Pallavi Shastri — Product Designer

Designing for the chaos behind
every click, swipe, and tap.

Say Hello!

Product designUX researchDesign systemsVisual designPrototypingEmailersSocial campaignsPrint

Projects

01 Product design case study

Bud — Budgeting App

Making budgeting simple, approachable, and sustainable for young adults navigating everyday finances.

02 Product design case study

Blossom — Pregnancy App

A digital companion that brings health tracking, educational content, appointment management and community support into one calm platform.

03 Emailers · Social · Print

Graphic Design

The visual side of the practice, campaign emailers, social media banners and print layouts.

About me

Give me a box. I'll make something worth looking at.

I’m a graphic designer with six years in the craft. I got here by teaching myself design and slowly working my way toward getting better at it. I’ve stayed in this corner of design because I genuinely enjoy making visual work that catches the eye, communicates an idea, and stays with people.

Over the years, I’ve worked across different kinds of brands and projects, usually between the marketing team, the brief, and the final artwork. That’s taught me to be comfortable with both the creative and practical sides of design — coming up with ideas, figuring out what works, and making sure they actually make it out into the world.

I’ve also been pushing myself beyond purely visual communication and into product design. I’m interested in understanding the problem before jumping into the pixels, thinking about how people use things, and turning messy ideas into simple, thoughtful experiences.

Strengths

Flow design, research, systems, writing

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Work experience

Now

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Interested in working together?

Say Hello! View resume

All work

Product design case study Concept · 2025

Bud - Your Finance Buddy

Making budgeting simple, approachable, and sustainable for young adults navigating everyday finances.

Goal-based saving Financial health score Smart spending alerts

BUD onboarding, let's get to know your money habits

BUD home screen, weekly spend, health score and wishlist goals

Overview

For many young adults entering the workforce, managing money can feel overwhelming. Between paying rent, splitting bills, dining out, subscriptions, and saving for future goals, it’s easy to lose track of where money goes each month. While budgeting apps exist, many feel overly complex, requiring constant manual tracking and financial knowledge that can discourage consistent use.

BUD is a conceptual budgeting app designed for young adults aged 24–30 who want to manage their finances with confidence but often feel overwhelmed by traditional budgeting methods. Instead of acting like a financial tracker, BUD acts as a supportive finance buddy helping users understand their spending, save for meaningful purchases, and develop healthier financial habits through simple, proactive guidance.

The goal wasn’t just to help users budget it was to make managing money feel approachable, rewarding, and sustainable.

The problem

Many people know they should budget, but few are able to maintain the habit consistently. Through observing common budgeting behaviors and existing financial products, I identified several recurring challenges:

Budgeting often feels complicated and time-consuming.
Users struggle to understand where their money disappears each month.
Saving for larger purchases feels difficult because the entire cost seems intimidating.
Unexpected overspending often goes unnoticed until it’s too late.

The result is a cycle of financial stress where users feel guilty about spending but lack the tools to confidently manage their money.

The opportunity

The old ask

Become a financial expert

The reframe

Trust a companion that simplifies the decision

Instead of asking users to become financial experts, what if the app could become a trusted companion that simplifies financial decisions? The goal was to create a budgeting experience that feels approachable, encouraging, and easy to maintain, helping users make gradual progress rather than demanding perfection.

User personas

Three composite personas grounded in the problem above, different incomes and habits, the same underlying anxiety about whether they are doing okay.

Aditi Sharma, 26

Marketing Associate

“I just want to open the app and know if I’m okay this month, without doing math.”

Goal - Get a quick, honest read on her finances without spreadsheets.

Frustration - Every app she’s tried demands more data entry than she has patience for.

Rohan Kapoor, 24

Software Engineer, first job

“I want to buy a good laptop without feeling like I’m gambling with rent money.”

Goal - Save toward a specific purchase without feeling deprived along the way.

Frustration - The full price of what he wants feels too big to even start saving for.

Meera Iyer, 29

Freelance Graphic Designer

“My income moves around every month, so "budget" has always felt like a word for other people.”

Goal - Feel in control despite irregular income, without a rigid monthly plan.

Frustration - Existing budgeting apps assume a steady paycheck and break down for her.

Design goals

The product was guided by four key objectives.

Reduce the feeling of financial overwhelm

Strip the experience back to what a person actually needs to decide something today.

Make budgeting easy to understand at a glance

Financial position should be readable in seconds, not assembled from several screens.

Encourage consistent saving through achievable goals

Break large purchases into contributions small enough to keep up with.

Help users stay proactive instead of reacting after overspending

Surface a problem while there is still time to act on it.

