Project
UNCENT
Discipline
Brand Design · UX
Context
Financial wellbeing for Gen Z
Audience
Gen Z, 18–26, NZ-based
A web-based journaling app designed to help Gen Z build emotional confidence around money.
UNCENT is a reflection tool that helps young adults explore their spending emotions and regain financial confidence, one entry at a time. The project started with a simple question, what if money tools felt human?
Design a journaling platform that meets Gen Z where they are emotionally, replacing the shame cycle of traditional budgeting apps with low-friction reflection and visible progress.
User research identified three distinct profiles: people trying to feel in control of purchases, people managing emotional spending under pressure, and people balancing creative spending with financial responsibility. Financial stress is constant amongst Gen Z, buy now pay later platforms quickly become traps, and shame leads to avoidance.
Existing money tools focus on restriction. Gen Z needs reflection.
Gen Z avoids judgement, finds restriction demotivating, and responds better to progress than perfection. The problem wasn't financial literacy, it was that no tool met them where they actually were emotionally.
Initial wireframes focused on establishing the core journaling flow, keeping the interface as low-friction as possible so users could reflect without feeling any sense of pressure.
The brand pushed toward high contrast and energy to stand out from sterile financial apps. Chartreuse on black created urgency and confidence.
The visual identity brought together the logo, colour palette, and UI components into a cohesive design language that could scale across screens and campaign materials.
The account screen was designed to show the depth of personalisation within UNCENT. It isn't a one-size-fits-all app.
Initially the concept leaned into gamification, however testing revealed this was ineffective for users experiencing financial tension. The design shifted to prioritise clarity and accessibility for users feeling overwhelmed by their finances.
Every decision, from how prompts are revealed to how progress is communicated, was made with emotional safety in mind. The goal was to make the platform feel like a personal guide, something that helps you get unstuck without making you feel worse for needing it.
A guided chat bot offers a lighter entry point for users not ready to start journalling. It asks simple questions and helps articulate feelings about money without requiring written responses. Approachable even on the go.
The brand in a real-world campaign with the tagline "Not a coach. Not a bank. Just a guide.", bringing the platform's tone into the physical world.
A flexible journaling platform that turns financial progress into meaningful insights by highlighting savings, reduced impulse spending, and positive money habits, all without financial discomfort.
Looking ahead, UNCENT has potential to expand into budgeting modules, community threads, and NZ wellbeing partnerships, growing from a personal reflection tool into a broader financial confidence ecosystem.
This project taught me how important it is to stay flexible throughout the design process. Initial concepts evolved considerably through feedback, resulting in a solution that better addressed user needs. If I were to continue, I would focus on expanding user testing and iterating on the platform's core features based on those insights.