Qoro
Simplifying and empowering financial lives over recurring expenses
Team & roles
Jesh Anies - UX Research & Design
Laura Trouiller - Mentor
Project Duration
May - July, 2025, 90 hours
Responsibilities
User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Making management easier
Subscriptions can sneak up on people as the passive nature of automatic recurring payments allows them to have continued access to a product or service with little thought. While it’s easy to opt in to a subscription, a 2025 article by Nerdwallet states that subscriptions are hard to cancel and easy to forget, and it’s all done by design. A 2022 study by brand insights agency C+R research found 42% of consumers had forgotten they were still paying for a service they no longer used. “Automatically recurring subscription plans often capitalize on people forgetting that they signed up for something, and then making it very hard to get out,” says Erin Witte, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission announced “Click to Cancel,” in October 2024 to correct burdensome cancellation tactics and help consumers remember what they’re paying for. The rule requires companies that sell subscriptions to make canceling a service as simple as it is to sign up (e.g., if you join online, you can cancel on the same website in the same number of steps).
To comply with these changes, Qoro has reached out to me to further understand how to make subscription management easier while translating their services that are only available on desktop to a mobile version.
The solution
Translate Qoro’s existing services offered on desktop to mobile, allowing users to manage their subscriptions with ease and resulting in more users and increased business.
The problem
Qoro only benefits desktop users. Fortunately, they understand that adding a mobile-friendly version of their product will significantly increase their market reach with more than half of potential users on mobile devices.
Research
Secondary Research
Business Goals
To support the business goals of the project, a Product Manager from Qoro provided me with user stories that embodies their website:
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As someone
A current user
I want to...
See all of my subscriptions in one place
so that...
I can get a comprehensive view of my spending on subscriptions
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As someone
A returning user
I want to...
Unsubscribe from a subscription
so that...
I can reduce needless spending
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As someone
A consumer
I want to...
I want to be notified if any of my subscriptions are about to be auto-renewed
so that...
I can make a decision about if I want to renew the subscription and continue spending money
Noteworthy information
Additionally, their Product Manager made a note for me to be mindful of as I drew up a solution:
The majority of their users are over the age of 30
Their user base is an equal split between men and women
While the product is currently used in the US, the company will be expanding to the German market (to significantly increase its user base)
Competitive Research
With information to get started with, I took the opportunity to research what apps other companies are providing to help users manage their subscriptions.
Rocket Money
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Throughout the app, I noticed that numbers are bolded to signify what’s most important: the price
I like how you have the ability to keep track of free trials. That way I won’t forget when they expire and I accidentally pay for a subscription.
In the dashboard, I appreciate the complete setup list as this helps the user make the most of the app for new users
I like how data visualization is in the forefront of each page (ie monthly spending on the dashboard, recurring payment calendar under recurring, and total month spend under spending
I like how connecting your accounts will automatically find what things you’re subscribed to
I like how I can horizontally scroll through some cards in the dashboard to mitigate scrolling vertically
Although you have to subscribe to use the app, I appreciate that RocketMoney has a page during the onboarding process to let you know how the free trial unfolds and how you will receive notifications as the trial period ends.
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I dislike how I have to pay a monthly subscription fee to have access to the app.
If red is their primary color and money is typically associated with green, these colors often clash. In fact, I believe their primary color should be utilized more sparingly to highlight the vast range of colors that they use better.
The gradient is cool but it loses its punch if used for every page for the top nav
PocketGuard
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I like how their primary CTA color, green, is used to a small degree so that other colors can be used seamlessly throughout the app. The use of gradient is used sparingly and in this case only used for completing your setup
I like the use of progress bars for visually indicate goal-tracking (ie. income and expenses)
Numbers are nice and big for hierarchy
Bills are divided up by upcoming and all
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I dislike how I have to pay a monthly subscription fee to have access to the app
The app is more of a general budgeting experience rather than a comprehensive tool for subscription management. I think the app should be more focused and dial in on one aspect instead of trying to be something everything for everyone.
