Own Wish is a goal-based savings product within OwnBank, designed for medium- to long-term savings goals.

Akulaku is a fintech unicorn in Southeast Asia, offering consumer credit, digital banking, wealth management, and insurance brokerage across Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, and so on. Its digital bank, OwnBank, aims to be a one-stop platform for payments, savings, and wealth management.

Impact

0 → 1

Product launch

Designed and launched Own Wish from concept to a live long-term savings product.

£1.2M

Deposits

Reached approximately £1.2M in cumulative deposits after launch.

7 → 3

Core actions

Simplified the core savings setup from 7 main actions to 3.

Default wish screen: Bring home a brand new iPhone 15, ₱50,000
Default wish screen: Travel Anytime, ₱50,000
Default wish screen: Strive for your baby's college tuition, ₱50,000
Custom wish screen: Buy a laptop, ₱1000
Own Wish screens: What is Own Wish landing page, Wish Tracker plan with bonus pool, default wish setup, wish dashboard with progress rings, Wish Tracker plan details, and completed wishes

Design process

My Role: UX Design / User Research / UI Design Lead

Product Goals

  • Level 3 - Increase User Retention
  • Level 2 - Increase Platform Deposits
  • Level 1 - Expand the Platform’s Wealth Management Offering

Initial prototype

Initial prototype, two screens. Make a Wish: goal, deposit day, term, target amount, Wish Tracking Plan toggle, fees and payment method. My Wish Savings: examples of other users' savings goals and a View My Wish Savings button.

Challenges&Solutions

  1. Challenge: 1. Users struggled to understand the unfamiliar Commitment Deposit mechanism.

    Solution: 1. Splitting the main user flow

  2. Challenge: 2. Users lacked motivation to stay committed to long-term saving.

    Solution: 2. Emotional design

  3. Challenge: 3. Users faced high cognitive load due to dense information and multiple tasks.

    Solution: 3. Restructuring the information architecture

Solution 1Splitting the main user flow

In the original flow, users had to set a savings goal, understand the Wish Tracker rules, and make a decision on the same page, which created a high information load.

Therefore, the user flow was redesigned to make goal creation the main flow, while Wish Tracker became a separate optional flow. New and returning users were given different entry paths. New users completed product education through a Feature Landing Page, while returning users could go directly to the Own Wish Dashboard.

The flow was simplified using Progressive Disclosure, so information was shown only when it was needed, reducing cognitive load and making the journey easier to follow.

User flows. Before: Own Wish entry point, is the user signed in (no: sign in or sign up), create Own Wish, join Wish Tracker (no: confirmation), confirmation, back to home. Optimized: entry point, is the user signed in (no: sign in or sign up), does the user already have an Own Wish (yes: Own Wish Dashboard; no: Feature Landing Page), create Own Wish, join Wish Tracker (yes: set up Wish Tracker; no: wish confirmation), Wish and Wish Tracker confirmation, Own Wish Dashboard, back to home.

Solution 2Emotional design

Through user research, we identified several common long-term savings goals, such as buying a home, travelling, building an emergency medical fund, and purchasing a new iPhone. We integrated these real-life scenarios into the page to create a more relatable experience, strengthen users’ emotional engagement, and provide a more natural transition into the savings setup flow.

Hand-drawn wish illustrations in a carousel: gift box, school desk, beach chair, rainy day savings and a night sky, shown above the Own Wish setup screen

Solution 3information architecture

Main page actions were reduced from 7 steps to 3, with the interface clearly split into a display area and a setup area.

Before: the Make a Wish form with every field on one page. After: Own Wish setup with a wish card display area on top and monthly deposit, duration and deposit day controls below.