Information architecture

Four tabs, each answering a distinct question, how am I doing, what's coming up, what am I working toward, and where does my money go. Home stays a summary; every card on it is a door into one of the other three.

BUD, app launch

Home tab by default

Financial Health Dashboard

Balance · spending · budget left · health score

Home

Summary surface only.

Financial health score

Spending breakdown

Smart alerts

Budget

Plan and adjust spending.

Category limits

Monthly budget

Goals

Saving for something specific.

Create a goal

Monthly contribution

Progress tracking

Alerts

Proactive, not punitive.

Overspending notices

Bill reminders

Solution

BUD combines budgeting, expense tracking, savings goals, and timely reminders into a single, easy-to-understand experience.

Rather than overwhelming users with financial data, the app surfaces the information that matters most, allowing users to quickly understand their financial health and take action before small problems become larger ones.

Style guide

The visual system behind every screen: one violet that carries every primary action, a category palette that stays consistent from the donut chart to the transaction list, and a type scale built so a number is always the loudest thing on the card.

Core palette

Violet 600

#6D4EE0

Primary actions, active states, key figures

Violet 400

#9B84EF

Gradient end on primary buttons

Violet 100

#E9E4FB

Hero card, stat tiles, selected chips

Ink

#16162A

Headings and primary numbers

Canvas

#FBFBFD

App background behind white cards

Surface

#FFFFFF

Cards, sheets, list rows

Category & status colours

Food & dining

#6D4EE0

Largest category, matches primary

Bills & utilities

#3B82F6

Fixed, unavoidable spend

Shopping

#EC4899

Discretionary spend

Transport

#64748B

Neutral, low-attention category

Entertainment

#F97316

Fun money, warm accent

Positive

#6DC68E

Contributions, on-track, savings gains

Type scale

Display ₹6,500 Inter Bold · 34/1.1 · -0.02em

Screen title Full Breakdown Inter Bold · 22/1.2

Card title iPhone 16 Pro Inter Semibold · 17/1.3

Body Personal savings goal Inter Regular · 15/1.5

Label SPENT THIS WEEK Inter Bold · 11/1.2 · 0.08em caps

Components

Primary button

Add Contribution

Full-width, 14px radius, violet gradient left to right. One per screen, pinned to the bottom.

Filter chips

This Week Month Year

Pill chips, violet fill when selected, neutral grey at rest.

Progress bar

66% there₹40,800 left

8px track, fully rounded, category colour on a 100-tint rail.

Icon style

Home

Budget

Goals

Alerts

Solid filled glyphs, no container. Each shape carries a top-to-bottom violet gradient (Violet 300 to Violet 800) with a white top bevel and a dark lower edge, so the icon itself reads as raised. 40px on a 48px tap target.

Surface & radius

11px tiles, 14px buttons and rows, 18px cards. Shadows stay soft and violet-tinted.

Spacing

4pt base: 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 24. Cards sit 16px from the screen edge.

Screens

Onboarding

Most finance apps open with a form. BUD opens with a conversation: a gentle, judgment-free intake that learns how someone actually relates to money before it shows them a single number.

A calm welcome that sets expectations, three minutes, private, skippable.
Fourteen questions across the basics, habits, outlook and feelings.
A short instinct quiz that reads behaviour rather than knowledge.
A money personality result that sets the app's tone and first priorities.

Every question carries a "prefer not to answer" escape, so the flow never becomes a wall. By the end BUD knows what to focus on first, and the user has already had one honest moment with their money.

BUD onboarding, Welcome screen, a gentle intro before the questions begin

BUD onboarding, About you, name, age range and monthly income

BUD onboarding, Question 1 of 14, monthly income range

BUD onboarding, Question 2 of 14, how income is described

BUD onboarding, Question 3 of 14, how the rest of the month feels

BUD onboarding, Question 4 of 14, how often the balance is checked

BUD onboarding, Question 5 of 14, where most money goes

BUD onboarding, Question 6 of 14, frequency of unplanned purchases

BUD onboarding, Question 7 of 14, money behaviour under stress

BUD onboarding, Question 8 of 14, response to an unexpected ₹5,000 expense

BUD onboarding, Question 9 of 14, current debt or credit card balances

BUD onboarding, Question 10 of 14, how spending is tracked today

BUD onboarding, Question 11 of 14, first feeling about finances

BUD onboarding, Question 12 of 14, past experience with budgeting apps

BUD onboarding, Question 13 of 14, the one thing Bud should help with first

BUD onboarding, Money personality quiz, question 1 of 9

BUD onboarding, Result, the Quiet Avoider money personality with focus areas

Goal-Based Saving

One of the biggest barriers to saving is the psychological weight of a large purchase. Instead of expecting users to save the entire amount at once, BUD allows them to create a savings goal for something they want to buy, such as a phone, vacation, or laptop.

