MetLife + Upwise: Demystifying & transforming spending habits
Upwise was started by MetLife as a way for their customers to become more financially literate and better understand long-term money habits. We came into an already established design system, but had room to expand it.
*A more detailed case study can be shown in person.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Lead
ROLE
2 leads
3 seniors
1 midweight
DESIGN TEAM
6 months
TIMING
Upwise - MetLife's money management app - had already been established when our team began working on it. However, we took this as a chance to step back and approach it with a new view. We collaborated closely as a team to review ways of working, business objectives and white space opportunities.
Improving an existing experience
Upwise was designed to empower users with greater confidence in their long-term financial and saving habits. The product also encouraged the development of healthy money behaviors through features like gamification and habit-building techniques.
While our team collaborated across the full Upwise experience, we divided focus areas to deepen ownership. I led the work on the Savings journey, Money for Couples, and helped lead the overall strategic direction.
Identifying key areas for improvment
We began by using low-fidelity wireframes and sketches to explore initial directions and gain early, frequent client buy-in. During this phase, we developed a custom Figma kit tailored to this rougher, more "sketch-like" style of concepting. We saw how the client and our internal team positively responded to using this kit, and used their feedback to continue developing it. This tool ended up evolving beyond Upwise; currently, it has over 60k users on Figma Community.
Married participant, 43 M
"I don't know how to talk about money with my wife…she spends a lot but I don't want to make her feel bad about it."
Empowering couples to build money habits as one
One of the concepts we developed was aimed at couples looking to improve how they understand finances as a unit. We did several rounds of interviews, giving participants prototypes to test and co-creation activities - these activities allowed us to better understand what the "hot topics" are when it comes to discussing this often avoided and problematic topic.
We developed a gamified, discussion-focused flow within Upwise; it provided couples with questions and prompts, as many mentioned that they don't know how to begin conversations centered around spending.
Challenges that build long-term habits
Upwise embraces gamification and challenges to help users better measure their progress and understanding of financial health. Another concentration was figuring out how best to bring that aspect of meeting goals into the experience.
