Rethinking personal finance for international students in the US with Grapes.
Overview
Grapes addresses the challenges faced by international students
in accessing financial services
upon arriving the United States. It simplifies
identity verification process, and provides community-based savings features, and offer educational resources to improve financial literacy among its users.
Role
As the Product designer for this project I majored primarily on the empathy and prototyping stages focusing on understanding the users and crafting high-fidelity prototypes to align with the persona.
I also collaborated with an amazing designer. The project lasted for two months.
Process
This project followed the Double Diamond framework, ensuring a clear progression from problem exploration to the solution delivery. Each phase was used to align design decisions with user needs and business goals. A final reflection phase was included to assess the effectiveness of the solution and extract key insights for future improvement.
The Problem
Navigating the financial restrictions for non-immigrant students living in the United States
It takes an average of 30 days for international students in the U.S. to sign up for some fintech apps and traditional banking services due to the lack of required documents, such as a Social Security Number (SSN). This issue prevents them from accessing essential financial services and managing their finances efficiently during their transition to the US.
Before diving into design, it was crucial to understand what the business was aiming to achieve. Clarifying the goals helped ensure that every design decision would support measurable outcomes and contribute to Maildrip’s broader product vision. This alignment laid the foundation for a more focused and impactful design process.
Before diving into design, it was crucial to understand what the business was aiming to achieve. Clarifying the goals helped ensure that every design decision would support measurable outcomes and contribute to Maildrip’s broader product vision. This alignment laid the foundation for a more focused and impactful design process.
Before diving into design, it was crucial to understand what the business was aiming to achieve. Clarifying the goals helped ensure that every design decision would support measurable outcomes and contribute to Maildrip’s broader product vision. This alignment laid the foundation for a more focused and impactful design process.
Before diving into design, it was crucial to understand what the business was aiming to achieve. Clarifying the goals helped ensure that every design decision would support measurable outcomes and contribute to Maildrip’s broader product vision. This alignment laid the foundation for a more focused and impactful design process.