SpendSense is an expense-awareness mobile application concept that transforms everyday transaction data into clear, contextual, and easy-to-understand spending insights. By organizing expenses into meaningful categories, highlighting changes over time, and connecting insights to supporting transactions, the app helps users identify spending patterns and understand what influences their expenses. Instead of imposing strict budgets or making users feel guilty about spending, SpendSense encourages awareness and reflection, empowering them to make more informed everyday financial decisions.

🌿 UX Process

Understanding the Problem

The Current Experience
Everyday purchases → Transaction records → Fragmented view → Difficulty interpreting patterns

Research and Key Findings

Key Findings

• Small purchases may be overlooked.

• Transactions lack meaningful context.

• Manual tracking creates friction.

• Insights need supporting evidence.

From research to Product Direction

Key Themes

• Awareness over action.

• Context over complexity.

• Evidence over assumption.

• Gentle, judgement-free experience.

Product Strategy

Help users move from transaction visibility to spending awareness through a calm, insight-led experience.

HMW Questions

Information Architecture

Primary User Flow

Key System Behavior

• Explain comparison period and baseline

• Show source transactions and allow category

• Handle missing, delayed or innocent data

Edge Cases

• Insufficient history

• Uncategorized transactions

• Comparison not available

• Account sync issues

Wireframes → UI Evolution

Final Design Solution

Turning everyday transactions into meaningful spending awareness

Spendsense helps users move beyond tracking transactions to understanding their everyday spending patterns through a clear, insight-led mobile experience focused on transparency, clarity, and user control.

The experience follows three key stages: Notice, Understand, and Reflect.

01. Notice — A clear spending overview

A simplified dashboard highlights spending over a selected period, helping users quickly recognize changes and patterns without information overload.

02. Understand — Insights backed by evidence

Category breakdowns, period comparisons, and supporting transactions help users understand what drives changes in their spending.

03. Reflect — Awareness without judgment

Gentle, non-judgmental prompts encourage users to recognize spending habits and make informed decisions without restrictive budgets.

04. Stay in control — Transparent data

Flexible data-entry options and editable transaction categories help users maintain control while understanding data limitations.

The design outcome

SpendSense transforms transaction data into meaningful spending awareness, helping users understand their financial behavior with greater clarity and confidence—without making money management overwhelming.

AI as a Design Accelerator

Used for research synthesis, UX copy ideas, edge cases and organization - not as a source of truth. Design judgement ensures accuracy, clarity & user control. Three safeguards are traceability, transparency and user control.

How this transfers to enterprise AI UX

The same design skills apply to enterprise search, AI-generated insights & complex workflows.

• Organizing & structuring information.

• Making complex data understandable.

• Building trust through evidence & explanation.

• Designing clear workflow & system behavior.

Key learning

SpendSense taught me that effective UX is not just about displaying data, but making it meaningful and actionable. I learned to prioritize clarity over complexity, build trust through transparent insights, use empathetic language, and design for real-world data limitations. Most importantly, I realized that helping users understand their behaviour is the first step toward better financial awareness.