Jiminy

A personal finance app that guides instead of just tracking.

Jiminy is a personal finance product built around the idea of a financial companion. Instead of presenting users with more data, charts, and metrics, it uses financial information to guide, organize, and automate small decisions. Inspired by Jiminy Cricket (the conscience in Pinocchio), the product takes a supportive rather than judgmental approach. Its identity combines a technical layer that interprets financial data with a more human, mystical voice that turns insights into moments of orientation.

UX Research
Product Design
Design System
Brand Identity
Prototyping

Jiminy Voice guidance cards floating over a lit window in a dark building

CLIENT

Personal work

DURATION

Feb – Aug 2026 (6mo)

ROLE

Sole Product Designer. Full ownership of research, UX/UI, design system, and prototype delivery.

TOOLS

(the problem)

Every budgeting app promises control. Most deliver more charts, more categories, more guilt.

Credit Karma has trust and data. YNAB has discipline. Emma has friendly UX. Cleo has emotional engagement. None has all four. The market split "helpful" and "human" into two separate products.

Jiminy is a bet that they don't need to be separate. It stays in the background, doing the work you'd rather not think about.

(research)

Empathy maps, real interviews, one pattern that kept repeating:

People didn't want more financial data, they wanted less friction with it.

(finding)

"I'd like a more human app, like an inner voice."Kuba, 32

People want a voice, not more data.

"I would like to disappear my money, so I don't know I can count with it."Ezgi, 29

Control means not having to look.

(key decisions)

Not more data. Just less friction.

01_Automate the parts people want to forget.
Ezgi's instinct to "make the money disappear" became Invisible Savings, rules that move money without asking for daily attention.
02_Give the data a voice, not just a chart.
Kuba wanted something that felt like "an inner voice." That became Jiminy Voice, contextual guidance instead of raw numbers.
03_Structure spending around meaning, not categories.
Most participants tracked expenses manually because generic categories didn't map to how they actually think about money. Zones organizes spending around what it's for, not just what it is.

(the outcome)

Four systems, each answering one part of what the research uncovered.

01_Invisible Savings
Automation
Automates small savings without requiring constant attention.
02_Goals
Goal Management
Turns long-term intentions into visible, actionable progress.
03_Jiminy Voice
Contextual Guidance
Translates financial data into contextual moments of guidance.
04_Zones
Spending Structure
Organizes spending around meaningful categories rather than raw transactions.