Challenge Summary
Welcome to another LUX Challenge! The "LUX - 36HR Financial Education Mobile Design Challenge!". This the seventh in a series of "Live User Experience Design Challenges" we are running! We are very excited to provide this new design opportunity to TopCoder design studio community to showcase your FAST!! design skills!
LUX challenges provide you with an opportunity to show digital leaders from some of the largest brands in the world just how good your UX design skills are. LUX challenges are fast, fun, and have more chances for you to capture prize money.
We want to showcase how easy it is to engage the TopCoder Design Studio community and demonstrate how well you can take ideas and turn them into great design and user experience concepts!
Cash in on this great opportunity to prove your design skills! Best of luck to you all!
Challenge Details
The main goal of this challenge is to take the provided mobile design problem and design a simple, clean mobile user experience (UX)! We are looking for you to also think about this and what ideas/concepts do you think might be interesting to our audience?
Challenge Timeline and Rolling Checkpoint:
The challenge will start LIVE at the Barclays innovation event!
- Challenge Start at 06:00 PM EDT 10/5/14
- Challenge End at 06:00 AM EDT 10/7/14
Rolling Checkpoint Review ($50)
- Adam Morehead (adroc) will provide a design review if you submit your initial designs by 5PM EDT 10/6/14
- Within the hour we will provide any design feedback/guidance - You must watch the forum for your feedback!
- All qualifying checkpoint submissions will win $50
Challenge Resources
For this challenge we are providing a simple wireframe and design guidance for you!
REMEMBER: DO NOT COPY the wireframes exactly
- The wireframes are meant to help guide you and let you understand the application the audience would like to see designed. Think about the user experience/user interactions and show us your solutions! You can do something different or whatever you think make sense of this mobile application.
Files (available in attachment section)
- LUX7-wireframes.zip = Wireframes and Application inspiration
- LUX7-Inputs.zip = Winning questions and answers
Design Problem
Mobile Application = Financial Education Application for kids (Age Group 9+)
Application Name(s) = Think of a simple name that child might like. Some thoughts: “MyMent”, “PiggyBank”, “MyMonies”, etc.
Concept Description:
We want o create a safe environment where children and teenagers can learn about earning, saving and spending by doing it for real themselves. For this challenge we are asking you do design a mobile experience for a new “financial education application for kids” that would help educate children on how to manage and care for their money. Imagine an iPhone application that a parent could download for their children that would help them learn about money early but also save toward specific goals and visualize saving money in fun ways.
Virtual Wallet/Bank: The basic features of the application would allow a kid to use the application like a virtual wallet/bank. They would want to see “how much” they have and who has contributed to their saving and what happens when they add more money. Imagine adding in specific amounts and the ability to achieve awards for saving towards certain goals.
Goals: Imagine a kid being able to “save for” something specific - these are kids so learning how to save money towards a goal is important. The idea of short term goals (a new bike, new doll, plane ticket to Disneyworld!) and long-term goals (car, college!) Using some game features that visualize a user’s progress towards saving for their goal would be great to see.
Lessons: Age-appropriate money lessons - young kids need to learn the difference between various coins (Penny), how to add them up to an Euro or Poundsterling (or different types of currencies). Money lessons could be game based. Showcasing a few lessons would be neat and that can of course lead to achievements/badges the kid can earn as they learn about money. The achievements could be a deposit match from parents/relative or coupons to toy retailers, etc.
Awards: Birthday rewards and wish lists - If you are saving for a particular toy, relatives can chip in wirelessly through mobile contributions or you can use the 'scan a check' feature and the check funds automatically go to the 'save for' feature.
The biggest thing is saving towards a goal and having it be a fun and engaging experience.
At the event we asked the audience to answer some simple questions to help have some fun with the is application. The results of the answers are listed below:
Logo Inspiration - "Lego Blocks"
- Use legos to inspire your logo design
- Think about the shapes and what is fun about logos
Color Palette - "Lara Croft Tomb Raider"
- Use Lara Croft to inspire your color palette
Design Stype and Inspiration: "Flintstones"
- This application should have a "childrens" classic retro feel to it.
