Feedback Loop: Smart Wallet
Concept: While there are several apps that act as budget trackers, I don’t think this is enough for some people who seriously want to budget their money. The action of going into an app and checking your budget does not seem like a lot, but many people will forget to do it and will therefore not think twice about a purchase. I think it would be much more effective if a person could open their wallet to take out a credit card or cash, and visually see how much they spent and how much of their balance is remaining. This would be shown through a screen built into the wallet that could be hooked up to a credit card account. It would have a smart wallet website where you can initially set your balance on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. I was also thinking it could possibly have a keypad so you can set a cash balance as well if you want to input the cash values yourself.
Precedents: Other electronic wallets (these have lights in them so you can see into your wallet at night).
Design: The actual design would have the screen or keypad set into the wallet (although it would still be very slim) , and padding so that if the wallet was kept in someones pocket the screen and keys wouldn’t get ruined. It would also do more than just display numbers – if you go over your balance it will give you warning signs not to spend anymore money. Also, if you are over budget and go to open the wallet it might play a certain “doomed” sort of sound. It would act as a physical reminder throughout the day that would be more powerful than an app or website and would require less work and upkeep.
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