The Challenge
Growing up means learning to manage money, but most digital payment tools are still designed for adults. Teens often depend on parents to make payments, transfer funds, or step in when money runs out, limiting their financial independence and creating awkward moments. The challenge was to design an experience that gave teens meaningful autonomy while giving parents enough visibility to feel reassured, without turning support into surveillance.
The Solution
We designed Tango, a mobile payment app for 13 to 17-year-olds paired with a dedicated parent experience. Teens can pay, send money, track their spending, and receive simple budgeting feedback through a playful and secure interface. Parents can set recurring allowances, define an emergency fund, and view spending by category rather than individual purchases. Together, these features are designed to support teen independence and healthier money habits while keeping parents informed without encouraging micromanagement.
The Process
From brief to prototype
Understanding the opportunity
Turning research into direction
Iterating toward simplicity
Solving what matters
It takes two to Tango. A payment experience built around independence, guidance, and confidence.
Wrapping up
As one of our first team projects, Tango was a valuable opportunity to strengthen how we collaborated, communicated, and made decisions together. We explored research and design directions in parallel, then came together to compare findings and align on a shared vision. This approach brought more perspectives into the process, while showing us that clearer roles and task ownership could have made the sprint more efficient. For me, the project reinforced the value of balancing independent exploration with team alignment and contributing across the full design process.
What's next
The next step would be to test the prototype with teenagers and parents, validating the payment flow, Emergency Top-Up, budgeting feedback, and level of parental visibility. Based on those findings, we would refine the parent experience and explore features such as saving goals and Pockets, while ensuring that new functionality supports independence without adding complexity.
Credits