Mobile Application Target Audience:
- The target audience is Kids (Age Group 9+)!
- Have some fun with this.
Mobile Storyboards - Portrait View
- Design screens for iPhone 5 portrait display (640 x 1136)
- Assume this is native iOS application
- We only need 6 screens plus the presentation screen - so pick/design what you think will "showcase" this application. You can create alternative screens to the one's listed.
- In these LUX challenge the “concepts” you propose really helps the presentation
Suggested Screens:
00) Application Logo
- Create a simple logo for your application (based on legos)
- Something simple and clean that doesn't distract from your screen designs
1) Welcome Page
- Design a logo for this application and an engaging opening landing/loading page for for your application concept
- User landing page/dashboard
- This application would be native iOS
- The application would have a login feature because it would need extra security features (as we are talking about money!)
2) Navigation Solution
- Please design a navigation solution that would be easy/engaging for a kid!
Users should be able to:
- See their wallet/bank
- Add and Review goals
- See their achievements
- Play games
- Take a photo? (of money? match or discover money?)
- Modify their settings
- Parental controls
- Don't forget things like profile, home etc
3) Dashboard
What makes sense to be on the dashboard? (keep it simple)
- Visualize your wallet?
- See your goals/charts and time to achieve
- To Do list?
- What would be engaging when you first open this application
- Alert that money has been deposited into your account (from Grandma!)
- Spending rules
- Can the camera be used for anything cool?
- Links to games
4) Settings:
Some ideas:
- A parent would be able to set up an online account/connect the application to a bank?
- A parent would be able to set up new goals for their kids?
- A parent would be able to set up spending rules?
- Normal account and profile settings
- Password settings/reset
- Anything else?
5 & 6) Goal/Achievements:
This is a key page (might be multiple pages)
- Think of how gamification can be use here
- A kid can have short-term and long-term goals
- Chart of progress
- Rewards/Medals that could be achieved?
- Goal achievements or rewards can be tied to household chores? (Calendar with weekly tasks and things to do?)
7) Unique Feature:
Think of something unique to this application
- Does the camera allow the child to take pictures of money, coins and discover new types of money (ex. Poundsterling, Dollar, Euro, etc)
- Messaging? Does it make sense in this app?
- Social? This might be something a parent would need to turn on and regulate.
- Games? Any ideas for cool learning games or something that would show different types of games
- Anything else come to mind? Ask your kid! :)
8) Presentation Screen:
- Create a presentation screen of your mobile application!
- See the examples from the previous LUX challenges (check presentation_screen_sample.zip attached)
- Place your designs within an iPhone template! Showcase your submission
- This will be shown to the conference attendee's
- Make sure your presentation screen is included in your submission files
- Presentation screen size should be 1024 x 768 px (4:3 Ratio)
Design Considerations
- Focus on the design being a great mobile experience - the application should be designed for iPhone
- DO NOT copy the wireframes (if you do.. everyone's designs will look the same!) focus on creating your unique approach to this project and the user experience
- Give importance to the overall layout and think on how a user would interact with the content on the page.
Audience
- Challenge Audience: Think about how you would present your design - its key to showcasing your ideas
Judging Criteria
- How well you design the mobile application concept!
- Cleanliness of your graphics and design.
- Design and User Experience.
Submission & Source Files
Preview Image
Create your preview image as one (1) 1024x1024 JPG or PNG file in RGB color mode at 72dpi and place a screenshot of your submission within it.
Submission File
Please upload PNG images in a zip file with all requested contest requirements stated above. Number your files (01, 02, 03, etc) this will help review them in order.
Source Files
All original source files of the submitted design. Files should be created in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and saved as layered PSD/AI files.
Final Fixes
We most likely will not have Final Fixes - Have fun!!
Please read the challenge specification carefully and watch the forums for any questions or feedback concerning this challenge. It is important that you monitor any updates provided by the client or Studio Admins in the forums. Please post any questions you might have for the client in the forums.