Financial concepts such as saving, investing, and trade are abstract — especially for children. A textbook-based approach risked low engagement and poor retention.
The key challenge was:
How do you make financial systems concrete, memorable, and motivating for young learners?
The client started with a document that structured the app as a progressive learning journey made up of 11 relams, each focused on a single financial concept.
Key design decisions included:
Designing three short games, simulations, or quizzes per level.
Using a historical theme, allowing players to travel to different ancient settings
Introducing concepts through comic-style narrative sequences.
Using a guiding character to make it more kid-friendly
Creating meta-systems (such as savings and investments) that connected learning across levels
The result was an Android app that combined:
Narrative-driven onboarding
Short, focused learning games and simulations
Persistent systems that simulated real-world financial behaviour
Each level delivered a complete learning loop while contributing to a broader understanding of money management.
The app was not perfect, but served as a great starting point for the client to test their concept and iterate on the design. As mentioned, the budget was not high and 11 different concepts had to be covered.