5. Introduction
Our project, Cash Conscious, studied Generation Y/
Millennium and their interaction with money. We
approached our research with the following questions
in mind: Does our target group want to save? Or, do
they care to save at all? Either way, we wanted to learn
from our research what drives our target to spend, what
drives them to save, and what (if anything) incentivizes
them to save. Given the nature of the project to
recognize a problem with the current money system
and a particular niche and suggest a solution, we also
wanted to find what medium communicates with our
target most effectively.
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7. Methodology |
Subject Matter
The disclosure of one’s financial status is, for most, a very Age:
private and often uncomfortable matter, therefore, we deduced
Occupation:
we could gather the most valuable and informative research
through conversation - asking not formal Q&A, but engaging How many hours do you work and/or go to school per
in a form of storytelling. This personal “interviewing” method week?
allowed us to obtain detailed information of the lives of the
Where do you live?
interviewees and their financial situations. Every member of Cash
Conscious conducted several one-on-one interviews with our Marital Status:
target age group 18-30, who are either college students or young
professionals living in or near urban areas; each interview lasting How many people do you live with?
20 or so minutes. This group has accumulated debt from student
Annual Income:
loans, daily spending and/or credit card purchases. Although we
did not format our interviews to be too structured we made sure Why did you choose to live where you do now?
to get answers for the following questions during the interviews.
What is your favorite day of the week? Why?
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8. Explain your perfect day:
What do you spend most of your money on?
Groceries Utilities
Restaurants Drinks
Clothes/Shoes,etc other…
School
Rent
Do you keep track of your money/expenses?
If so, How?
Online Banking Phone
Email Other…
Text
Are there any large investments you hope to
make in the future? If so, what?
Tell us a story about the worst and/or best experience you
have ever had with money? 4
9. Findings
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dictum sapien eget money, therefore the framing of
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the questions focused on the interviewee’s lifestyle;
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questions about their actual interaction with money was
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secondary. We asked Nulla dignissim they are involved
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in, what they sollicitudin accumsan. in life, and more
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playful questions like what their favorite amet pharetra
week is. Their answers allowed us to see their overall
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risus. Sed toward money. justo pellentesque a sagittis erat
attitude commodo arcu et
gravida. In nec ipsum lorem. Quisque justo urna, pulvinar ut
ultrices id, dictum id purus. Praesent hendrerit molestie libero, a
To our surprise, we found that savings is not much of et
placerat quam facilisis nec. Fusce pharetra, our interviewees
priority for our target group. A lot of enim ac condimentum
dapibus, tellus metus congue mi, their day-to-day financial
cared simply about meeting non feugiat orci ligula in justo.
needs. Some said that they spend money on “silly
5 things” and “don’t save at all but maybe will in the
Naliquam We realized that sempergenerally faucibus, justo
future.” nam venenatis, mi there accumsan lacks an
libero pretiumsave in at lacinia dui justo non nunc.of the
ambition to mauris, this age group and most Quisque
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money is et arcu tempor posuere. Cum sociis natoque
“silly” things. Our target group has a fairly shortsighted
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perspective on habitant morbi tristique senectus et a liquid
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varius. Donec dignissim libero ultricies.
10. “So depending on the month, I can spend a bigger chunk of my income on
something that is clothes or shoes or some sort of device. But usually a
good chunk of it is rent and food.”
“I use my credit card because I don’t have money in the bank.”
“Um, just like silly things. Clothes, just going out, dinner, going out with
friends or whatever.”
“In the future sometime when I’m more mature about how to spend my
money, yes. In the meantime, no.” (Referring to getting another Credit Card) #
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“Food, that’s one thing – like I’m not a greedy person, but I love
restaurants. So, I feel like as long as I can pay rent and eat at restaurants
pretty consistently I’m like really happy.”
11. Concept A |
Tracklet
The Tracklet is used in conjunction with the user’s bank. To within the Tracklet, that will then access the user’s bank
activate the Tracklet, the user will receive a new debit card account and deduce the amount spent from the balance.
issued by the bank containing a new addition to the standard When the account has reached the certain amount the
black magnetic stripe located on the back of the card. The user wishes to be notified of, the Tracklet will either heat
magnetic stripe has three tracks, The magnetic stripe has three up or light up using LED lights.
tracks, but only the first two are most commonly used and
contain information related to the cardholder such as name,
primary account number, expiration date, country code, and To track spending on a particular card,
the Tracklet sends Radio Frequency
other discretionary data. The remaining track, track three, is a
Identification (RFID) signals like Ben
read/write track that includes an encrypted PIN, country code, Greene’s Digitial Matchmaker.
currency units, and amount authorized.
The way a debit card works is after it is swiped through a reader,
the EDC software at the point of sale (POS) terminal dials a
7 stored telephone number via a modem to call an acquirer. An
acquirer is an organization that collects credit authentication
requests from merchants and provides a payment guarantee to
the merchant.
When the authentication request is finalized by the acquirer
company a small sensor on track three will send the amount A small sensor on track three will send the amount, authorized
authorized information and encrypted PIN to a sensor located information, and the encrypted PIN to a sensor located within the
Tracklet.
13. Concept B |
Pity Bank
Pity Bank makes money more tangible through imaginary
methods. Money is imbued with an emotional value when
concerning your Pity Bank monetar. The user feels more
personally invested- he/she is no longer saving solely
for themselves, but for the livelihood of their digital
companion. The user will adopt the monetar they relate
to best. Feeding the monetar is equivalent to transferring
a certain amount of your money in your savings account.
The more money the user moves to their savings account,
the more emotionally rewarded they become through their
monetar. If you don’t feed your monetar within a certain
amount of time, his/her health will deteriorate. Typically,
feeding your monetar once a week should do the trick.
9 We’re approaching a serious matter and making it more
fun and approachable. Pity Bank reveals the simplicity of
saving.
The user chooses the Monetar that they best relate to. The cuter they think
they are the more likely they are going to want to take care of them.