Charles Schwab site section design

Charles Schwab was interested in getting a younger crowd interested in their brand. I mean, what 12 year old doesn’t love investing for the future?! Anyhow, to really connect with a younger demographic, I suggested a toolbox approach—downloadable desktop widgets that actually help younger kids visualize where their allowances are going. Stylized to look similar to Apple’s Dashboard and Yahoo’s widgets, the kids wouldn’t necessarily get freaked out at the idea of an investment company’s evil spyware on their machine, but something relatively familiar. It seemed like a fair way for everyone to try out something new—both client and potential customer.

^{Desktop environment (with other OSX widgets)}

Styled similarly to iTunes (for familiarity). Users can track their daily expenses and see possible patterns where their money is wasting away. The example shown is how a daily Starbucks coffee quickly adds up. If they were to budget that expense, maybe they could afford the new model iPod without asking Mom!
The Savings Calculator could be for calculating any number of investment figures. “You make $10 a week from allowance and generally on the weekends an additional $25 from babysitting. If you save 50% of your earnings, you will have X money in Y weeks.”

The Dictionary widget was as simple as its name: a resource for learning about all those big, scary words your parents use.

Work completed: June 2006
Tagged as: design, pitch, site