Jan 2021 – Present
Spruce Money
Built by H&R Block
I championed the creation of the key feature, Budgeting + Watchlist, designed to help users take control of their finances and gain a deeper understanding of their spending habits. As Spruce has evolved, my role has expanded to encompass involvement in every feature of the product.
My features
I played a key role in launching Spruce in January 2021 as part of a small, dedicated team of just two designers. Together, we worked resourcefully to bring a shared vision to life: empowering financially vulnerable individuals to take their first steps toward better financial habits and education.
Research
Every decision we make is grounded in extensive research that began during our pre-alpha stage. We’ve actively gathered and implemented user feedback through a variety of methods, including focus groups, diary studies, surveys, moderated and unmoderated interviews, validation testing, and card sorting exercises.
Project spotlight:
Budgeting + Watchlist
The key phases of my process — starting with in-depth research and user testing to uncover pain points and opportunities.
The problem
Our research revealed that even the word "budget" often triggers anxiety for our personas, creating a significant barrier to taking that first step into financial literacy.
The research
We conducted moderated focus group sessions to learn about our users' financial situations, whether they track their budgets, what they seek in a budgeting service, their goals, and more. This provided valuable insights into their pain points and highlighted key opportunities for us to explore.
The process
My project manager and I brainstormed ways to make budgeting feel less intimidating. Users needed a way to track their spending without the pressure of allocating every single dollar they earned.
Sketches & iterations
The process of ideation took several weeks. We had the unique challenge of creating a budgeting service that wasn’t interested in allocating every single dollar, but rather, allowing users to track the categories they cared most about.
Final feature
After several rounds of feedback, testing, and improvements, we crafted the Watchlist: a solution that allows our users to choose 1-3 categories that mean the most to them, with the option to set a spending level.
Results & impact
We're very proud of how Spruce has performed in its first few years since launch.
$2B
Yes - you read that right - Spruce officially surpassed one billion dollars in deposits as of January 2026.
48%
of Spruce Budget-feature users say the Watchlist was the most important feature on their decision to sign up.
Spending levels, re-categorization of expenses, and automatic categorization were extremely important to 37-44% of users
+21%
In satisfaction rates of Spruce users who use Budgeting features as opposed to those who don’t. 86% of Spruce Budget-feature users reported being extremely satisfied with the product overall, as opposed to 65% non Budgeting users
Methodology
Surveys conducted 1/4/24 to 1/8/24
Completed 351 interviews total:
121 Spruce users currently using Budgeting features
240 Spruce users who don’t use Budgeting features
Beam me back up!