Moolah

Creating a card game to make money management fun

Overview

Financial literacy is growing in New Zealand, with 70% of schools involved. Yet, only 19% of students feel they’re learning from it, showing a need for early, effective education in money management.

I developed an educational card game to enhance financial literacy for New Zealand’s youth. Using Design Thinking methodology, I iteratively refined the game through multiple testing phases, progressing from low-fi sketches to a hi-fi comic book aesthetic.

Each iteration focused on user feedback, improving engagement, clarity, and visual appeal. The game blends real-life financial scenarios with interactive gameplay to make financial education memorable, helping young users achieve milestones like savings and property ownership.

Moolah: The Card Game tackles this by making money management fun for ages 10 to 25. Unlike big programs, it’s an easy, engaging way to learn about saving, investing, and handling expenses. Played at school or home, Moolah sparks essential conversations about money—making life lessons fun!

Project breakdown

Product Vision

Moolah is designed to make financial literacy fun and accessible for children and young adults aged 10-25. By merging interactive gameplay with real-life financial scenarios, the card game encourages users to develop money management skills through engaging, hands-on experiences.

With its focus on savings, investing, and decision-making, Moolah helps young players navigate key financial milestones, making learning about money both enjoyable and practical.

The game sparks essential conversations about financial literacy at home or in school, preparing users for long-term financial success.

Scope

Goal: Create a product that makes learning about money fun for those aged 10-25 years.
Key Features: To cover financial topics such as saving, investing, and spending decisions in a fun, portable format, suitable for home or school use, without needing a facilitator.
Timeline: 8-week project.
Limitations: Limited user testing within the 10-14 age bracket due to time constraints.

Position held

Product Designer

Solo project

Tools

Figma
Miro
Google Docs
Chat GPT (3.0 model)

Project timeline

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9+

Discovery to empathise and understand

Strategy and design brainstorm

Ideation

Pinpoint the problem and solution

Design & build prototype

Test & refinement

Ideation

Test & refinement

Research to empathise and understand

Confidence Gap: Despite 70% of schools teaching financial literacy, only 40% of 18-year-olds feel prepared to manage their finances, revealing a need for more practical, real-world application.
Crucial Learning Age: Ages 8-16 are key for building financial foundations, yet current programs often overlook this stage, missing the chance to engage students early.
Educator Insights: Interviews with educators revealed a disconnect between teaching methods and student needs. While teachers emphasise institutional knowledge, students find it less relevant, calling for more interactive, hands-on approaches.
Engagement Is Key: Interactive and visually engaging techniques boost retention, especially for younger learners, keeping them motivated to absorb and apply financial concepts.

Defining the problem and solution

Core problem: Many young New Zealanders (18-25) struggle with financial literacy, despite being introduced to some key concepts in school.
Challenge: Classroom-based financial education is often limited by curriculum constraints, leaving little room for practical, engaging methods to fully develop money management skills required in their formative years as young adults.
Gap in Solutions: Current educational efforts fall short of making financial learning engaging, particularly outside the classroom, where students need more flexible, real-world applications.
Solution: My approach will focus primarily on home-based financial education, using interactive methods to make learning fun and practical, allowing young New Zealanders to develop essential money skills.

Strategy and design ideation

This part of the process came in two phases. The product concept to form the initial game prototype and early testing (play design). Later came the exploration and conceptualisation of the visual design.

Product Concept: I focused on creating a card game inspired by UNO and Monopoly Deal for its simplicity, portability, and interactivity. The game was to merge financial terms with real-life scenarios to spark curiosity about money management.
Game Framework: The game was to balance luck and strategy with quick, 10-20 second turns, using only cards to keep it portable and educational.
Design Style: I chose a comic/pop-art design with bold, contrasting colours, centered around green for its association with money, to make the game visually engaging for young people.

Prototyping and iterating

The prototype phase was revisited numerous times throughout this process for iterative improvements based on user feedback. As it currently stands, the card game has lapsed the 12th iteration.

The game's aim: players achieve $100,000 savings, education/business ownership, and a house. The simpler version involves strategic money management through saving, investing, and making decision with money. Balancing unforeseen bills with risk-taking for growth is crucial. Developing the card game demanded multiple prototypes and constant testing, leading to iterative refinements.

Prototype 1

To prototype the game, I created 110 low-fi cards for testing. These basic cards lacked design elements and were not to scale. The concept was thoroughly tested, and improvements were noted.

Prototype 2

The mid-fi designs showcased various card templates, focusing heavily on the card design’s UX rather than gameplay. This prototype prioritized the user experience in terms of layout and visual appeal.

Prototype 3

These concepts evolved into high-fidelity designs.

Prototype 4

Prototype 3 was tested with a larger audience, resulting in design iterations to improve readability and consistency.

Prototype 5

Prototype 5 is nearly complete, with new character illustrations for better engagement, clearer card descriptions, and a name change from “Money Matters” to “Moolah” to avoid negative associations with the term “money.”

Testing and iteration

Throughout the card design process, I conducted regular testing with individuals aged 16-28, slightly outside the target audience (12-25), but still valuable for gathering insights.

This feedback led to key design improvements, including:

Increased font size: Enhanced readability by enlarging key information for clearer next-step actions.
Consistent design: Standardized the color palette and asset styles across the entire deck for uniformity.
Action card descriptions: Added brief descriptions at the bottom of each action card to aid understanding.
Name change: Changed the game’s name from “Money Matters” to “Moolah” to avoid negative associations with the word “money.”
Simplified language: Simplified wording on specific cards (e.g., BOOM and BUST cards) to make instructions clearer for younger players.
Character integration: Introduced characters into the card designs to boost engagement with younger audiences.
Larger card values: Increased values from 1-3 digits to 4-6 digits (e.g., 5,000, 10,000) to make managing larger sums more exciting.

While testing confirmed strong functionality and engagement, the long-term impact on financial literacy is still untested. However, initial feedback shows that repeated gameplay encourages better financial decisions, as players shifted from risky strategies to more responsible choices over time.