I don’t like how the dashboard is in the center of the bottom nav. If it’s the first page users see, that should be on the left
The subscription details exist under bills. But I could only tell this because there’s a frequency text field
I dislike how there’s not really anything beyond income and expenses for data visualization
I didn’t like how there was not have a way to include tracking for free trails
Trim by OneMain
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I LOVE how this is free to use
I like their use of blue as their primary color. It feels inviting to the users eye and can be used to draw you into action-oriented interactions like CTAs.
I like how connecting your accounts will automatically find what things you’re subscribed to
I admire how there’s a clear option to cancel subscriptions to clean up your budget quicker
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I disliked how this was only available in a browser. I would love for this to be available as an app so that the UI isn’t constrained by the browser UI
I didn’t like how there was not have a way to include tracking for free trails
It’s a little too simple so there’s no way to manage the subscription beyond cancelling it, viewing your payment history, renaming it and letting the software know it isn’t a subscription
Bobby
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I love how minimal and straightforward this app is
I like how it’s free to use for the most part. The only reason you’d pay for the app is to allow the user to add more categories to the dashboard view
I like how you can categorize your dashboard view
I like how color is determined by the company of the subscription
I like how it displays you average monthly expenses to breakdown your spending from a different perspective
I like how you have the ability to receive notification reminders
I like how you can categorize your dashboard view
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The app is too simple and I wish there was a bottom nav to make settings stand out more
I’d love to see data visualization to help me see the bigger picture of my finances
I didn’t like how there was not have a way to include tracking for free trails
It’d be nice if there was a way to connect your accounts automatically to find what things you’re subscribed to
Action Items
Upon reviewing these apps, I put together a list of ideas I may want to implement for the solution:
Determine a color palette that utilizes a variety of colors intentionally without alienating the primary color
Lead with data visualization to showcase the users progress towards financial stability with their subscriptions
Implement a way for the user to track free trials so they don’t accidentally opt into a subscription they don’t want to pay for
Add a feature to auto-detect your subscriptions when you connect your accounts
Primary Research
Guiding Questions
After finding what I could on existing knowledge, I wanted to identify pain points for users who are struggling to manage their subscriptions. Some more questions arose as I tried to further understand users experience with subscription management:
What types of recurring payments do users opt in to? (rent, bills, streaming, learning,food, etc.)
What does the decision process look like for users deciding between payments that have an annual payment plan vs monthly payment?
What causes users to opt out of subscriptions?
What tools and apps are people using to manage their finances in general?
What information is most important to users to see when managing their finances? (lists, calendars, analytics/statistics)
What kinds of tactics make it difficult to opt out of subscriptions?
This serves as the basis for my user interviews moving forward.
User Interviews
I conducted six user interviews with those who struggled with managing their subscriptions. Based on the results I gathered from a screener survey, I chose participants that could be between 18-35 years old, use financial web and mobile services regularly, and have at least one recurring payment (monthly or yearly).
I organized my findings using an affinity diagram to find overarching themes under a thematic analysis:
I organized my affinity diagram even further in FigJam so that it's much easier to read and navigate the content. After synthesizing my data, I boiled down the insights to 4 key pain points:
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When managing their subscriptions, participants found it difficult to manage when they don’t receive notifications. As one participant said, “They should notify you to be like, hey, this is the deadline for you to cancel your subscription.” In addition to subscriptions, this could be particularly useful for trials that are about to expire and even for price increases for subscriptions they’re opted in to.
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The passive nature of automatic recurring payments allows users to have continued access to a product or service with little thought. In their experience with subscription management, participants have forgotten to cancel trails and subscriptions, resulting in unwanted charges.
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Clarity is key and participants found that providers of their subscriptions weren’t communicating information clearly with their users. This can be a deceptive practice, making it difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions. One participant highlighted their experience when making an attempt to cancel their Amazon Prime subscription saying, "Their wording. So when you're trying to cancel, you end up somehow getting another year.” In other cases, participants found it frustrating when companies upgrade or increase the price of subscriptions without clear messaging or cadence.
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Though subscriptions are easy to set up online, participants have found cancellation frustrating especially when it requires an in-person visit to do so. The most common example of this is when participants are attempting to cancel their gym or fitness membership. They usually require them to make a phone call and/or visit the institution to initiate the process of cancellation.
Persona
After categorizing my findings from user interviews, I created a persona that embodies a user who is struggling to manage their subscriptions. Meet Jordan.
