Resume

SaySum

SaySum is an AI powered speech to expense app that was borned from the Hackathon event "HackSingapore" hosted by AngelHack under the Financial Inclusion brief which eventually brought us to the Finalist (2nd place) of the Hackathon.

Disciplines

UX/UI

Team

Lim Zi Jie

Mirza Mas’od

Leong Wen Xuan

Carlo Imatong

Problem Statement

Older adults in Singapore struggle to track and manage their expenses effectively due to complex interfaces and lack of digital literacy.

Target Audience

Our target audience consists of pre-retirees aged 45–65 Singaporeans.

Research shows many in this age group have limited digital literacy and may struggle with technology, like smartphones. Additionally, English is not their first language, and some primarily use their mother tongue.

User Research

Research Data

We gathered useful research data from the Singapore Digital Society Report 2023 (IMDA) which highlights the rapid growth in digital adoption and the potential for well-designed tools to gain traction within older adults.

Increased app usage

There has been a 26-percentage point increase in the use of the Singpass app among seniors between 2020 and 2022.

Increased online payments

Similarly, the percentage of seniors using online payments has more than doubled, rising from 38% in 2018 to 78% in 2022.

Receptiveness

Singapore’s digital transformation benefits 63% of seniors, reflecting their receptiveness to new solutions.

Market Analysis

Current Precedents

Most expense-tracking apps have complex interfaces that confuse even digitally literate users. We identified issues in popular apps like Monny, which lacks age-friendly design elements (e.g., larger fonts, high-contrast colors) and multilingual support, making them less accessible for seniors. A simplified onboarding process would also benefit seniors unfamiliar with mobile apps.

The Idea

To create a app that is easy to use and understand right off the bat, keeping in mind on our user’s language and digital literacy.

Design Breakdown

Easy On-boarding

We designed a simple 2-step onboarding process to ensure ease of use. First, users select their preferred language, addressing the need for localization as not all aging adults speak English. Next, they set their monthly budget goal. After these quick steps, they can immediately start using the app with a tailored, user-friendly experience.

Increased Type Sizes

With vision of aging adults in mind, most adults needs reading glasses at the age of 50 and above. We wanted to create something with a larger based type size with our default to be 20px, to increase readability yet still maintaining good design structure and layout.

Speech to Expense

We simplified the expense tracking experience by focusing on essentials, creating a user-friendly tool. To address our audience's needs, we introduced Speech to Expense, allowing users to track expenses with a single tap and voice input. The home screen is designed to be intuitive, ensuring ease of use for those less familiar with technology.

Colour Coded Inputs

Financial tracking can be confusing especially if there is a long list of items to look at. To simplify it, we've color-coded inputs into categories (e.g., clothing, gadgets, food) and added icons for easier identification. Filter tags at the top make browsing inputs even more efficient.

Tracking Goals

We also added a feature that tracks overall monthly spending with a weekly breakdown. The app will notify users if they fall into the top spending percentile in Singapore, encouraging them to save more.

Final Design

Next Project

Freshlabs.

Designed by Lim Zi Jie © 2025