Selects the item they want to purchase.
Enters its price.
Chooses how many months they would like to save.
BUD automatically calculates how much should be set aside each month.

Breaking large purchases into smaller monthly contributions makes saving feel realistic and achievable while reducing impulsive spending.

BUD My Goals empty state prompting the user to create their first goal

BUD Add Contribution screen with amount presets and an optional note

BUD Edit Goal screen with goal name, target amount, monthly savings and target date fields

BUD My Goals screen listing three active savings goals with progress bars

BUD Goal Detail screen for iPhone 16 Pro showing 66% complete and contribution history

Financial Health Dashboard

Users shouldn’t need to interpret complicated charts to understand their finances. The home dashboard provides an instant overview of their financial situation.

Account balance
Total monthly spending
Remaining budget
Amount saved

This gives users immediate clarity about where they stand financially without requiring multiple screens or calculations.

BUD home dashboard showing weekly spend, health score and budget left

BUD Financial Health screen with an 85 out of 100 score and metric breakdown

Spending Breakdown

Understanding spending patterns is the first step toward improving them. BUD categorizes expenses into familiar groups.

Food
Groceries
Utilities
Mobile Recharge
Transportation
Entertainment

Instead of showing raw transaction lists, the app provides an easy-to-read breakdown, helping users identify spending habits and make informed decisions.

BUD Full Breakdown screen with category split and spend per category

BUD My Budget screen showing monthly category budgets and progress

Competitive analysis

I ran the concept against three products people in this age group actually reach for, to be clear about where BUD is deliberately narrower and where it earns its place.

Feature

BUD (concept)

YNAB

Mint

PocketGuard

Primary audience

Young adults (24–30) who feel overwhelmed by budgeting

Users committed to hands-on budgeting

Users who want a complete financial overview

Users who want help avoiding overspending

Learning curve

Low, designed to be simple and approachable

High, requires learning the YNAB method

Medium, feature-rich interface can feel overwhelming

Low to medium

Dashboard experience

Clear overview of balance, spending, savings, and financial health

Detailed budget-focused dashboard

Comprehensive financial dashboard with many metrics

Focuses on available spending money

Goal-based saving

✔ Core feature with monthly savings planning for specific purchases

✔ Savings goals available

✔ Goal tracking available

Limited goal planning

Expense breakdown

✔ Simple category-wise spending insights

✔ Detailed reporting

✔ Comprehensive categorization

✔ Category tracking

Financial health score

✔ Simple score to quickly understand financial wellness

✖ No dedicated health score

Limited financial trends, but no single health indicator

✖ No dedicated health score

Overspending alerts

✔ Proactive spending notifications

✔ Budget overspending alerts

✔ Spending notifications

✔ Strong overspending protection

Bill reminders

✔ Built-in reminders

Limited

✔ Bill reminders

Some reminder functionality

Automation

Basic guidance with manual budgeting inputs

Mostly manual budgeting philosophy

Strong automatic transaction syncing

Automatic account syncing

Focus of the product

Reducing financial anxiety and building healthy money habits

Building disciplined budgeting habits

Complete financial management

Preventing overspending

Best for

Beginners who want a supportive, easy-to-understand budgeting experience

Users who enjoy detailed financial planning

Users managing multiple financial accounts

Users who want to know how much they can safely spend

Click YNAB, Mint or PocketGuard above to compare it side-by-side against BUD. Scroll sideways on a narrow screen.

Design principles

Throughout the project, every design decision was guided by four principles.

Simplicity over complexity

Financial information should be understandable within seconds.

Progress over perfection

Small, consistent improvements are more sustainable than expecting perfect budgeting habits.

Reduce financial anxiety

The experience should feel supportive rather than judgmental.

Actionable insights

Every screen should help users understand what they can do next instead of simply presenting data.

Expected experience

By combining visual clarity with proactive financial guidance, BUD aims to help users:

Feel more confident managing their money.
Build consistent saving habits.
Stay aware of spending before problems arise.
Reduce financial anxiety through better visibility and planning.
Achieve long-term financial goals through small, manageable steps.

Reflection

This project challenged me to think beyond creating visually appealing interfaces and instead focus on designing behaviors that encourage healthier financial habits.

Rather than treating budgeting as a tracking exercise, I explored how thoughtful product design could make money management feel approachable, supportive, and motivating. The process reinforced the importance of reducing cognitive load, presenting information progressively, and designing experiences that help users feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.

