Winter 2025
PiggyPoints
Project Overview
Role
UX/ UI Designer
Duration
24-hour
Tool
View Prototype
The Problem
Many Gen Z users struggle to understand and manage their credit, which directly affects their financial confidence and long-term opportunities. Without access to clear, trustworthy information, young people often feel overwhelmed, disengaged, or distrustful of the tools and institutions meant to support them.
Credit scores are essential for major life decisions—such as renting an apartment, buying a car, or applying for a loan—yet the systems behind them are often perceived as confusing and opaque. A 2022 survey found that 32% of Gen Z respondents didn’t know their credit score, and 53% felt they lacked sufficient information about how credit scores are calculated (Experian, 2022). Additionally, only 47% of Gen Z trust their banks to be ethical, compared to 60% of older generations.
Key challenges include:
Lack of transparency around how credit scores work and what actions impact them
Digital tools often feel impersonal or overly complex, failing to build trust with Gen Z users
The Solution
Our solution is a redesigned credit score app tailored to Gen Z, focused on building trust and financial confidence. It simplifies complex credit concepts through visual explanations, personalized tips, and transparent progress tracking. The goal is to empower young users to understand and improve their credit without feeling overwhelmed or confused.
User Interviews
Given the time constraints of the 24-hour hackathon, we conducted a quick survey with 20 Gen Z participants using yes-or-no and multiple-choice questions about credit scores. Despite the limited scope, the responses revealed key themes around financial literacy, low trust in banks, and confusion about how credit scores work—insights that helped shape our design direction.
Here are some main ideas found amongst our interviewees:
Competitive Analysis
To better understand the current landscape of credit score tools, I conducted a competitive analysis of existing credit score apps. This helped identify common strengths, gaps, and user experience issues—particularly around education, transparency, and personalization. By analyzing these platforms, I was able to pinpoint opportunities to design a solution that better aligns with Gen Z’s values and needs.
An access to all your medical records. 📝
Patients can easily view and save their most recent lab results using this app. This simplifies the process for patients, eliminating frustration with difficult-to-navigate websites when trying to access their results.
Final Design
After conducting one round of usability testing and iterations, this is the final product.
An access to all your medical records. 📝
Patients can easily view and save their most recent lab results using this app. This simplifies the process for patients, eliminating frustration with difficult-to-navigate websites when trying to access their results.
Easy-to-read results. 📊
The app simplifies technical terms into easy-to-understand information, helping patients grasp results without confusion from complicated numbers and unfamiliar words. Patients can also track their progress visually to see how their health has changed over time.
Personalized tips and next steps on managing your health. 💡
Patients can get personalized tips on how to maintain or improve their health before their next lab test.
Reflection
This was my second time participating in a hackathon, and it really challenged me to think on my feet and work efficiently under pressure. With only 24 hours, we had to be smart about where we focused our time. Instead of trying to do full user interviews, we leaned on quick surveys and secondary research to guide our decisions. One of the hardest parts was figuring out how to create something that felt innovative and meaningful without simply recreating a typical credit score app. We also had to make tough calls about which features to prioritize, knowing we couldn’t build everything in the time we had. It pushed us to stay focused on our core goal and think about what Gen Z actually needs and how we could build trust in a space that often feels confusing. Overall, I gained a lot from this experience, and was able to meet and connect with many talented designers along the way!