Trading Learning App for Newbies: Invest101
Client
CIF
Year
2023
Category
Side Project
Platform
Mobile
in a nutshell
An exploratory side project investigating how structured lessons and quizzes could support onboarding and knowledge-building around stock and ETF trading. Designed as a supplementary mobile app alongside N26 Trading App.
Context & Problem
While working at CIF | N26, I noticed that trading-related topics were challenging not only for customers, but also internally. New employees joining teams connected to the trading product often needed additional time to build foundational knowledge before feeling confident contributing to discussions or decisions.
Existing internal documentation was informative but fragmented and text-heavy, making it harder to build a clear mental model of how trading concepts relate to each other. I saw an opportunity to explore whether a more structured, product-like learning experience could help close this gap.
Goals & Users
The goal of this project was to explore how trading education could be simplified and structured through design.
Goals
Break down complex trading concepts into digestible lessons
Reinforce understanding through short quizzes
Create an approachable, low-stress learning experience
Support onboarding for employees working on or around the trading product
Primary users
New N26 employees
Team members without a financial background
A potential future-facing audience included new or inexperienced retail investors, but the primary focus remained internal.
The Solution
I designed a standalone educational mobile app focused entirely on learning, separate from the core N26 trading app.
The app was structured around progressive learning paths, starting with basic concepts and gradually introducing more advanced topics. Each topic combined short educational content with quizzes to encourage active recall and self-assessment.
Topics included:
Investing vs. trading fundamentals
Stocks and ETFs
Buy and sell decisions
Order types
Portfolio basics
The experience was intentionally lightweight, allowing users to learn at their own pace without pressure or performance anxiety.
Design Approach
My design approach focused on clarity, approachability, and cognitive simplicity.
Key principles included:
Explaining concepts in plain language and avoiding unnecessary jargon
Keeping lessons short and focused on a single topic
Using quizzes as a learning tool rather than an evaluation mechanism
Maintaining a friendly and calm visual language
Visually, the app followed a clean, card-based layout with soft colors and clear hierarchy. The overall look aligned with N26’s design sensibilities while remaining clearly positioned as an educational companion rather than a transactional product.
The project was developed alongside my main responsibilities, without a formal roadmap or deadlines.
Outcome & Learnings
The app was never officially built or released, as it was not part of the formal product roadmap and remained an exploratory initiative.
Despite this, the project proved valuable as a design exploration and a conversation starter around onboarding and education in complex financial domains.
Key learnings:
Education benefits from being treated as a product, not just documentation
Progressive learning and repetition help demystify complex topics
Exploratory side projects can reveal meaningful gaps in existing systems
This project influenced how I later approached onboarding flows, contextual help, and educational patterns in financial products, reinforcing the importance of clarity and structure in high-complexity domains.
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