If I were to continue developing BUD, I would validate these concepts through user testing, explore personalized budgeting recommendations, and investigate how AI-driven insights could make financial guidance even more proactive and tailored to individual spending patterns.

Back to all work

All work

Blossom, Product design case study

A calm companion for the nine longest months

Designing a calm and supportive pregnancy companion for expectant mothers.

Blossom, home screen showing week 27, baby size, calendar and next appointment

Role

Product Designer

Project type

Conceptual Product Design

Duration

4 weeks

Tools

Figma, FigJam

Overview

Pregnancy is a transformative experience filled with excitement, anticipation, and uncertainty. While there are numerous pregnancy apps available today, many of them overwhelm users with excessive information, complex navigation, and fragmented experiences.

Blossom was designed as a digital companion that supports women throughout their pregnancy journey by bringing together health tracking, educational content, appointment management, and community support in a single, easy-to-use platform.

The Problem

Expectant mothers often rely on multiple sources to manage their pregnancy.

Health and medication tracking apps

Medical appointment reminders

Pregnancy articles and educational resources

Online forums and communities

Switching between different platforms can create unnecessary cognitive load during a physically and emotionally demanding period.

Many existing pregnancy applications also present large amounts of information at once, making it difficult for users to focus on what matters most at their current stage of pregnancy.

How might we create a pregnancy companion that helps expectant mothers stay informed, organized, and emotionally supported without overwhelming them?

Understanding Users

Through secondary research and analysis of existing pregnancy products, several recurring needs emerged.

Stay informed

Users want reliable information relevant to their current stage of pregnancy rather than generic content.

Stay organized

Managing medications, supplements, doctor visits, and pregnancy milestones can become difficult without a centralized system.

Feel reassured

Many mothers experience anxiety throughout pregnancy and seek guidance that helps them feel confident and prepared.

Feel connected

Pregnancy can sometimes feel isolating. Users value spaces where they can interact with others going through similar experiences.

Product Goals

The solution needed to:

Simplify pregnancy management.

Reduce information overload.

Help users track important health-related activities.

Deliver personalized pregnancy insights.

Foster a sense of emotional support and community.

Create a calm and approachable user experience.

Competitive Analysis

While reviewing existing pregnancy applications, I observed that many products focused heavily on information delivery but often lacked simplicity.

Key opportunities

Present only the most relevant information.

Create a cleaner and less cluttered interface.

Centralize essential pregnancy tools.

Make progress and baby development easy to understand at a glance.

These opportunities became the foundation for Blossom.

Defining the Experience

Instead of designing another feature-heavy pregnancy app, I focused on creating a supportive companion experience. Three design principles guided the product.

Simplicity First

Users should never feel overwhelmed by information or navigation.

Personalized Guidance

Content and progress tracking should adapt to the user’s pregnancy stage.

Emotional Support

The product should feel reassuring and supportive, not clinical or intimidating.

Visual Design Approach

The visual language was intentionally designed to feel warm, approachable, and reassuring. Every interface decision aimed to make users feel supported rather than overwhelmed.

Design considerations

Soft visual hierarchy

Clean layouts

Minimal cognitive load

Accessible typography

Friendly illustrations

Calm color palette

Coral

#E0644A

Primary action, labels

Rose

#EE8FA5

Gradient partner, progress

Blush

#FDEDEA

Hero cards, tinted fills

Plum ink

#241526

Headings, figures

Warm white

#FAF8F8

App background

Typography

One geometric sans across the product. Hierarchy is carried by weight and tracking rather than by a second typeface, tracked coral small caps introduce a block, a large dark figure or name answers it, and body copy stays at a comfortable reading size.

Kicker / tracked caps GOOD MORNING

Name / 30 bold Sarah

Figure / 64 bold 27

Figure label / tracked caps WEEKS

Card title / 19 semibold Anomaly Scan

Body / 15 regular Baby is the size of a cauliflower, 36 cm · 875 g

Meta / 13 regular 10:30 AM · Dr. Meera Nair

Badge / 12 semibold 2nd trimester

Iconography

Rounded outline icons at a single stroke weight. Navigation icons sit bare in the tab bar, coral when active and muted plum when not; action icons sit in a tinted rounded tile, with the tint carrying meaning on medicine rows.

Tab bar

Home

Community

Consult

Reading

In-card actions

Appointment

Scan prescription

Enter manually

Medicine

Information Architecture

The app was organized around five primary sections. This structure minimizes navigation complexity while ensuring that frequently used actions remain easily accessible.

