Designing Financial Products for Real Human Relationships

This session explores Relationship-Centered Design, a framework that rethinks financial products beyond individual users and focuses on the relationships that shape financial decision-making. Drawing on case studies inspired by Gen Z families in Indonesia, it highlights how digital financial experiences can better support collaboration, communication, and shared goals. Participants will gain practical insights into designing financial products that address both functional needs and the social and emotional dynamics of everyday life.

Most financial products today are designed around an individual user: a single account holder, a single decision-maker, and a single set of goals. In reality, money is rarely managed alone. For many people—especially Gen Z couples—financial decisions are shaped through relationships: negotiating shared expenses, planning for children, and managing different priorities and expectations.

This gap between how financial systems are designed and how financial life actually unfolds creates daily friction that current banking experiences rarely address. As a result, financial products may successfully support transactions, but often fall short in fostering mutual understanding, collaboration, and care.

This session introduces Relationship-Centered Design, an approach that shifts the focus from individual financial management to the relational dynamics between people. Through case studies inspired by Gen Z families in Indonesia, the session explores how digital financial products could better support not only functional needs, but also the social and emotional dimensions of relationships.

Participants will leave with a new perspective on how UX designers can move beyond user-centered transactions and begin designing to support human relationships through financial experiences.