01 / Understand
See which category needs attention.
Select a category to see its amount, budget, and status in one place.
Independent case studyProduct · UI/UX · 2026
BOA: Spending
& budgeting.
Understand the spending. Correct the details. Adjust the plan.
- The challenge
- Connect spending totals, category corrections and budget adjustments in one continuous flow.
- My scope
- Research, flow analysis, wireframes, mobile and web UI, and an interactive prototype.
- Outcome
- Budget reallocation rose from 2 of 6 to 5 of 6 unassisted; median time to spot overspending fell from 41 to 24 seconds.
01 / The core experience
From a spending total to a decision.
Each part of the flow pairs a visible interface change with the decision it helps someone make: find the issue, trace its source, then adjust the plan.
02 / Investigate
Trace the total back to the spending.
Switch between merchant and monthly breakdowns without losing the active month, category, or budget.
03 / Adjust
Reallocate the budget without restarting setup.
Move an amount between categories, preview both limits, then choose whether the change is temporary or ongoing.
02 / Interactive prototype
Follow the task through.
Explore the connected mobile flow using sample transactions and budgets.
Inspect a spending category
Select a category in the dial, compare its merchant and monthly breakdowns, then open its transactions.
Correct more than one transaction
Select transactions and assign a category together, keeping the active month and category in context.
Make a one-month budget adjustment
Reallocate category allowances, review the new limits, and choose a one-month or ongoing change. This adjusts the plan; it does not transfer funds.
The optional assistant demonstrates suggested questions and responses based on sample data. Free-text questions and live AI are outside this prototype.
03 / Research & problem framing
Three points where the flow breaks.
The research focused on finding and verifying spending, correcting categories, and adapting a budget during the month.
32Survey responses
2User interviews
RedditSupporting public posts
Participants had used Bank of America, but not necessarily its budgeting feature. This was a small, directional study rather than a representative sample.
01
Spending is difficult to find and verify
Users had to move between summaries, categories, and transaction lists to understand where a total came from.
02
Category correction breaks the flow
Fixing a category required opening transactions one at a time, while filters and selections could reset on return.
03
Budget changes force a full rebuild
A small monthly adjustment could send users through setup steps that did not match the change they wanted to make.
View the survey breakdown and supporting material
63%
Selections reset
69%
Insights hard to find
66%
Correction takes time
72%
Budgets feel inflexible
These four recorded survey findings are preserved from the research notes. Uncertainty about how totals connect to transactions is retained as a qualitative theme rather than shown with an unverified percentage.
View before-and-after flows and all 15 wireframes
Task flow comparison
Two tasks, before and after.
Track spending
Direct access replaces the hidden entry, filters stay visible, and category changes happen inside the transaction flow.
Open full size 
Open full size Adjust a budget
The redesign starts from the current budget, supports focused edits or reallocation, and avoids restarting the setup process.
Open full size 
Open full size Entry
Spending starts on a screen users already open
The reviewed flow placed spending several screens below the account. These wireframes bring the monthly total to the accounts list and checking card, with a path from transactions back into spending.
Track spending
Month and category survive the trip into detail
The two pickers stay pinned above the overview, the category breakdown, and the transaction list, so stepping into a merchant and back does not clear them. Correcting a miscategorised charge happens in the list itself — select several, move them once — instead of one transaction detail at a time.
Budget
Changing one number does not restart setup
Categories can be edited or reallocated while the total stays visible. Saving is a separate decision: apply the adjustment to this month or keep it as an ongoing plan.
04 / Testing & iteration
The clearest improvement came from budget reallocation.
The same six participants completed both task rounds.
Key iteration / Budget reallocation
2 of 6 → 5 of 6 unassisted
- Design change
- Separated the source and destination into Take from and Give to, then previewed both new limits and the unchanged total before confirmation.
- Observed result
- Five of six participants completed budget reallocation without help in the redesigned flow, compared with two of six in the earlier task round.
Next question
Next, test one-month versus ongoing changes, undo, and insufficient-funds cases.
Spending chart
41 s → 24 s median
Five of six participants identified the most overspent category without help after the selected category, budget ring, and text status were made more explicit.
Assistant exploration
1 of 6 → 4 of 6
Four of six participants resolved a follow-up question in the prototype assistant, compared with one of six using navigation in the comparison round.
Directional evidence only: returning participants saw substantially different interfaces, so practice effects and multiple design changes may have influenced the results. The assistant comparison is exploratory.
05 / Web adaptation
Use the width to keep overview and detail together.
Mobile reveals details one view at a time. Desktop keeps the category overview beside merchant and monthly breakdowns, with the assistant available in a side panel.
View the visual system
Familiar banking navigation, category colors and typography support the revised flows. Text values and budget lines accompany color so the status has more than one cue.
Reflection
Next, isolate what caused the improvement.
A broader study should separate the effects of persistent context, the revised chart, and the reallocation preview, while testing accessibility and error recovery.
Independent redesign concept. Not affiliated with Bank of America.