App launch

Home Dashboard

Entry point, surfaces what matters at her current stage

Pregnancy Tracker 02

Weekly progress updates

Pregnancy milestones

Baby size comparisons

Reading Hub 03

Stage-specific articles

Symptoms and development

Curated, reliable sources

Appointments 04

Book appointments

Upcoming consultations

Appointment details

Community 05

Connect with mothers

Share experiences

Ask questions

Primary surface Destination section

Solution

Blossom combines essential pregnancy tools into one seamless experience that supports mothers throughout their nine-month journey.

Blossom, home screen with week 27, baby size and next appointment

Blossom, week 27 detail with highlights, articles and books

0105Swipe →

Feature 1

Pregnancy Journey Tracker

One of the primary concerns during pregnancy is understanding how the baby is growing and developing. The tracker provides personalized weekly progress updates based on the user’s pregnancy stage.

Track pregnancy milestones.

Monitor weekly development.

View approximate baby size comparisons.

Understand what changes to expect next.

Outcome

Users can quickly understand where they are in their pregnancy journey while building a stronger emotional connection with their baby’s development.

Blossom, Medicine Tracker with scan or manual entry and dose times

0205Swipe →

Feature 2

Medication Tracker

Pregnancy often requires consistent intake of vitamins, supplements, and prescribed medications.

Add medications and supplements.

Monitor ongoing routines.

Keep important health information organized.

Outcome

A simple tracking experience encourages consistency and reduces the likelihood of missed medications.

Blossom, Reading Hub with a featured article, topic filters and a browsable list

0305Swipe →

Feature 3

Reading Hub

Pregnant women frequently search for answers online, often encountering conflicting information. The Reading Hub provides curated educational content aligned with the user’s current pregnancy stage.

Read stage-specific articles.

Learn about symptoms and development.

Access reliable pregnancy information in one place.

Outcome

Users receive relevant information at the right time without needing to search multiple sources.

Blossom, Doctor Consultations with specialism filters, ratings and booking

Blossom, Appointments with the next visit and a timeline of past visits

0405Swipe →

Feature 4

Appointment Management

Medical appointments play a critical role throughout pregnancy.

Book appointments.

View upcoming consultations.

Access appointment details.

Stay aware of important medical milestones.

Outcome

Users can manage their healthcare schedule more efficiently and reduce the risk of missed appointments.

Blossom, Community feed with stage-matched posts, replies and reactions

0505Last of five

Feature 5

Community Support

Beyond physical health, emotional wellbeing is equally important during pregnancy.

Connect with other expectant mothers.

Share experiences.

Ask questions.

Seek encouragement and support.

Outcome

The community creates a sense of belonging and emotional reassurance throughout pregnancy.

Key Learnings

Designing for emotional states is as important as designing for tasks

Pregnancy is not only a health journey but also an emotional one. Users need reassurance alongside functionality.

Less can be more

Removing unnecessary complexity helped create a more focused and approachable experience.

Contextual information improves engagement

Providing information that matches a user’s pregnancy stage makes content feel more useful and relevant.

Final Outcome

Blossom is a pregnancy companion designed to help expectant mothers navigate pregnancy with greater confidence, clarity, and support.

By combining health tracking, educational resources, appointment management, baby development insights, and community engagement into a single intuitive experience, Blossom transforms pregnancy management into a calmer and more meaningful journey.

The project demonstrates my approach to solving user problems through research-driven thinking, clear information architecture, and thoughtful user-centered design.

Blossom, because the person carrying a whole life deserves to feel supported too.

Thanks for reading. A conceptual product design case study.

All work

Graphic design, selected pieces

Emailers, social banners,
and print

The visual side of my practice. Campaign emails that survive every client, banners that hold a message at thumbnail size, and print work where the grid has to be right the first time.

EmailersSocial bannersPrint designLayoutTypeGridColourArtworkEmailersSocial bannersPrint designLayoutTypeGridColourArtwork

Need something designed across email, social and print?

Say Hello!

All work

Designing for the chaos behindevery click, swipe, and tap.

Projects

Bud — Budgeting App

Blossom — Pregnancy App

Graphic Design

About me

Work experience

Interested in working together?

Bud - Your Finance Buddy

Onboarding

Goal-Based Saving

Financial Health Dashboard

Spending Breakdown

A calm companion for the nine longest months

Overview

The Problem

Understanding Users

Product Goals

Competitive Analysis

Defining the Experience

Visual Design Approach

Information Architecture

Solution

Pregnancy Journey Tracker

Medication Tracker

Reading Hub

Appointment Management

Community Support

Key Learnings

Final Outcome

Emailers, social banners,and print

Need something designed across email, social and print?

Designing for the chaos behind
every click, swipe, and tap.

Emailers, social banners,
and print