Splits expenses with friends and family directly in-app.*
Key features
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Automated reminders
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Flexible payment splitting
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Secure transactions
UX findings
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Fast, intuitive flow
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Minimal steps to complete
Convenience and simplicity win for shared finances.
SecureFunds - MoneyMate
An all-in-one budgeting, spending and insight tool.
Key features
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Budgeting advice
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Overspending alerts
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Data visualisation tools
UX findings
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Comprehensive dashboard
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Slightly complex navigation
Detail helps, but too much can overwhelm.
Research findings
- Usage data and customer feedback shaped which features made the cut.
- 150 avg. transactions per user, monthly
- Groceries are the top spending category
- Evenings peak usage window
- Weekends secondary peak
What's working
Customers like the clean interface
The app is easy to navigate
Where it falls short
Spending breakdowns aren't detailed enough
Budgeting support feels thin
Financial tracking tools are limited
Design solution
Three screens carry the proposal: a spending dashboard that answers "where did it go," a budget tracker that flags trouble early, and a bill split that fixes what ShareEasy got right.
Dashboard: Category breakdown replaces a single running total.
Budget: goals. Status is spelled out in words, not just bar colour.
Shared payments: Borrows ShareEasy's fast flow, built for Lloyds.
Users want advanced financial tools, but only if they stay intuitive.
Reflection & next steps
This project strengthened my UX research and analytical thinking, and showed how competitor research and customer insight can directly shape product decisions. If I continued it, I'd run usability testing and build interactive prototypes to validate the direction.
Know it's there
before you go there
*Project 2*
StoreStock lets Sephora customers check nearby stock, reserve for collection and skip the wasted trip built for anyone who wants to test a shade in person but can't afford to gamble the journey.
Problem Statement
Many customers prefer buying beauty products in store, especially when testing shades, fragrances or skincare before committing. The app can't currently tell them whether an item is actually on the shelf nearby so the trip itself is a gamble.
Project type
Self-initiated UX design case study
Role
UX Researcher & UX Designer
Duration
2 weeks
Tools
Figma, Canva
Wasted journeys
Customers travel to a store only to find the product isn't there, with no warning beforehand.
No stock visibility
The product page shows online availability, but nothing about the shelf at a customer's nearest store.
Accessibility barriers
Customers with limited mobility, busy schedules or a reliance on public transport can least afford a trip that doesn't pay off.
Research
Working from experience with beauty retail plus a review of how other retailers solve the same problem.
From experience
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Customers want reassurance that a product is actually available before travelling
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Convenience and efficiency matter more than a wide selection they can't verify
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Accessibility needs to account for people who can't easily visit multiple stores to check
Competitor analysis
Boots * Zara * Apple
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Check local stock levels before visiting
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Reserve a product ahead of time
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See estimated restock dates for sold-out items
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Filter nearby stores by distance
Meet the user
A primary persona kept the feature grounded in a specific set of goals and frustrations rather than a general audience.
Mapping the journey
Laying the current experience next to the improved one made it clear exactly where the trip breaks down and where a single screen could fix it.
*Current experience*
Design solution - StoreStockStore
Stock lets a customer check stock at nearby stores directly from the product page, using the Rhode Glazing Milk as a working example: the 50ml is in stock, the 124ml isn't — shown with colour plus a label, never colour alone.
Product page: Stock status sits next to each variant, not behind a tap.
Nearby stores: Sorted by distance, each stop labelled with stock level, not just a colour.
Reserve for collection: Confirms exactly what's held, where, and for how long.
Benefits
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Reduces unnecessary travel
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Improves accessibility for customers with disabilities or limited mobility
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Creates a smoother shopping experience
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Encourages more in-store purchases
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Builds customer trust and satisfaction
Small features can significantly improve convenience and customer trust follows from them.
Reflection & next steps
This project strengthened my understanding of accessibility, customer pain points and user-centred design. If I continued it, I'd run usability testing with real Sephora customers and build an interactive prototype to validate these decisions.
Getting there shouldn't require a leap of faith
*Project 3 *
A journey planner that tells wheelchair users, parents with buggies and anyone travelling with a bad knee exactly which parts of a route work — before they've left the house.
Role
Product design, IA
Scope
Planner, station detail, live status
Format
Mobile app
The problem
Most journey planners answer "how do I get there" but stay silent on "can I actually get there." A route with a broken lift or a step at the platform isn't a footnote — for a wheelchair user it's the difference between arriving and turning back.
Accessibility info is scattered
Step-free status, lift outages and entrance details usually live on separate pages, if they exist at all.
Disruptions arrive too late
A lift going down mid-journey often reaches riders after they've already committed to the route.
"Accessible" is treated as binary
Real journeys have degrees one step, a steep ramp, a working lift at one end only. Planners rarely show the nuance.
Structuring the information
The IA puts accessibility on equal footing with the route itself, not buried in a settings menu. A step-free filter narrows results at the planning stage; a station page answers "can I trust this stop" on its own.
Key screens
Three moments carry the concept: planning with confidence, checking a station before you rely on it, and being told about problems in language that's actually useful.
Journey planner: The filter sits beside the route fields, not inside a menu — try the toggle
Station detail: Colour never carries status alone every dot is paired with a plain-language word.
Disruption alert: States what's wrong and what to do next no jargon, no dead end.
Why this project
Accessibility as structure
Step-free status shapes the IA itself rather than sitting in a settings toggle it's a first-class filter and a first-class page.
A real, specific problem
Grounded in an everyday failure mode a lift outage discovered mid-journey rather than an abstract accessibility checklist.
Information architecture
Three flows (plan, check a station, respond to disruption) share one consistent pattern for showing accessibility status.