Designers
Nicolás Salomone Pérez, Hyun Sung Lee, Dani García, Juliana Vargas Escobar, Daisy Rosas Cedeño, Carlos Flores, Tomás Antón Escobar
Year
2026
Category
Concept
Country
Spain
Design Studio / Department
Unicaja Design
Three questions to the project team
What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
The core UX challenge resided in resolving the inherent friction within a cross-generational financial ecosystem. A delicate balance had to be struck between a teenager's demand for digital autonomy and a guardian's requirement for strict oversight. From an interaction perspective, the interface had to be dual-faceted: a highly engaging, gamified environment driven by conversational AI (Nica) had to be delivered to minors, while a minimalist, clear, and secure control panel had to be provided to parents. Managing this cognitive load without creating visual clutter or authoritative pushback from younger users constituted the most demanding structural hurdle of the architectural process.
What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
The personal highlight was the strategic integration of Abanico, our design system, to scale the solution. A definitive low point was encountered during early parent focus groups, where significant skepticism and an "anti-screen" sentiment toward traditional banking features were expressed. However, this led directly to the "aha! moment" when we realized that the AI assistant should not merely summarize data, but proactively redirect impulsive spending into automated savings goals ("Pockets"). Transforming user criticism into a predictive learning feature became the turning point, validating the entire human-centered methodology.
Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
In the next five years, the project is envisioned as the definitive international benchmark for youth banking, having successfully scaled its progressive modular interface to adapt seamlessly to a minor's financial maturity. The ecosystem is seen expanding into predictive AI models that foster global financial literacy. Professionally, a position at the forefront of strategic product design is anticipated, leading complex digital transformations where systemic design, ethical data management, and user-centered frameworks are leveraged to turn traditional financial constraints into deeply empathetic experiences.
