ROAM is a finance app designed around one question: how do you make a financial app flexible enough for every type of user?
ROAM was my entry for a design challenge about everyday digital transactions. The theme felt timely: in Indonesia almost every transaction has moved to digital, a shift the pandemic accelerated when contactless payment became the norm.
One app had to handle every everyday transaction, for every kind of user, without confusing anyone.
The main challenge was designing one app that could cover each user’s daily transaction needs. I broke it into four goals: support every kind of transaction, stay easy to understand and operate, adapt to each user’s needs, and work with any debit or credit card.
My objective was an app people could pick up without confusion or frustration, and that could handle all of their everyday transactions in one place. That led to four starting principles: integrate with many partners, keep the interface clean and clear, let users customise the home screen, and offer both virtual and physical cards.
From there I mapped the key user flows (onboarding, QR payment, adding a card, sending and requesting money, topping up, editing the home screen, history and notifications, profile and settings) and worked through a mini design system, low- and high-fidelity designs, and final mockups.
Flexibility became ROAM’s signature: a home screen each person arranges around what they actually pay for.
Flexibility became ROAM’s signature feature. People use finance apps for very different things, so the home screen can be edited: someone who mainly pays taxes and insurance can pin those features to the top, instead of digging through categories every time.
ROAM also connects to the cards people already have. Users can link a debit or credit card by scanning it or filling in a short form, and once it’s active they can pay without topping up their balance first. QR payments work with either the ROAM balance or a linked card.
Around these, I designed the supporting flows: onboarding, top-up, send and request money, and profile settings with accessibility options such as reduced motion and lower colour saturation.
Research was the weakest part, and it’s where I’d go deeper next time.
Looking back, research was the weakest part of this project. With limited time, many assumptions came from my own experience and a small amount of input from friends. Finishing ROAM made me want to manage my time better, so the next case study can go deeper on every side, especially research.
Based in Bali, Indonesia.