Case studyFinancial Finesse2026Design and prototype, solo

A muse for your money.

The Financial Finesse B2C App is a money app where Aimee, our AI coach, learns how you think about money, gets the next move ready, and waits for your yes. I designed and built the whole prototype, and I'm shaping the agent with our AI engineers.

Solo
Product design, UX, and the prototype in code
4 days
To build this version, Oct 19 – 22, 2026
376
Automated tests, AA contrast in both themes
6
Money types, each one a strength
Aimee's chat: she notes Dana has paid $610 off her Visa in six weeks and offers a card to send $310 more, showing the balance now and after, with Send and Not now buttons and the line Nothing moves without your OK
The Today screen: Morning, Dana over a painted mountain with a flag, and a next-step card reading You're 5 paydays to debt free with a Send $310 to Visa button, then Today's question with a 12-day streak
The You page: This is you, Dana, above a coral money-type card for The Giver, with three stats about money spent on people she loves
01 · At a glance

Built from years of real coaching conversations

I studied years of conversations between our coaches and the people they help, then built the app around what those people want and do every day.

The problem

Money apps hand you charts and a list of goals. You still have to work out what to do today.

The bet

A coach that knows you, prepares the move, and asks for one tap. Closer to a financial therapist than an advisor.

My role

Personas, product design, the full prototype in code, and Aimee's conversation design, with our AI engineers on the agent.

Research

Personas drawn from years of coach and member interactions

Built with

React · TypeScript · Motion · a Cloudflare Worker · Claude for live Aimee, with scripted fallbacks · built with Claude Code

Status

Clickable prototype for leadership, October 2026

02 · The brief I wrote

Two rules for every screen

Lots of apps already set goals. I made the bet on knowing the person, and on making the next move obvious.

"This knows me."

The first headline on Today is always about you: your money type, your goals, your week. Never about the app.

"I know what's next."

One next step a day, and it always moves a goal. Every card is a tap that gets something done or opens Aimee.

03 · Onboarding

Four questions and your accounts, and it knows you

You connect your accounts and answer four questions about people and paydays, not percentages. Then the app names your money type.

Onboarding: All connected, Found seven accounts, listing checking, savings, a 401(k), a Roth IRA, a Visa, a home and a home loan, with cash and invested totals
The whole picture firstSeven accounts found, with a way to add the ones Plaid can't reach.
A money-type question: A friend is short on rent this month. You... with four answers and a field to say it your own way
Questions about your lifePick an answer or say it in your own words.
The reveal on a dark screen: You're a Giver, with your strength, Generous and loyal, and what to watch for, Saying yes to everyone then running short
A type that reads as a strengthSix types. A hard month never lands as a verdict.
04 · Every day

One next step, and a reason to come back

Today leads with you, then the step: "You're 5 paydays to debt free." A daily question teaches one money idea at a time.

Today's question: a painted board-game icon, One guess about your money, then what it means for you, and a Play button with a 12-day streak
Today's questionBuilt from your own data, with a streak that forgives one missed day a week.
Goals: Six goals. Together, they're the life you're building, shown as pins on one painted landscape, Debt free and I want us to be okay
One worldSix goals on a single painted map. Tap a pin and the camera flies in.
The START check: How each area is doing, with rows for each letter marked A few things or Focus here
The START checkFive areas of your money life, each one good for now, a few things, or focus here.
05 · The muse pattern

Aimee does the work. You make the call.

Aimee spots the move, prepares it, and shows you before and after. Nothing moves without your OK, and she logs every action.

The lock screen at 8:02 with a note from Aimee: your car insurance renews Nov 2, I found the same coverage for $18 a month less, $216 a year for Italy
She finds youA notice only when it's worth your attention, tied to a goal.
Aimee's chat with three upcoming items, a coach session, Friday dinner, and the insurance renewal, then a Switch to Harbor Auto card with Switch and Not now
She gets it readyThree things on deck. Only one needs you.
An approval card: Switch to Harbor Auto, now $142, after $124 a month, saves $216 a year, with Switch and Not now and the line Nothing moves without your OK
You say yesNow and after, what it saves, one tap.

When the company connects

Aimee makes the switch for you.

When it doesn't

She gives you the steps and an "I did it" button, and can draft a note asking them to connect.

06 · Insight

It matches how you felt to what you spent

Each day asks how you feel about your purchases. Aimee lines those check-ins up with your spending and shows you the pattern.

How money feels: 30 days of colored check-in dots, then What Aimee found: uncertain or stressed on four of the five mornings after a late-night delivery order, with a plan to fix it
The patternStressed on four of five mornings after a late-night delivery order.
Your week as a story on navy: You paid yourself first, again. Three months running. That is Investor behavior, and it is becoming a habit.
Your week as a storyWins named in the language of the type you're growing into.
Money insights: You spent less than September and felt better about it, three scores for alignment, calm and momentum, and habits you're building with progress bars
Scores and habitsThree scores and the habits behind them, month over month.
07 · Hard days

A different voice for hard news, and a real coach a tap away

Aimee sounds excited about a boat and gentle about a separation. When you want a person, Anita, a CFP® coach, joins the chat with Aimee's notes.

Aimee after hard news: I'm so sorry, Dana. You don't have to carry this alone, and you don't have to decide anything today. How are you feeling right now? with Overwhelmed, Numb and Ready to make a plan
Feelings before plansShe asks how you are before she offers a single step.
A thread with Anita Ruiz, CFP: she congratulates Dana on paying $610 off the Visa and offers Thursday at 4:30, with a Book button
A coach who reaches outAnita checks in when you slip, and when you're on a roll.
08 · Design decisions

Four calls that shaped it

Show one money type

Two labels, who you are and who you should be, read like a grade. You get one type and choose whether to grow toward another.

Approval cards over autopilot

The design assumes Aimee can move money. Every move still shows Now and After and waits for your tap.

The app's cards inside the chat

Aimee writes short replies and embeds real goal, transaction, and approval cards, so you always know what she means.

One accent, glass for chrome only

Navy marks the one action on each card. Content sits on solid white. A test checks every text pair for AA contrast in light and dark.

I turned years of coaching conversations into an app that knows the person holding it. Leadership can tap through the product instead of reading a deck about it.