buoy
Helping People Stay Afloat
My Contribution
Role
UX/UI Design, Concept, Strategy & Branding
Platform
Android App
Company
Capital One
Android Summit Hackathon
Target
Underserved users barily getting by
Problem
Design and build an app in 24 hours to help individuals most affected by the Great Recession.
Action
Inspired by what I saw in my own neighborhood, I proposed an idea to support people living paycheck to paycheck, educating them about financial prioritization and bill management. We brainstormed with sticky notes and whiteboards, identifying three key features:
- Messages: Guidance, encouragement, and alerts about bills
- Bills Due: Categorized by urgency, what must be paid vs. what can wait
- Balances: Sorted by importance (e.g., housing first), helping users plan smarter
I named the app Buoy, a metaphor for staying afloat financially. Using Google’s Material sticker sheet, I rapidly created high-fidelity UX flows while the dev team integrated provided APIs.
Results
- Delivered a lightly interactive prototype in under 24 hours during an internal hackathon.
- Buoy tied for 2nd place out of all submissions and stood out as the only entry with a fully realized product design.
- Praised for its empathetic tone and visual clarity, the concept tackled financial triage with calm, approachable UX. Covered onboarding, personalized assessments, and action plans.
- I led UX, UI, prototyping, and branding for a 4-person team. The project sparked internal interest and encouragement to explore future applications.