How Might We
Once all of the research was done, I brainstormed a list of guiding questions which set the foundation for providing a solution to the problem:
How might we help users track and manage all their subscriptions from a single, centralized hub?
How might we ensure users receive timely, actionable reminders before renewals or trial expirations?
How might we make subscription cancellation and modification clearer and more user-friendly?
How might we identify underused or forgotten subscriptions to help users optimize their spending?
Ideation
User Stories
Inspired by my How Might We Questions as well as recommendations from participants that I spoke with from user interviews, I fleshed out user stories that would be included in the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). I focused on core scenarios that a user would experience when managing their subscriptions.
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As…
A new user
I want to...
Connect my bank account
so that...
I quickly manage and budget without having to manually input everything
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As…
A current user
I want to...
See all of my subscriptions in one place
so that...
I can get a comprehensive view of my spending on subscriptions
-
As…
A returning user
I want to...
Unsubscribe from a subscription
so that...
I can reduce needless spending
-
As…
A consumer
I want to...
Receive notifications
so that...
I can be alerted when any of my subscriptions are about to be auto-renewed, trails will expire or if subscription cost increases
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As…
A consumer
I want to...
Modify when I receive alerts and notifications for each subscription
so that...
Tailor how I receive alerts and notifications based on my preferences
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As…
A consumer
I want to...
Categorize subscriptions
so that...
I can organize subscriptions based on my preferences (bundle, type, renewal date, etc.)
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As…
A current user
I want to...
Access a calendar
so that...
I can view when subscriptions will renew / charge my account
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As…
A current user
I want to...
View my spending with charts and data visualization
so that...
I can visualize how much I am spending
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As someone
A current user
I want to...
View the frequency on how much I use each subscription
so that...
I optimize my subscription renewals based on usage
User Flow
I then designed user flows to help me visualize the various scenarios a user undergoes to accomplish each task from start to finish.
Sitemap
Putting together user flows helped me piece together how all of those scenarios could fit into a cohesive subscription management experience. By creating a sitemap, I was able to see the connection and hierarchy of each screen. This would lay the foundation for the user experience as it is used as the main navigation for the design.
Low Fidelity Solution & Test
Sketches
Once my ideas were organized into user stories, flows, and a sitemap, it was time to put pen to paper and sketch out how the user interface would potentially look like. While screens didn’t have to be drawn perfectly, they needed to be clear enough for the ideas to be understood.
Wireframes
After putting together my sketches, I then built out wireframes in Figma and made further adjustments now that I saw things in a digital framework. Designing in this stage allowed me to add more context to the UX by including live copy to help the user understand how to navigate the interface and how their actions would affect the experience. This also allowed me to begin implementing foundational design elements such as a grid system so that I could establish spatial relationships between components in the interface as well as the type hierarchy between content so I could separate out the text between header and body type.
Usability Testing
Once the wireframes for Qoro were built, usability testing was conducted to evaluate the app’s overall usability, identify any friction points, and assess whether users can navigate key features intuitively. After testing with 5 participants, insights and feedback were logged regarding user behavior to help refine the interface.
Overall reactions from participants garnered positive feedback, with participants finding the app “intuitive and straightforward.” They successfully navigated through key app features while identifying minor improvements to the user experience.
Below is how the low-fidelity prototype was updated based on user feedback…
🟡 Minor Feedback
Minor edits included…
Move ‘Cancel subscription’ and ‘Delete subscription’ to the parent subscription profile page as two participants recommended doing this for quicker removal.
Add collapse/expand caret to categories in subscriptions as one participant noted if categories and lists get too long, it’d be useful to be able to collapse them.
Implement a way to highlight the current day when the user is viewing a different day on the calendar as one participant was reviewing the calendar feature.
🟢 Normal Feedback
Normal edits included…
Implement exact dates for upcoming payments in addition to relative time as one participant suggested that it’s more easy to understand instead of simplifying the countdown like “in 2 days.”
Add additional screens to showcase subscription details with default entry details. One participant expressed their confusion with the subscription details page when adding Adobe CC to their list. They couldn’t tell if the added information was already there or not.
After applying these edits to the prototype, I had a solid foundation for making subscription management easier for users.
