Digital · 2025

Northstar

Product design and a launch campaign for a savings app that wants people to stop doom-scrolling their balance.

The brief

Northstar's analytics said the same thing their users told them in interviews: checking the app felt like a report card. The product worked; the feeling didn't.

Our approach

We redesigned the core loop around progress, not numbers — celebrations, streaks, and a palette that stays calm even when markets don't. A naming system for savings goals ("The Escape Fund", "The Rainy Day") carried the launch campaign.

The result

Northstar shipped the new product in fall 2025. Weekly active use is up 28%, and the "goal naming" feature became the most shared screenshot in the app's history.