High Fidelity Solution & Test
Building the Brand
Prior to building out the high fidelity prototypes, I created an extensive brand and design system that would be applied to my concept. This would further flesh out my ideas so that the solution closely resembles an experience that exists in the real world.
Brand Platform
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I chose to name the product, Qoro, because of its short and memorable form while evoking intelligence and flexibility.
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Qoro seeks to simplify and empower financial lives by giving people control, clarity, and confidence over their recurring expenses. It strives to become the essential, intelligent platform that helps individuals effortlessly manage, optimize, and reduce financial clutter—starting with subscriptions, expanding to everyday money management.
Rationale
Subscription fatigue is real—users are increasingly overwhelmed by fragmented, auto-renewing services. Qoro exists to bring everything into focus and provide a sense of financial calm. Its broader vision positions it as more than just a cancel button—a future-ready companion for holistic financial awareness.
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Qoro’s brand personality can be described as calmly intelligent, offering a sense of quiet expertise without overwhelming the user. It is discreetly helpful, designed to guide rather than dictate, and to provide support in a way that feels intuitive and nonintrusive. The tone and aesthetic remain modern and polished, reflecting a thoughtful attention to detail that appeals to a mature, design-conscious audience. At its core, Qoro is empathetic but never preachy, understanding that managing finances is personal and often emotional—offering reassurance instead of judgment. Finally, it maintains a presence that is confident without being flashy, projecting trust and capability through clarity and simplicity rather than loud branding.
Rationale
For a user base 30+, trust and clarity are essential. Qoro isn't loud or pushy—it’s a quiet expert in your pocket. Its tone is more Apple than TikTok, focused on control and ease. The app should feel like a nonjudgmental, competent assistant who knows how to make your money life simpler—without shouting about it.
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Clear – Information is digestible and never overwhelming.
Reliable – Built on data accuracy and privacy-first principles.
Refined – Clean design and thoughtful interactions.
Empowering – Puts users in charge of their finances, without guilt.
Evolving – A living product that grows with user needs and tech advancements.
Rationale
Each attribute supports Qoro’s goal of calm financial control. Clarity and reliability are fundamental to building trust. Refinement keeps the experience modern and mature. Empowerment ensures the user feels ownership, not shame. And evolution reflects Qoro’s readiness to grow beyond subscriptions into richer financial tools.
Logo
The logo takes inspiration from digital-first, financial wellness brands to visually personify the feeling of intelligence and flexibility. Its use of a sans-serif font was intentionally used with a utilitarian approach in mind to give people control, clarity, and confidence over their recurring expenses. Using the ‘Q’ from the logotype, clear space should be considered when using the logo for clarity and hierarchy for users and audiences.
Color
The primary colors that anchor Qoro are violet and deep indigo. Together, these set the tone for a modern, intelligent, and premium subscription management product. Tints can be used to create depth without having to use a strong, saturated color.
The secondary colors include blue, lilac, ivory white and black that contrasts with the primary colors. The range in these colors allow for flexible use and should be primarily used for CTAs, text and background colors to establish clarity and create depth. Tints can be used to create depth without having to use a strong, saturated color.
Typography
Parabolica is a new geometric sans serif and clean variable font. It is based on application-specific utilitarian typefaces from the past. Type that was meant to look good anywhere: from CRT monitors in airports to glossy magazines and in this case, a subscription management app. Display and header type utilize a medium weight whereas body and all other small type styles utilize both regular and medium weight if needed.
Photography
Images should capture the ease of effortlessly managing, optimizing, and reducing financial clutter. Selections can include users, mainly professionals, having a positive experience while interacting with their mobile device. Photography should promote diversity, equity and inclusion to represent the varying demographics in our population.
Icons
Icons were included to provide another layer of visuals within the Kaya design system. They are used to provide clarity in situations where a concept can be boiled down to a scalable, universally understood image. Qoro uses Unicons as the icon set for the design system.
UI Elements
Once the direction of the brand was set, I designed a library of components that would frequently be used in the prototype. In Figma, these components were created so that adjustments to the master element would apply to all the matching elements within the prototype, streamlining the design process.
Hi-fidelity Prototype
With branding and a design system applied to the screens, Qoro is more than just wireframes; it’s now a high-fidelity prototype that users can interact with.
Second Usability Testing
Once the high fidelity prototype for Qoro was built, usability testing was conducted to evaluate the app’s overall usability, identify any friction points, and assess whether users can navigate key features intuitively. After testing with 5 participants, insights and feedback were logged regarding user behavior to help refine the interface.
Overall reactions from participants were well received. Similar to previous user testing, participants found the app “intuitive and straightforward.” They successfully navigated through key app features while identifying minor improvements to the user experience.
Below is how the high-fidelity prototype was updated based on user feedback…
🟡 Minor Feedback
Minor edits included…
Rename “delete subscription” to “remove from list” as one participant expressed confusion about the difference between "cancel subscription" and "delete subscription".
Adjust the overlay copy for removing the subscription when you’re cancelling vs simply removing the list. One participant felt that the overlay copy for cancelling a subscription and removing it from the list was too similar.
Add more insights. (1) Side-by-side cost to percentage comparison and (2) Percentage of spending in relation to your income. This was highlighted by a participant who is a data lover and wanted more detailed breakdowns of subscription costs for insights.
Make adjustments to subscription detail pages to include trial options. Additionally, change Peloton to a trial. This comes as a participant noted that examples of what trials look like were missing in the user experience.
Add a page displaying what potential savings and your trails could look like as one participant expressed their curiosity upon tapping on its CTA in the dashboard. This can be accessed from the dashboard page.
🟢 Normal Feedback
Normal edits included…
Make the alerts tab more prominent by adding a red indicator dot. One participant found searching for notifications a little tricky without seeing the notification dot indicating unread messages.
Adjust the copy from “No bills due for today” to “No bills due or trials expiring for today” as one participant was curious to see how trials were going to be integrated into the calendar.
Add year separators in the calendar month picker slider. One participant pointed out that the moth scroller should include the year before the user scrolls into January ie. Google calendar.
Include a screen to view the details regarding price increase. This comes as a few participants kept tapping on the notification for Adobe Creative Cloud’s price increase and nothing happened.
Other feedback to consider
While I was able to implement most feedback from usability testing, there were a couple of valuable suggestions I didn’t get around to. Here’s an example…
Include an ‘add more button’ in the linked accounts page. This would eliminate the need for the page after it as all participants expected to have the ability to add more subscriptions once your account has been linked. I refrained from making this page because the intent behind it was to only have the user make their selections from their synced account before they viewed their subscription list summary.
Apply iOS 26 styling. At the time of designing this prototype, Figma launched the glass effect, following what Apple was doing for their next operating system UI. While still in Beta, Apple launched the UI kit for the upcoming OS. To keep up with the latest interface elements and make my designs future-proof, I began applying the styling that Apple will set as the standard. However, as cool as the glass effects were, I encountered accessibility issues with the lack of contrast and legibility for text so I reverted back to iOS 18 components.
Takeaways
What I learned
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Companies using deceptive UI/UX practices is what creates difficulty for users to cancel their subscriptions seamlessly. If companies chose not to do so in the first place, then users wouldn’t need a solution like Qoro to track and manage their trials and subscriptions.
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I worked under the restraint of completing this project under 90 hours. To manage my time efficiently, I put together a project plan to keep me accountable and establish a rationale for varying time input for each step along the journey.
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While it’s assumed that testing is done with high fidelity prototypes only, I found it more beneficial to test while the project was in the wireframe stage. That way, participants could highlight things that I might've missed from sketching my ideas while providing feedback that would benefit the overall app from a foundational level.
What I would do (or like to do) differently
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Despite designing an end-to-end solution for subscription management, I didn’t find it ideal to design a mobile app from the ground-up in addition to building the brand. The brief for this assignment assumes that Qoro is an already established brand and product but I had to determine that along the way, giving me less time to prioritize a viable translation from desktop to mobile.
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Bills and rent act similarly to how subscriptions charge people in a recurring matter. Integrating this would provide another avenue for Qoro users to effortlessly manage, optimize, and reduce financial clutter.
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A useful feature that Qoro includes is the ability to highlight your subscription usage and make recommendations whether to cancel it or not. However, tracking a user's usage will be difficult. Subscription usage is hard to track with other devices such as a TV that can’t track how often you’re streaming Netflix or how long you’ve been at the gym for your gym membership.